Penn travels to Hawk Hill

Penn men's basketball guard Matt Maloney has never played at Alumni Fieldhouse, but the Cherry Hill, N.J., native whose father is an assistant coach at Temple knows it is a hostile gymnasium. The cozy arena on Hawk Hill where the fans are close to the action and the cheering is often deafening is the home of St. Joseph's basketball. It will host an intense unofficial Big 5 game between the Penn men's basketball team and the Hawks tomorrow at 5 p.m. (SportsChannel, WGMP-AM 1210). "It's going to be a tough one," Maloney said. "They have a well-balanced attack. It's going to be a really fun game to watch as well as to play." "It's pretty loud. You feel the people because in the ends they're right on you," said Penn forward Eric Moore, who played there while in high school and compares the closeness of the fans to the Palestra. The Hawks (8-5) are coming off a loss to DePaul last night on the road, but return home where they are 5-0 this season. St. Joe's defeated Drexel 78-73 in the second half of Tuesday's Palestra doubleheader. The Quakers beat La Salle in the first game, 90-71. Penn (9-2) will be practicing at Alumni Fieldhouse today. They will continue to work on keeping the Hawks from dominating the boards. "They're strong inside -- really physical. That's sort of to my liking," Moore said. "If we play our game, we should be all right." The Quakers' game plan is to continue their unselfish play -- passing the ball around the perimeter to find the open man who can then hit a three-pointer. Leading the rebound-conscious St. Joe's frontcourt is 6-foot-7 junior Reggie Townsend, the Hawks' leading scorer. He scored 10 points last night and is averaging 15.5 ppg. Townsend is shooting 64.4 percent from the field. While Town-send is a force in the frontcourt, Bernard Blunt returns from a severe knee injury last season to bolster a team which finished 14-14 in 1993-94. A season ago the Hawks beat Massachusetts and West Virginia in Atlantic 10 games, and coach John Griffin, a 1978 St. Joe's graduate, is looking to rally around that success and Blunt's return to the lineup this season. Blunt is the Hawks all-time leading scorer. He is also the all-time leading rebounder in the guard position. However, Blunt has struggled shooting, including a 2-for-9 performance last night. "Initially it really set us back," said Griffin of Blunt's injury. "We did start to make up for it with big play from guys who didn't have a chance to play before. The team started to form an identity." Penn won last year's official Big 5 matchup at the Spectrum, 79-77, but St. Joe's had won the previous 14 games.