Trouble finds Penn fans for second straight game

Another game, another controversy for the Penn student section.

Early in the second half of Temple's 52-51 win over the Quakers at the Liacouras Center, a group of Penn students was ejected for dropping a banner from the first row of the arena's upper level onto the lower level.

The banner, which was created by the Red and Blue Crew and torn to shreds before being dropped, referenced Temple's inability to reach the NCAA Tournament in recent years.

The incident comes just days after Penn coach Fran Dunphy told the Penn student section to cease its antics during a win over La Salle.

"They tore up a sign and blatantly threw it," Liacouras Center Guest Services Supervisor John Piehuta said. "You can't throw anything onto other people ... Those are mostly our season ticket holders down there."

The day after the incident, Penn fans were telling a different story.

"After doing our rollout the way we usually do we ripped it up and dropped the pieces down below, which were mostly empty seats," Engineering sophomore Tony Lombardo said. "Then the security people came up and threw the entire front row out of the building, even though not all of the front row participated, and people from other rows participated."

This claim was refuted by Piehuta.

"It was the whole row," he said. "The whole row lifted it and dropped it."

Not only did Lombardo say that he felt singled out for being a Penn student, he claimed that the real reason for the ejections was an incident at last season's Villanova-Temple game, when a Wildcats fan threw a bottle from the second deck onto the level below.

And according to Lombardo, throughout most of the game it was the Owls fans that were out of line.

"You go to the bathroom, and there's fans cursing at you and personally insulting you," he said. "They're pushing you as you walk by, and personal attacks are much more violent things, and there's nothing that's done about that. We were just trying to get into it and have fun doing nothing dangerous."

ONE BRIGHT SPOT for the Quakers in Wednesday night's loss was the play of senior guard Eric Osmundson.

After scoring just 22 points in the first six games of the season, Osmundson found his shooting touch against the Owls, scoring 20 points on 7-for-11 from the field. Most impressive was his performance from behind the arc, where he hit six of eight shots.

Osmundson has been maligned since coming to Penn last year as a transfer from Utah. But the Carlsbad, Calif. native has nonetheless maintained confidence and waited for his opportunity to shine.

With the Owls keying on guard Tim Begley, that opportunity presented itself.

"Different games call for me to do different things," Osmundson said. "People are trying to run me off the team, but I know I can shoot. I knew [Temple] would key on Begs. Coach says we need to make shots, and last night I did.

"It would be nice to get six threes a game, but in this case it's meaningless because we didn't win the game."

UNFORTUNATELY for Penn, it will have a long time to think about Wednesday's meltdown in the final minutes.

The Quakers do not play another game until Dec. 31 at Villanova, a span of 23 days. Dunphy's greatest challenge over the next few weeks will be to keep his team ready for the Wildcats and the upcoming Ivy League schedule, while also allowing the players to study for finals and go home to see their families.

"We're still gonna be practicing, but it's gonna be tough on us mentally," Osmundson said. "It's kinda like preseason all over again."

Osmundson noted that the players will be allowed to go home Dec. 22 to spend Christmas with their families. The team will reconvene around Dec. 27 to get ready for Villanova.

After New Year's, the Quakers will embark on a cross-country road trip that will take them to the University of San Francisco on Jan. 4 and Illinois-Chicago on Jan. 8.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.