GAME ANALYSIS: Owens pounds Lehigh inside with second double-double

This was what Penn coach Fran Dunphy envisioned when he brought 6'11" center Geoff Owens on board three years ago. The Quakers junior posted his second double-double of the year -- 11 rebounds to go with a career-high 18 points -- in last nights' 73-56 downing of Lehigh. The sparse crowd in attendance for the game could tell that something big was up from the very start. Owens won his first opening tip of the season and hit a foul-line jumper 16 seconds later to give the Quakers a lead they would never relinquish. "That was a fear that I had, that if [Owens] could really dominate inside we'd be in trouble. And he did," Lehigh coach Sal Metesana said. "I don't know how many [points] he had tonight, but it seemed like every time I looked up he was dunking or tipping one in or getting a follow-up." The first seven and a half minutes of the game saw Owens score six of the Quakers 13 points, including a thunderous dunk over two of the Engineers undersized "big men." "[Matt Langel] called me the play," Owens said of his rim-rattling dunk. "He led me [with his pass] and I didn't even see anybody there when I turned, but then they tried to come over there a little late. It was a pretty easy shot." During this early sequence, Owens also recorded one of his two blocks and one of his three assists on the evening -- stuffing a driving Brett Eppehimer like a Thanksgiving turkey and firing a three-quarter-length-court pass to teammate Michael Jordan for the lay-up and a 13-8 lead. A true testament to Owens' big effort was his play when it mattered most -- the waning minutes of the first half. With the Quakers lead down to 27-22 and less than five minutes remaining before the break, Owens catalyzed the Quakers to a 15-4 run to close the half and break the Engineers' morale. Owens scored on three consecutive trips down the floor, netting six of his 12 first-half points on two back-down layups and a pair of free throws in a 90 second span. Not one to be outplayed on either end of the court, Owens recorded his second block on Engineers center Sah-U-Ra Brown in the midst of his offensive flurry. "I just wish we had been a little more physical in that last five minutes [of the first half]," Metesana said. "They were a little more aggressive and took it to us and kind of knocked it too us a little bit." Not yet done for the night, Owens was sure not to leave his game in the locker room during halftime. The junior pulled down seven rebounds -- including three on the offensive end -- in the second half. All told, Owens recorded more offensive rebounds than the Engineers' starting five. Owens' strong rebounding play on the offensive glass, though, was not the full story -- as all three of these rebounds were also tip-ins. In the final 20 minutes, the man in the middle scored all six of his points from within two feet of the hoop. "I'm always going to the boards hard, always trying to work and get inside position," Owens said. "Sometimes you have a game where you go ten minutes and the ball goes to the other side all the time. But tonight, for three plays in a row there, I just went around my guy, tried to box out, and just got an easy tip-in." More than the statistics tell, the Quakers starting center played a huge role in the win last night. In size and presence alone, Owens gave the Quakers a much-needed inside threat at both ends of the court. "You could see the difference last year playing [Penn] without him," Metesana said sullenly. "We could actually get to the rim a little bit." Setting career highs in points and assists -- and coming within one rebound of yet another -- in only 25 minutes of action, Owens' inside play was key to the Quakers victory. "I think [Geoff] is pretty well back to normal -- I thought the big fella did a great job with second-chance opportunities in the second half," Dunphy said. "But I'm not surprised by that because of his work ethic. I don't think there are a lot of guys out there who work as hard as he does or wants it as bad as he does."

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