M. Hoops wins, but it was ugly

Years from now, Quaker fans might remember being unable to feel their feet on the way home from some Penn basketball game, but they certainly will not remember any details of the affair they witnessed inside the Palestra. It was not an inspiring performance, but the Quakers still won by 17. It was never a close game, yet it was never a rout. The game had little flow, and was never really interesting. Need some evidence this game was not special? Consider Penn senior captain Barry Pierce's appraisal of his play in the Quakers 88-71 victory over Lafayette last night at the Palestra. "I had maybe 30 or 40 wide-open jump shots and I made like none," Pierce said. "It is kind of sad. I don't have too many more opportunities to play well at the Palestra." Oh, by the way, Pierce led all scorers with 20 points and collected a game high 11 rebounds. Yet he did miss all five of his three-point attempts and hit only 4 of 13 shots from the field. Penn coach Fran Dunphy's response to Pierce's self-assessment was perhaps the high-water mark of the evening. "I've told Barry a million times not to exaggerate," Dunphy said. Well, it was the high-water mark inside the Palestra anyway. The rest of the game can be summarized by peeking at the playing time of Donald Moxley. Moxley, who normally does not play until the score has been firmly decided in Penn's favor, saw seven minutes of action in the first half, but only 17 seconds in the second half. The Quakers anticipated a rout, but it never materialized. Dunphy left the regulars on the court until the final minute. Penn built a 16-point lead in the first half, despite never really looking in sync. In the second half, the Quakers twice widened the lead to 21 (45-24 and 54-33) before Lafayette closed the gap to 10 at 67-57. The Leopards never got any closer, however, as the lead bounced between 10 and 12 points several times before Penn extended it to the eventual 17-point margin of victory. The Quakers never slammed the door on the Leopards. The winds of time slowly blew it shut. To its credit, however, Penn never did let the Leopards ever get back in the game. Actually, Lafayette was never in the game. After spotting the Leopards a 4-2 lead, Penn scored eight consecutive points to lead 10-4. Several minutes of sloppy basketball later, Penn led 21-15, when Penn sophomore forward Tim Krug stole a pass and took it three-quarters of the court for a slam dunk. On the Quakers next possession, Krug buried a three-pointer and Penn was up by 11. The Quaker first-half advantage was largely thanks to Lafayette turnovers. Penn converted 14 Leopard turnovers into 14 points, while Lafayette scored only three points off three Quaker miscues. Penn played a strong defensive first half, but shot only 36 percent from the floor. In the second half, the Quakers tallied an impressive 48 points on 53-percent shooting, but the defense was porous and the ball handling sloppy. Penn yielded 47 points, and the Quakers equalled Lafayette's 11 second-half turnovers. "I thought they scored an awful lot of points in the second half with some lapses of defense by us," Dunphy said. Offensively, Penn's only lapses were the turnovers. Five Quakers scored in double figures. Surprisingly, junior guard Jerome Allen was not on that list as he finished with only six points and seven assists. Neither was sophomore guard Scott Kegler, but he did hit three clutch treys. "I thought we had enough good shots for us in the second half, and you are going to make your share," Dunphy said. "Teams are going to take Matt Maloney out, and Jerome out and Barry out. They left Barry alone a little bit tonight, but I'll take that a lot of nights." Lafayette coach John Leone would also take his team's effort on a lot of nights. He would also take the scoring balance. Five Leopards hit double figures, led by sophomore forward Joe Marshall and fellow classmate Craig Kowadla, who chipped in 16 points apiece. The turnovers and the missed free throws, though, Leone could do without. Lafayette's main nemesis was its turnovers. Thirteen of the Leopards' 25 turnovers were Penn steals. Leone attributed half of the turnovers to the inexperience of freshmen L.J. Bennett and Ray Toomer, who were filling in for injured leading scorer Keith Brazzo. Five more can be traced to Allen steals, one of which he culminated in an emphatic slam dunk. The dunk gave Penn a 59-40 lead, and brought the slowly awakening Palestra crowd to its feet. Then the Leopards started a 17-8 surge to close the gap back to 10. But poor free-throw shooting prevented Lafayette from getting closer. The Leopards connected on only 12 of 25 free throws. "If we make half our free throws that we missed, who knows," said Lafayette coach John Leone.