Copp has career game against Ind. St.

In the first five minutes of the contest, the Sycamores swarmed around Penn swingman Jeff Schiffner, even shadowing him with a man when he didn't have the ball.

After all, Schiffner led the nation in three-point percentage last season, shooting 49.3 percent from beyond the arc.

But when it came to distance shooting, it was another Penn senior who rose to the occasion.

Charlie Copp notched a career-high 18 points on 6-for-7 shooting against Indiana State -- and he did so in the first eight minutes of the game. The co-captain's three-point extravaganza eclipsed his total output for long-distance shots last season -- in 2002-2003 Copp went 5-for-28 from three-point territory.

"It's very hard to scout this early in the year, but I think I'm correct that last year his three-point percentage was 20 percent and so going on that we were playing off him a little bit and I think he hit five in a row," Indiana State coach Royce Waltman said.

"We knew they had a lot of good shooters, but we weren't expecting him to shoot the ball that well."

After his only missed three-pointer of the game came with 10:11 remaining in the first half, the Tulpehocken, Pa., native was done shooting for the day -- Copp attempted seven shots during the game, and all occurred during the first 9:49 of the contest.

Copp may have been silent on the stats-sheet for the rest of the game, but his defensive tenacity continued throughout. The senior has become comfortable with his role on the team this year.

After serving as a "seventh man" last season, Copp has helped fill the void left by starting point guard Andrew Toole's graduation.

Though Copp acknowledges that his role continues to be a defensive stopper, when he gets open opportunities from behind the arc, he has demonstrated that he'll drain them.

"I knew I had it in me. We needed to get a win. We couldn't leave here without a win and go 1-3," said Copp, who was named to the Coca-Cola Classic All-Tournament team. "So I didn't know what it was going to be, whether it was shots, whether it was defense, whether it was assists -- just making sure that we executed our offense better than we did [against Michigan State]."

But Copp's eruption was only half the story for the Quakers from downtown -- in this case, literally. The point guard knocked down six of Penn's 12 three-pointers during the game.

Copp was able to get his shots because Penn was able to run its offense. Like the Quakers' game in Boston against Harvard last year -- where Schiffner knocked down a career-high seven threes -- Penn showed that when it is able to drive the lane and kick the ball out, it is going to be a tough team to beat.

"We just ran our set and he made shots," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "But when you make shots, it looks like you know what you're doing. Today, we certainly made some shots."

Particularly this year, the Quakers' offensive machine is greater than any single offensive cog. After 10 minutes of play, Copp's time was up, and he allowed other shooters to rise to the occasion. The Quakers nailed 12 of 21 attempts from downtown, coming from six different players.

"My role is to run the team, execute, play the best defense I can and make sure our guys are ready to go," Copp said. "Today we ran our offense well, and I got shots. Today, that's what my role was, so I took shots."

Indiana State consistently was unable to guard Penn's play in the paint, whether it be a result of Penn's guards slashing to the basket or an Adam Chubb-led frontcourt pounding the ball down low.

With a collapsing Sycamores defense, the Quakers swung the ball around the arc to find the open man.

Copp's three-point barrage certainly surprised the Indiana State coaching staff, and showed that he could provide an offensive spark for the Quakers should the opportunity present itself.

For now, though, Copp will get back on defense and hustle, as he has done for most of his Penn career.

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