Quakers get physical in Ivy play

Penn may be guilty of its share of faults this season, but it can't be accused of lacking intensity during Ivy play. This weekend's two games at the Palestra were no exception.

Coming off last Tuesday's foul-fest of a win against Princeton - in which the teams combined for 52 fouls and four technicals - Penn's game lost none of its physical character.

The Quakers got to the line just six times against Brown, but they did not shy away from contact. More often, they were the ones dishing out the blows, rather than receiving them.

In a couple of instances, Penn and Brown players had to be restrained after getting into it between plays.

Tempers flared when sophomore Andreas Schreiber got tangled up with his man early; on another play, freshman Tyler Bernardini, lunging for a steal, collided with Brown guard Damon Huffman. Time had already been stopped, but Huffman eyed Bernardini accusingly from the floor.

In the final seconds, Huffman almost followed through with what he didn't do earlier. Senior Brian Grandieri had been called for an intentional foul after a hit on Brown's Chris Skrelja. While Skrelja writhed on the floor in visible pain, Huffman jawed with a crowd of Penn players at midcourt and appeared ready to escalate the encounter.

However, Bears coach Craig Robinson and the Brown bench called him over before he could make the crucial mistake.

After the game, Robinson admitted he did not like the physical nature of the contest.

"I was very concerned," he said. "The way my teams play, we can't be physical. We don't have physical-type guys . We pass and cut and try and play skillfully, so when it gets physical, it gets hard for us."

For Grandieri, the intentional foul came just a game after the captain was ejected against Princeton for committing two technical fouls. Grandieri admitted his mistake after Tuesday's game, but pled his innocence Friday.

"I obviously didn't mean it. I went right up to him and apologized," Grandieri said. "He was a foul shooter that shot with one hand, so I thought it was a good idea to foul him and send him to the line."

Saturday's win over the Elis saw no near-scuffles but plenty of physicality and intensity. The Quakers got to the line 26 times on 23 Yale fouls, and scored 36 points in the paint.

"We let them out-tough us and we allowed them to dictate to us on both ends of the floor," Yale coach James Jones said.

Even before last week, the Red and Blue were no strangers to hard hits and flaring tempers. Against Harvard two weeks ago, Schreiber and Brennan Votel were ejected after storming from the bench in defense of teammate Justin Reilly, who had taken a hard shot to the head.

Taking that incident into account, Penn's physical intensity is starting to look like a trend. It could be an asset down the stretch if the Quakers can harness it effectively. If not, then more ejections could be on the way.

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