Quakers hold on for big win

On Penn's first possession last night, Mark Zoller was blocked by Saint Joseph's Dwayne Jones. But Zoller regained control of the ball and hit a reverse layup for the Quakers' first points of the night.

It was a sign of things to come, as the entire Penn team toughed out a 67-59 win over Big 5 rival last night at the Palestra.

Tim Begley had 16 points, and Steve Danley contributed 10 points, six rebounds and six assists as the Red and Blue took control of the game from the outset.

"We really wanted this win," Zoller said. "We needed to prove ourselves in the city yet again. We got position, and the ball just bounced our way."

St. Joseph's (8-8, 1-1 Big 5) sealed its own fate in losing its first Big 5 game in 11 tries with poor foul shooting and an equally bad performance on the boards. Facing a decisive size disadvantage, Penn (7-7, 2-2 Big 5) still managed to outrebound the Hawks 40-35.

"When you see a team shoot 56 percent from the foul line, it's disgraceful really, absolutely disgraceful." St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli said. "And to give up 16 offensive rebounds to a team that you outsize, and that you're stronger than, that's a formula for disaster. It's all in the numbers."

Fans from Hawk Hill invaded the Palestra en masse for the game, giving St. Joseph's a decided crowd advantage. But surprisingly, it was the Quakers who had all the energy and momentum early in the game.

Penn never trailed after Danley's jumper put the Quakers up 4-3. Then sophomore Ibby Jaaber stepped to the forefront. Jaaber hit all four of his first half shots, and created several Penn baskets with his strong defense.

A three-pointer by Jaaber gave the Quakers a 16-3 lead, and after guard Eric Osmundson connected from beyond the arc, Penn's lead was up to 17 points, at 30-13.

But teams like St. Joseph's rarely go quietly, and the Red and Blue spent the rest of the evening holding off the team that fell one win short of the Final Four last season.

Chet Stachitas' three-pointer keyed a 13-5 Hawks run at the end of the first half, cutting the Quakers' halftime lead to 35-26.

Luckily for Penn, the team came out in the second half much like it did the first. Begley, who had a quiet first half offensively, hit two three-pointers in the first four minutes of the second half to put the Quakers back on top by 14, at 50-36.

"You give up 15 points in the first four minutes of the second half, I don't know why," Martelli said. "Then we hold 'em to six for like the next 12 minutes? It just doesn't calculate."

The Red and Blue, as it has been prone to do this season, seemed to get complacent on offense after building the lead back up to double-digits. And when the Hawks' best shooter, Pat Carroll, hit a pair of threes, the lead was back down to seven with 10 minutes to go.

"I thought we defended well, but we let Carroll up for air a couple times," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said.

"You know they're going to make a run. We have to be very careful in everything we do. We're a little bit tentative offensively when the screws get turned up ... We have to be much more crisp."

The final 10 minutes could not elapse fast enough for the Quakers, who found themselves dealing with foul trouble. The Hawks inched inexorably closer to erasing Penn's lead, which dwindled to three after Robert Ferguson's layup just inside the five-minute mark.

But last night, Penn had all the right answers at all the right times.

Jaaber extended the lead to 60-55 on a beautiful running floater, and with under a minute left, Danley provided the exclamation point.

With just a few seconds remaining on the shot clock, the sophomore received the ball on an inbounds play, faked a pass to Begley, and finished with a resounding dunk that brought the Red and Blue Crew to its feet. The play gave the Quakers a six-point lead, and the team hit enough foul shots in the last minute to seal the most satisfying victory of the season.

"It's important," Dunphy said. "We're gonna play two very tough teams in our league this weekend [Yale and Brown], and we came out on the wrong end of the ledger three out of the four times against these two teams last year. Hopefully that will be extra motivation for us to be ready, and obviously you want to get off to a good start in the league."

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