St. Joe's has no answer for Penn's guards

Michael Jordan, Matt Langel and Lamar Plummer were the catalysts on both sides of the floor last night. Their position may be termed the "back"court, but after their performance in last night's 66-58 victory over St. Joseph's, it's obvious that the Quakers guards will not be taking a "back" seat to anyone. Junior starters Matt Langel and Michael Jordan and sophomore guard Lamar Plummer were the team's three leading scorers, combining to score 41 points from the two perimeter spots. Langel and Jordan were also the Quakers' two leading rebounders with 18 between them. Defensively, the Quakers backcourt held the Hawks' three guard rotation -- sophomore N'aim Crenshaw, freshman Larry Jennings and senior Tim Brown -- to just 7-for-21 shooting, or 33.3 percent. The Hawks guards -- who apparently could not continue playing defense for as long as their mascot could continue flapping his wing -- were limited to two rebounds, a whopping 16 fewer than their cross-city counterparts. Jordan and Langel exhibited their poise and experience by leading a patient offense that was content to make the extra pass instead of taking the first available shot. The Hawks, with Penn's guards harassing their two first-year players in the backcourt, often did exactly the opposite. Among the three key players in the Quakers backcourt, the big star of the night was once again the team's on-court leader, tri-captain Jordan. The point guard -- who averaged 16 points in Big 5 wins over Temple and La Salle -- netted 21 points last night, leading all scorers. Almost more importantly, though, Jordan recorded five steals on the night that led to nine Quakers points. His defensive pressure also contributed to the Hawks' 36 percent shooting on the night. "Michael Jordan can come out and create. He has a fearlessness about him," St. Joe's coach Phil Martelli said. "We thought that in the beginning of the game that he would be hyped and kind of jumping around, and then we threw the ball to him twice in the beginning of the game." On St. Joe's second trip down the court, Jordan stepped in front of a pass by Crenshaw and raced down the court for an easy layup. Five minutes later Jordan did it again, building the Quakers lead to six. But wish as the Hawks might for a reprieve after Jordan's three first-half steals, the All-Ivy guard was not done yet. And so Jordan, in the midst of a 21-8 Penn run to open the second half, brought down the house -- as well as Hawks coach Phil Martelli's hands upon his shoulders for a 20-second timeout -- with a steal and pull-up trey to put the Quakers up 46-36 with just over 11 minutes remaining. "Jordan's three really hurt our momentum," Hawks senior forward Robert Haskins said. "[Jordan] came out and hit the three, and they had confidence. We tried to fight back from that, but things didn't really work out well." Not to be outdone by his backcourt-mate, though, shooting guard Langel kept the Hawks busy in his own right --Erecording a game- and career-high 11 rebounds. "I don't think Dennis Rodman has to worry," Langel said. "But St. Joe's crashes the boards real hard, and that's something we talked about after getting outrebounded by Colgate. Somebody had to step up and get some loose balls and some extra rebounds, so I tried to do that tonight." On the offensive end Langel was no slouch either, going 4-of-6 on the night -- including a long three-pointer with just over two minutes remaining that extended the Quakers' lead to 60-52 and effectively broke the Hawks' back. "I think that some of the threes that I took earlier were a little rushed and were a little early in the offense," Langel said. "[But] that last three, I got a good screen, and I got a good look, and it went down." Coming off of the bench early on as part of a Quakers three-guard set, sophomore guard Lamar Plummer hit for the Quakers only two three-pointers of the first half. The second of these knotted the game at 28 and ended a Hawks rally heading into halftime. "We need all eight guys really contributing greatly, because somebody is not going to play well against a team like this," Quakers coach Fran Dunphy said. "And Lamar made some key jumpers." Jordan, Langel and Plummer --showing poise down the stretch unlike the erratic play of their Hawks counterparts -- accounted for 13 of the Quakers last 17 points and hit 8-of-9 free throws down the stretch to seal the victory. So despite 19 turnovers and the frontcourt's scoring struggles, the Quakers' three-guard rotation strapped the team on its back to pull out Penn's sixth straight victory.

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