No Christmas celebration for Quakers

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- A cold afternoon from the field and ineffective defense off the dribble sent Penn to another loss on Saturday, as the Quakers closed out 2006 with a 94-85 defeat to Seton Hall at Continental Airlines Arena.

After crashing back to earth in a 80-61 loss to Virginia Tech two days earlier, the Pirates (7-2) exploited a shaky Penn defense to go on a 13-3 run late in the first half. The Pirates scoring tear was led by their sixth man, Larry Davis, who came off the bench to post a career-high 27 points and 10 rebounds by game's end.

Yet the whole Seton Hall squad matched up favorably and easily shook the Quakers' defenders off their marks.

"Our number one game key was to keep them from getting into the lane with dribble penetration," Penn coach Glen Miller said. "That was probably 90% of their offense, so we did not do a very good job with our number one game key."

After digging themselves into a 13-point hole at halftime, the Quakers made a game of it in the second half - clawing back, only to be thwarted at the brink of a lead change each time.

With just over four minutes remaining, the Quakers cut the deficit to 74-70. With two Seton Hall players already fouled out, it seemed Penn was on the road to its second comeback win of the week. An abrupt change in momentum, however, kept the Quakers from coming any closer.

After Seton Hall's stud freshman Eugene Harvey drained a short jumper, the Pirates intercepted a long inbound and scored two more. Harvey stripped the next inbound pass from Penn's Tommy McMahon and finished the play with another two points.

In a matter of 15 seconds, the Pirates extended their lead from 4 to 10 and did not look back.

"We came back in the second half and fought and competed, but we had to keep the ball out of the lane and they did that time after time after time," Miller said.

Penn forced a quick turnover on the opening possession and struck first with senior Steve Danley muscling into the paint for a two-point bank shot. Danley's penetration would not be a sign of things to come, however, as the Quakers struggled to score in the low post for the majority of the game, forcing them to settle for outside shots.

Seton Hall's physical play put Penn in the bonus less than eight minutes into the contest, but the Quakers failed to capitalize on the scoreboard. The Red and Blue shot an abysmal 50% from the foul stripe in the first half.

The second half saw slight improvement, but Penn still finished just 14-24 from the line, as opposed to Seton Hall's nearly flawless 26-30. That performance, coupled with a 3-of-16 night from deep, wasted strong efforts by seniors Mark Zoller and Ibrahim Jaaber.

Just one game after becoming the Ivy League's all-time steals leader, Jaaber broke out on offense for the first time this season, scoring 28 of his career-high 32 points in the second half. Jaaber's ability to get ahead of Seton Hall's transition defense for easy lay-ins earned the praise of the opposing coach.

"Jaaber is a tremendous player," Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez said. "He could start for anyone in the Big East."

But Jaaber could not get the production he needed out of his teammates. Overall, Penn had notched 18 assists on 29 field goals against UIC, but had 15 on 34 against Seton Hall -- to go along with an uncharacteristic 17 turnovers.

Saturday was the second straight game Penn junior Michael Kach did not suit up due to a nagging foot injury. Classmate Brian Grandieri looked unbothered by his foot injury, scoring 9 points on the afternoon.

Both will undoubtedly appreciate the 12-day recess before the team's toughest match-up of the season: versus No. 2 North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, N.C.

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