Rosen shut down in loss

Saint Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli had only one day to prepare for Penn after a 60-59 win against Dayton Saturday.

Rather than trying to tailor a specific defensive gameplan against the Quakers’ offensive setup, Martelli had only one goal in mind: keep the ball out of the hands of Penn’s lone playmaker, point guard Zack Rosen.

“You begin and end right now with Rosen being so dominant with the ball,” Martelli said.

Marked by guards Garrett Williamson and Charoy Bentley — and trapped off of every ball screen — Rosen managed only eight points and two field goal attempts. Other than brief flashes by Dan Monckton and Jack Eggleston at the beginning of the game, no one else stepped up to fill the void.

“We knew Williamson was a great defensive player … but we weren’t discouraged by that [and] we anticipated that,” Penn coach Jerome Allen said. “We just didn’t do a good enough job executing on the offensive end and limiting our turnovers.”

In a game that was essentially even in every other statistical category, Penn coughed up a season-high 27 turnovers — compared to only 10 for St. Joe’s — and the Hawks held a 34-6 advantage in points after turnovers. The offense was so disorganized that the Hawks’ 12 steals matched Penn’s assist total for the game.

The Quakers briefly managed to stay in the game thanks to strong play in transition, but in the final 9:47 of the first half they did not manage a single point out of a halfcourt set.

Allen tried to free Rosen by playing him off the ball with either Darren Smith or Malcolm Washington at the point guard spot.

Martelli praised the theory behind that offensive strategy, but his team remained unphased.

“[Those plays] kind of lead to him getting the ball at a different position,” Martelli said. “I think a hard thing for an offensive player like Rosen — for their team — is when you’re coming down the floor and you’re looking at the five defenders all the time.”

It may have seemed that way anyway, as Rosen admitted that it felt “a little bit” like he was being guarded by three or four players.

“They were all over the place,” Rosen said. “They pressured us, and they were in help [defense].”

After a definitive step backward on the offensive end, Allen may have to go back to the drawing board to get his team to regroup and take care of the ball when Ivy League play begins this weekend.

“We’ll sit down, and we’ll come out tomorrow [for practice] at 4:30, and I’m sure Jerome Allen will have all guns loaded,” Rosen said. “He’ll have it figured out; that’s not for me. He’s the man with all the tricks.”

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