St. Louis prevails in an ugly affair

Billikens outlast M. Hoops, 58-51 ST. LOUIS -- Spoonball made a home for itself at the foul line to spoil Cedric Laster's homecoming. In a sloppy but hard-fought contest in front of 16,595 fans and a national ESPN television audience, coach Charlie Spoonhour's Billikens (2-1) held off the Quakers for most of the game before capturing a 58-51 victory at the Kiel Center. "You all watching probably thought this was an ugly game," St. Louis coach Charlie Spoonhour said. "For us, it was just a very good win. This Penn team is very good. They're tough kids and they play a very physical game. Don't let their appearance fool you. They don't play a soft game, they play a very hard game. "They are well coached and they know what they're doing out there. They do stuff right. Luckily for us, they did not shoot the ball very well. They didn't miss during warm-ups, but they couldn't make a thing during the game. They got themselves plenty of open looks, though." Both teams struggled in vain to find the basket, or even any semblance of offensive rhythm. Penn (0-2) shot only 34.9 percent from the floor and 22.2 percent from behind the three-point arc en route to its second consecutive down-to-the-wire setback. In fact, no Quaker with more than three shots made more than half of his attempts. The Billikens made only 41.7 percent of their field goal attempts -- not dazzling by any standard. All the way down the Penn roster, the numbers were disastrous. Senior captain Tim Krug shot 1 of 12; guard Donald Moxley was 3 of 12. The story was the same for everyone -- no Quaker could score consistently. As a result, Penn never put a run together or established control of a game that always seemed to be slipping just out of its reach. Finally, the game did -- literally. But not until the Quakers had given Spoonhour's club all it could handle. Once Billikens forward Vergil Cobbin knocked down a three-pointer from the left wing to give St. Louis a 9-7 lead 6 minutes, 23 seconds into the first half, the Quakers would never again have the upper hand. On four occasions, though, Penn would draw even -- the last being at 38-all with 9:43 to play in the game. But the Quakers could never get over the hurdle. In the game's waning minutes, they again got close before costly turnovers and clutch shooting by the Billikens put the final nail in a coffin Penn's marksmen had been painstakingly constructing all day. After junior point guard Jamie Lyren converted a layup on a beautiful feed from Ira Bowman, Penn had cut the St. Louis lead to 48-47 with less than three minutes remaining. Ferocious Penn defense forced a turnover on an errant pass into the backcourt then led to an over-and-back call, and the Quakers had a chance to reclaim the lead. A missed Moxley jumper was rescued on the offensive boards by Krug, who kicked it out to reset the offense. But Penn would never get another shot at the lead. Bowman tried to ignite the Penn attack by driving the lane, where he promptly lost control of the ball. It bounced straight into the hands of St. Louis forward Jeff Harris, who had an uncontested path to the Quakers' basket. His layup extended the Billikens margin to three, but the Quakers knew it was still a one-possession game. "There's no explanation," Bowman said. "Guys had to step up, and they didn't. The people who had to step up didn't, and I'm not talking about guys who haven't been in these situations before." After another television timeout, it was Lyren who tried his hand at slithering into the heart of the overplaying man-to-man defense St. Louis relied upon all day. The result was the same. Slightly out of control, he too lost the handle and was whistled for a carry. The final nail was supplied courtesy of Cobbin, who, with the shot clock running down, released a trifecta from the same spot as the one that gave the Billikens the lead over an hour before. As Cobbin's bomb splashed through the twine, the shot-clock horn blared, and the Quakers heard their death knell. The shot made it 53-47 with 1:17 remaining. Even though Penn stayed within striking distance throughout the defensive struggle, the Quakers blew valuable chances early. In the early portion of the first half, when both teams were ice cold, Krug missed a dunk and a layup. Moxley missed a layup on the break and Lyren missed a driving layup from the left wing. "I just never showed up today," Krug said. "My offense wasn't there. It's my job to be a leader for this team and I did not do it today. Sure there are positives to be taken, and when you lose, that's what you try to do. But it's enough of that. That's no longer acceptable. We have to start winning games." The missed opportunities close to the basket would prove costly. The St. Louis defense tightened and similar easy opportunities for points never again arose. On a day when the perimeter game was nonexistent, the Red and Blue failed to adjust. They never got the transition game going, Krug could not find himself on the blocks and unlike their hosts, they failed to get to the foul line. The Billikens, on the other hand, lived at the charity stripe. They took advantage of early Penn foul trouble in both halves to earn 24 of their 58 points at the line. Penn was just three of four there. In the opening stanza, Penn picked up its sixth team foul with seven minutes still to play, meaning the next infraction would send St. Louis to the line. Further complicating matters for the Quakers was that Bowman, on whom Dunphy relies to be on the court for the majority of every game, played only nine minutes of that first half with foul trouble. In the second half, the Billikens were in the bonus after only five minutes of play and the double bonus for the final five minutes. While Dunphy did not openly criticize the officiating after the game, he was clearly displeased with the lopsided nature of the foul calls, making several forays after the officials up and down the Kiel Center sidelines. Following the game, he could only muster a sigh and comment that "we're never real frequent visitors to the foul line, but we would have liked to have gotten there a few more times today, and we'd have liked if they had not been there quite as often." The foul calls proved critical for Dunphy, not only because they raised his blood pressure to dangerously high levels, but because the defensive risks Penn could take were limited down the stretch. And it was defense that kept Penn in throughout. By mixing in their trademark man-to-man defense with both a 2-3 zone -- to limit the effectiveness of highly esteemed St. Louis big men Jamal Johnson and Jeff Harris -- and a 1-3-1 trap that forced many of the Billikens' 21 turnovers, Dunphy and his Quakers kept St. Louis off balance all day. Johnson scored only eight points, 14.5 below his average coming in. Harris did score 14, but he was not the dominant presence Penn feared he might be. But as good as the Quakers defense was, most of St. Louis shots came from the free throw line, where all Penn could do was watch in despair.

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