AT COURTSIDE: Moxley is perfect in the clutch

La Salle coach Speedy Morris was clearly confused and frustrated after Saturday's Big Five contest against Penn. His Explorers had just lost their fourth game in eight days. Three of those setbacks, including this 68-66 overtime loss to the Quakers, were by a combined five points, and Morris was talking about his team's unfortunate knack for losing close games. "You've got to make foul shots and make shots close to the basket," Morris said. "You've got to find a way to win. There are no secrets. You just have to find tougher people who can do that and win." Morris didn't have someone like that on Saturday. The Quakers did. And he made the difference. Donald Moxley's play fulfilled all of Morris' requirements for a clutch, game-winning performance. He made the important free throws and hit the big shots. In all, the senior guard scored a career-best 24 points. And for good measure, Moxley threw in seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. But it was Moxley's game-winning shot with 2.5 seconds remaining in overtime that sealed the banner afternoon for the senior swingman. "It was certainly a big shot by Donald Moxley," said Penn coach Fran Dunphy of the final bucket. "I thought he played very well throughout the game." On a day when usual Penn heroes Ira Bowman (11 points) and Tim Krug (13 points) struggled at times on offense, Moxley filled the void. Bowman committed two quick fouls and spent much of the first half on the bench -- he had only three points at halftime. Still, the Quakers led 38-31 after the first 20 minutes, thanks in large part to Moxley. Despite picking up two early fouls himself and playing only 12 first-half minutes, he scored 11 points and made four of six shots, including two of three from three-point range. But the best was yet to come -- in the second half and in overtime. Led by a flash of eight points from Moxley, Penn went on a 19-9 run early in the second half. His three-pointer from the top of the key capped the run and extended the Quakers lead to fifteen, 57-42, with 12:43 left in regulation. And when La Salle managed to tie the game and send it into overtime, it only set the stage for more Moxley heroics. "I was a little disappointed at the end of regulation," Moxley said. "I thought we had a large lead, and it's kind of frustrating when you have such a large lead and you come back to the bench and it's a tie game. "We told each other in the huddle that this is our game, we've got to come out and play like it's our game, and take it back." After both teams failed to score on several possessions in the unbearably tense extra period, Moxley broke the ice by nailing two free throws -- something that hasn't always been easy for Penn this year. And of course there was the game-winner, an improvised driving runner in the lane, that gave the Quakers the win and earned Moxley a mobbing from his teammates after the buzzer. "Obviously, Donald made the play," Dunphy said. "It wasn't this great X-and-O screen and fade and look in the middle. Donald made it all by himself." "It's something I've always watched on TV, in the pros and in college," Moxley said of hitting the winning shot. "To be in the Spectrum, to play there, it's a wonderful place, it's a great atmosphere. I had a lot of adrenaline flowing in me. I felt I had to try and give it my best shot."