Penn falls to St. Joe's in Classic game

Penn junior Tim Begley made one shot-fake, then another, before turning to find a wide open Charlie Copp at the top of the key. Penn's senior guard then buried the biggest shot of his collegiate career with 38 seconds to play in regulation, a three-pointer, to pull the Quakers within three points of the No. 12 team in the nation.

Despite 19 turnovers, six field goals from inside the three-point arc and six rebounds from its starting frontcourt, the Quakers trailed Saint Joseph's, 62-59.

They would get no closer.

Clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch allowed the Hawks (5-0, 1-0 Big 5) to remain unbeaten with a 67-59 win in the second game of the Big 5 Classic at the Palestra.

"Against this caliber of competition, the margin for error is very small," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said.

For a while it did not look like the Quakers (2-3, 0-1 Big 5) would stay within eight points. For a while, it did not look like Penn would score eight points.

"Take out a few flukey plays and we would have held them to low teens in the first half," St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli said.

At one point in the first half, the Quakers went six minutes between baskets as the Hawks jumped out to a 27-16 lead. Penn's field goals at that point included three long three-pointers -- one by Copp and two by senior guard Jeff Schiffner -- and junior forward Jan Fikiel's dunk in an ill-fated save attempt by St. Joe's.

However, the long-ball kept Penn in the ball game. While St. Joe's struggled to a 3-for-19 day from behind the arc, the Quakers shot 13-for-24. Trailing 27-16 with under two minutes to play in the first half, Begley hit a three, then found Schiffner for another in transition. A third straight three -- again by Schiffner -- forced a St. Joe's timeout with the score 27-25.

Schiffner had a career game from behind the arc, going 7-for-11 from long distance and scoring 23 points. Copp would also hit four threes -- three of which came in the second half.

"The line isn't even a factor for him anymore," Martelli said of Schiffner's shooting range.

However, every time Penn made a run, the Hawks' top player made a stand. Senior guard Jameer Nelson -- a preseason All-American -- hit a tough pull-up jumper and knocked away an inbound pass, allowing teammate Dwayne Jones a breakaway dunk to put St. Joe's ahead, 31-25, at halftime. Nelson finished with 23 points and eight steals.

"Jameer imposed his will on the game on both ends of the court," Dunphy said.

The second half went back and forth, with St. Joe's exerting dominant defensive pressure at times -- Nelson had several breakaway layups due to turnovers -- and Penn staying in the game with its three-point shooting.

Nelson seemed to put the game out of reach with a long jumper with 3:30 to play, putting the Hawks up, 58-47. Schiffner hit two free-throws and a three, followed by a Mark Zoller jumper and two Adam Chubb free-throws to bring Penn back within six, setting up Copp's three with 38 seconds left.

Despite the defeat, the Quakers could take some positives away from the game. Each of the three freshmen who played -- Ibby Jaaber, Steve Danley and Zoller -- made key contributions. Jaaber hit a three, while Danley got several key rebounds in the first half.

"Ibby Jabber, he'll be a better player tomorrow for what he saw today," Dunphy said before noting the same about Danley and Zoller.

With the loss, Penn finished 0-3 against the three top-15 teams it played in its first five games. However, its quality of play in those games led Martelli to pick Penn to once again represent the Ivy League in the NCAA Tournament in the postgame press conference.

The Quakers return to action Tuesday at 8 p.m. against another Big 5 school, Villanova (4-2, 2-0 Big 5). It is unclear as to whether Villanova's starting center Jason Fraser will return to the lineup after a stress fracture in his left heel.

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