M. Hoops | Great Danes, greater pain

ALBANY, N.Y., Nov. 29 - Down just three points at the half, Penn had reason to be optimistic about the second frame of its Saturday night game at Albany.

That was until Great Danes guard Anthony Raffa introduced himself to the Quakers.

Nice to meet you, Zack Rosen. Watch me hit this three, Harrison Gaines. And don't think I forgot to say "hi" to you, coach Glen Miller. Thanks for doubling my teammate so I can hit an open shot.

The Albany freshman scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half, highlighted by a five-minute stretch in which he went 3-for-3 from downtown to help the Danes pull away for a 73-63 win.

Guard Tim Ambrose closed the contest with an alley-oop dunk for the Danes (4-2), but their victory was far less emphatic than the final image.

Throughout much of the first half, Albany was stymied by the Red and Blue's man-to-man defense. And their late 10-point lead (give or take a shot) was shaky in the face of Penn's press, which forced desperate timeouts and a pair of intercepted inbounds passes.

"They do a great job of making you play ugly," Albany coach Will Brown said. "But we knew that if we kept moving and kept being aggressive, they'd have trouble with us."

However, the Quakers (1-4) were unable to take advantage of their opportunities down the stretch and consequently could not get any closer than seven points down. They followed up steals with turnovers of their own and bad pull-up jumpers in transition, then committed fouls back on defense that sent Albany to the line.

"We had time," Miller said of the likelihood of a comeback. "Every possession offensively and defensively is critical. We just didn't get the most out of every possession."

If it wasn't for the combination of Rosen and sophomore forward Jack Eggleston, Penn never would have been in a position to win. Eggleston was 5-for-6 from the field in the first half and finished the game with 13 points.

Rosen, the team's freshman point guard, continued to assert himself as the team's on-court leader, racking up 12 points, a game-high eight assists and a team-high six rebounds.

But despite Penn's strong play - and Tyler Bernardini's team-high 19 points (though a lot of that came from the line in the final two minutes) - Miller wasn't pleased with his team's offensive execution.

Penn shot just 6-for-26 (23.1 percent) from three-point range. Eggleston missed all five of his attempts from long distance, while Rosen and Bernardini were each 2-for-6 from downtown.

The Great Danes also had trouble hitting their threes, but they were more disciplined, choosing to pass and drive inside for higher-percentage opportunities. They attempted nine fewer shots in the second half than the Quakers did, but hit four more and outscored the Red and Blue by seven.

As was the case in last week's loss to Penn State, opposing guards shredded the Quakers. Ambrose and Raffa combined for 41 points on 15-for-25 shooting. In all, four Danes tallied double digits in points, again easily outscoring Penn's trio of backcourt players.

"At times we defended, but we just need to play better on offense," Miller said.

With Albany picked to finish sixth in the America East conference after losing three of its top four scorers from last season to graduation, Brown characterized it as "a good win for the program."

A good win for Albany - and another winnable loss for Penn.

Reflecting on the final few minutes, Miller was somewhat wistful.

"We had a chance, yeah."

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