M. Hoops | Penn cashes in on extra possessions

PRINCETON, N.J. - So how exactly did the Quakers hit just a third of their shots and just over a quarter of their three-pointers last night and still walk out of Jadwin Gym with a win?

The answer begins and ends with how many more possessions they had than their opponents. Penn snared 18 offensive rebounds and was the beneficiary of a whopping 20 Princeton turnovers - helping the Quakers to take eight more shots and 14 more free throws than the Tigers.

Those stats compensated for a subpar shooting percentage and played a key role in letting Penn push the game to overtime and escape with a well-earned 62-55 victory.

"That's a lot of second opportunities," Princeton coach Sydney Johnson said. "And they capitalized on them. We're not good enough - I don't know many teams that are good enough - to overcome that."

The Quakers' rebounding prowess came from both expected and unexpected sources. Center Cameron Lewis had four offensive boards, but so did guards Tyler Bernardini and Kevin Egee.

And Princeton lost perhaps its best insurance against offensive rebounds when 6-foot-9 center Pawel Buczak fouled out with over 10 minutes left in regulation. He picked up his fourth foul at the 10:28 mark when he bumped Egee, but Johnson thought that his team's momentum was slipping away, so he decided to gamble and leave Buczak in the game.

The move backfired immediately when Buczak committed his fifth and final foul just a second later, lunging after Egee's missed free throw. Johnson conceded that Buczak's absence hurt Princeton's inside game down the stretch.

"If you look at how Princeton lost the last couple games, they got beat up inside on the offensive glass," Penn coach Glen Miller said. "So that was a huge key for us coming into this game."

The Quakers missed 11 three-pointers, but Princeton was ineffective at boxing out, so many of those long rebounds ended up back in Penn hands.

At the same time, the Quakers were picking off perimeter passes and forcing turnovers in the open court, giving their offense more chances to make up for missed shots.

Most of those turnovers came in the second half, after the Quakers committed to sticking on their defensive assignments more closely.

"We said we were going to pick up our pressure," Penn freshman Zack Rosen said. "Getting in the passing lanes goes along with that."

"It's hard to win when you turn the ball over 20 times," Tigers forward Patrick Saunders added.

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