Lions shooters exploit Penn 'D'

NEW YORK - Though Penn entered this weekend atop the Ivy League, two close victories at the Palestra against the teams who currently share last place in the standings had proved little.

The first tough tests of the conference season came this weekend as the Quakers hit the road to battle New York's two Ancient Eight squads. Friday night at Columbia, Penn took the first exam and failed.

In a game that was never very close, Columbia downed the Quakers 74-58, giving Penn its worst league loss since 2005.

Penn has struggled with its three-point defense throughout the season, and Friday night was no exception. The Lions went 11-19 from deep, mainly thanks to their sharpshooting sixth man K.J. Matsui.

The junior guard made the Quakers pay all night long, hitting 5-for-8 from beyond the arc. In a three-minute stretch, the Japanese native hit three of his long-range jumpers and helped bring Columbia an early 21-12 lead.

"He can only do one thing - shoot the ball - and he did that very well tonight," Penn coach Glen Miller said.

Penn's decision to double team John Baumann inside left plenty of open looks from outside. Matsui and his teammates capitalized.

"Going into the game, we kind of expected that a double team would come," Baumann said. "It's one thing to say, 'I could pass the ball out,' but the real battle is making the shots. I think these guys just did an awesome job of it."

By the second half, the Quakers had to stop double teaming Baumann because of the Lions' three-point success. Not surprisingly, Baumann was more effective down the stretch.

Some of Matsui's opportunities also came off of dribble handoffs, something Brian Grandieri said the Quakers had a hard time defending.

"I think our communication on those dribble handoffs, with Matsui especially - coach told us time and time again to switch," the senior captain said.

"When a good shooter like that gets hot, it's hard to win games."

Columbia took a nine-point lead into halftime and built its lead to 14 six minutes into the second frame. Grandieri, who was playing through a pulled groin, responded with a three-point play.

A minute later, Justin Reilly's layup brought the Quakers within seven, but that is the closest they would get.

On the next possession, Niko Scott drove hard to the hole and converted an and-one layup . Though he missed the free throw, the Lions had reclaimed momentum and would never look back.

Without the services of leading scorer Tyler Bernardini, who suffered a concussion during practice last week, Penn's offense struggled.

The Quakers committed 17 turnovers against only seven assists and hit just under 40 percent from the field. Columbia, meanwhile, had 17 assists on 24 field goals.

"Our guys played hard, but we dug ourselves a hole," Miller said. "We had trouble scoring the ball without Tyler here with us. He's the best offensive player, our leading scorer, so without a doubt, that hurt us."

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