Defense stifles Tigers in win

The Quakers stonewalled Princeton, hgihlighted by a nine-minute Tigers scoreless stretch in the first half. PRINCETON, N.J. -- This is what you need to know to understand why the Penn men's basketball team defeated Princeton last night -- the Tigers were beaten at their own defensive game. And never more soundly than during a nine-minute stretch of the first half. From the 12:45 mark, when Princeton center Chris Young drained a three-pointer from the top of the key, to Tigers forward Ahmed El-Nokali's backdoor layup with 3:23 remaining in the half, the Orange and Black were outhustled, outmuscled and outplayed. Twice, the shot clock expired on the Tigers' offense without so much as a clean look at the basket. Twice, Koko Archibong picked off Princeton passes, converting one errant feed from El-Nokali into a breakaway slam that brought the scattered Penn faithful to their feet. And Geoff Owens crowned Penn's defensive stand with a sendback of a C. J. Chapman layup attempt, his first of three rejections on the evening. Ugonna Onyekwe added four blocks. "They stopped us from doing what we wanted," Princeton coach Bill Carmody said. "Chris [Young] wasn't able to do too much?. They took away our perimeter guys pretty much. "I thought their defense was very, very good." Boy, was it ever. The Tigers shot a ghastly 28.8 percent from the field, connecting on only 4-of-17 three pointers and 15-of-52 shots overall from the floor. Young went 3-for-10 from the field; Chapman, 3-for-9; Mason Rocca, 4-for-16. And much-hyped freshman Spencer Gloger was practically invisible in 25 minutes of court time, taking only three shots and missing them all. Penn coach Fran Dunphy was quick to credit the Quakers' post defense for the Tigers' shooting woes. "I think Geoff and Ugonna are very difficult to score over," Dunphy said. "Those two guys inside with their ability to block shots and change shots is very helpful to our defense." Quakers-killer Rocca -- who tallied a game-high 16 points, largely from the foul line -- learned that lesson the hard way down the stretch. The Princeton senior was rejected by both Owens and Onyekwe during the last three minutes of the game. But the defense of players like Archibong -- who added a blocked shot to his two steals -- and Oggie Kapetanovic was every bit as crucial to the Quakers' victory as Owens' and Onyekwe's shot blocking. Kapetanovic vs. Chris Young. Few pre-game pundits would have given the Brown transfer much of a chance against the Princeton star. But the videotape doesn't lie -- the 6'10" Kapetanovic shut the high-scoring Young down with glove-tight defense and hustle in 18 clutch minutes, allowing Owens to rest and remain out of foul trouble. "You can always play defense, even on a bad night," a reflective Owens said after the game. "Overall we've just been able to beat teams with our defense." Defense, indeed. No one individual can possibly claim credit for the Quakers' most dominating achievement: The vaunted Princeton passing game produced only eight assists on the night, well below the team's 16.5 per game season average. Coach Dunphy's take? "I thought our defense was good." But however good the Quakers may have been all game long, it was that nine-minute first half stretch that defined this game. For nine minutes, the Tigers' shots simply would not, could not, did not fall. For nine minutes, it didn't matter that Penn was having only intermittent success putting the ball through the hoop at the other end of the court. For nine minutes, all that mattered was that Princeton was having no success whatsoever. This was not the first time Penn has shut down an opponent this season with post defense and aggressive guard play. In four out of seven Ivy games, Penn has held its opponent to fewer than 20 first half points; no Ivy team has posted more than 22 in the first session. But Princeton's players have a little more talent than your typical Ivy League roster. The Tigers are the type of team Penn had struggled to shut down all year long. Last night, the Quakers finally did.