Bloodied Kreitz can't be stopped

WASHINGTON -- He was the only one that could stop the bleeding, literally. Penn senior guard Garett Kreitz took matters into his own hands as much as any player could in the Quakers' loss to George Washington last night. The Colonials came into the MCI Center as decided favorites, and left the MCI Center with a scare, squeaking out a 66-62 win. The center of attention for the Colonials: 7'1" Alexander Koul. The Belarusan Tower dawned grins in warmups and he won the opening tip, but first blood was drawn by Kreitz. The 6'1" guard, staring into the midst of the trees in the paint for the Colonials, pulled up and knocked down a three. It wasn't anything new for the Quakers offense, but the shooting display to follow would be. George Washington countered with a quick three by point guard Shawnta Rogers. Kreitz then decided it was time to one-up his counterpart. In the first 4:21 of the game, Kreitz pulled up for three three-point shots, and touched nothing but net every time. The kid simply had it going on. In the process, Penn built up a quick lead of 11-5. "He is a pretty good player," George Washington coach Mike Jarvis said, "and he is a tough kid." Kreitz made the Colonials, many of whom stood almost a foot taller than he, look up to him. He threw the exclamation on the half, knocking down the last shot of the half with his fifth three. Kreitz spelled perfection, going 5-for-5 from the field -- all beyond the arc. His fifteen points accounted for 44 percent of the offense, as Penn took a 34-29 lead going into the locker room. "They were 7-for-10 in the first half," Jarvis said. "If we let them do that again in the second half, we don't deserve to be playing this game." Kreitz didn't get a chance to continue his show in the second half as the Colonials took a tough route to shutting down Kreitz's offense. Less than five minutes into the half, Kreitz took an elbow in the nose from George Washington freshman Pat Ngongba. Kreitz's nose had already been broken in Puerto Rico against Washington State. The blood started pouring from Kreitz's nose on the bench -- and out of the hearts of the Quakers -- as the Colonials went on a run to take the lead. Kreitz sat on the sideline, holding towels pressed against his reconfigured nose, needing to stop the blood to get back on the floor. Burying his head in his towel was symbolically appropriate. The catalyst of the offense undoubtedly couldn't bear to watch as his team lost the lead without him. By the time he had enough tissue wadded in his nose so that he could re-enter the game, the Quakers were trailing 52-47. In Kreitz's 7:50 absence, Penn was outscored 18-8. "I've had surgery set up for Tuesday morning since last week to fix it," Kreitz said. "The elbow, I don't know who it was, shifted it a little bit more to the left." Kreitz started the Quakers' last surge with a long , rainbow-like three, leading to gold and drawing a foul. The shot put the Quakers ahead 56-53, but he was unable to convert the four point play. He built the Quaker lead to 62-58 with a floating banker a minute and a half later. However, Kreitz's scoring stopped there. The Quakers' game-tying shot attempt was drawn up for Kreitz with 26.1 seconds left. Mescheriakov slipped his screen and got his 6'8" frame in front of the Quakers' long-range bomber, altering his jumpshot. Despite the loss, Kreitz's final numbers were sparkling. The effort gave Kreitz a tie for his career high with 24 points.

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