Quakers defeat American in 'message' game

The horn sounded. John McAdams welcomed the 2,345 Palestra faithful to college basketball's most historic gym. National anthem. Same old for a home Penn basketball game. Then McAdams announced Jan Fikiel and Adam Chubb as the starting big men for Wednesday night's game against American (5-8). No Ugonna Onyekwe. No Koko Archibong. "If it was a message sent, you can take it that way," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "I think they can do better. That's the message I'd like to send."Though Dunphy elected to bench Penn's (4-4) starting front court, the Quakers never trailed in the game, defeating an overmatched American squad 66-55. The decision to bench Onyekwe and Archibong comes on the heals of an 80-57 shellacking by Colorado on Saturday and an overtime loss at Providence on Dec. 30. Against the Buffaloes, Onyekwe scored 12, picking up four fouls. Archibong played just four minutes in the first half because of foul trouble and also ended the game with four personals.The message while riding the pine: for Onyekwe to step up in all phases of his game and for Archibong to stay out of foul trouble. "He just feels that I'm not playing well right now," Onyekwe said. "And he wanted to use that as motivation, I guess, maybe to get me back on track a little bit." Despite the losses to the starting lineup, Penn burst out of the gates, jumping to a 14-3 lead in the first five-and-a-half minutes of the game. Capped by an Adam Chubb lay-up off a series of five passes, the Quakers showed early momentum. But American's five-foot-seven guard, Glenn Stokes, would not let that last for long. The senior, former junior-college transfer, hit seven-of-ten three-pointers in the game, on the way to a career-high 27 points. "There's a couple where I thought I was right up on him and then he pulls it and makes it," Penn senior guard David Klatsky said. Klatsky defended Stokes for the 22 minutes he was in the game. "Guys just have that kind of night sometimes." In the second half, Stokes made three behind-the-arc shots while falling down -- none of which drew calls from the referee -- but did draw gasps from the crowd and respect from Klatsky. Immediately after Archibong entered the game with 12:40 remaining in the first half and Onyekwe with 10:57 left in the first, Penn went straight to its veterans. Each player scored in the post the first time he touched the ball. Despite that the Eagles did not feature a player taller than six-foot-eight in the game, American out-rebounded Penn 33-28, 12 of which came on the offensive end. Any ground gained on the glass, however, was canceled out by American's 33 overall turnovers. While Stokes had a career night, Klatsky provided the spark that Dunphy always looks for from the bench. "Sometimes it's with passing sometimes with shooting," Klatsky said. "Today they gave me a couple of open looks. The guys were able to find me once I made a couple. That's what we try to do; find the hot shooter." The senior hit four three-pointers in the final eleven minutes of the game, three of which came in the midst of a 14-6 Quakers' run in the home stretch of the game. The first came with 10:33 remaining, directly after Stokes hit a long-ball on the right baseline, while falling to his right. Stokes hit his final three-pointer with 58 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to eight. But the effort would not be enough, as the Eagles failed to grab a defensive rebound, after choosing not to foul on Penn's subsequent possession. Onyekwe ended the game with nine points in twenty minutes, with Archibong joining him with 10 in 23. Dunphy informed the two on Monday that they would not start, and Klatsky said that the team realized the changes when the two flip-flopped with Fikiel and Chubb to the second team in practice. Not typically a coach who benches starters, Dunphy hopes to revitalize Onyekwe and Archibong, especially before the team begins its streak of 18 games in 43 days on January 18 against Monmouth. "I'm not a message-sender kind of guy," Dunphy said. "I trust that everybody's going to do their job and be as mature as they possibly can be. "I'm not suggesting that immaturity is out there, but maybe paying attention a little bit more closely to the details. These guys are seniors and this run is going to be over in a few months. They'll have nothing to look back on but memories so let's take advantage of every opportunity to play and play well. I think they can do better." Archibong will see many familiar faces in the stands on Saturday when the Quakers travel to USC, just outside of his hometown of Pasadena, Calif. While Dunphy said that Archibong will start in front of his family friends, he has yet to determine whether Onyekwe will join him. "I'm not adverse to it," Dunphy said of the possibility of Onyekwe coming off the bench again.

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