M. Hoops wins battle inside the paint, pounding Princeton in blowout victory

Unlike last weekend against Brown and Yale, Penn did not have a huge height advantage against Princeton -- the Quakers' starting five was only one inch taller than the Tigers' starting five. But it sure did not seem that way, judging from Penn's dominance inside last night. For nearly 24 minutes, the Quakers held Princeton scoreless in the paint. Nate Walton's layup 3:47 into the second half was the first shot the Tigers made inside. In fact, aside from a 15-footer by Chris Young in the first half, Princeton had done all its scoring up to that point on three-pointers and free throws. And, in the same time period, 24 of Penn's 34 points had come from the paint. "It's always a plan of ours to go inside first," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. But the Quakers were not the first to test the area around the basket. After winning the opening tip, Princeton fed the ball immediately to Young, their 6'11" center. And, as a harbinger of things to come, Owens swatted the Tigers sophomore's first shot of the game. Penn's Michael Jordan and Ugonna Onyekwe committed turnovers on each of Penn's first two possessions, but the Quakers were indeed able to get the ball inside on offense on their next two possessions. Owens first hit Jordan on a cut for a layup to give Penn its initial two points and scored himself on a three-foot hook over Princeton forward Ray Robins on the Quakers' next trip down the floor. Last month, Princeton forward Mason Rocca almost single-handedly kept Princeton in the game with 16 second-half points when the Tigers and Quakers matched up in Jadwin Gymnasium. But Rocca was in street clothes last night, sidelined with tendonitis in his ankle. And his replacement, Robins, had all sorts of trouble with Penn -- both on offense and defense. Robins scored just two points on the night and was held to a mere 15 minutes of playing time after picking up three early fouls while guarding Owens. Like he did at Jadwin, Tigers coach Bill Carmody had a forward guarding the Penn center. At Princeton, it was Rocca on Owens, while last night, Robins had the difficult assignment of stopping a player several inches taller than him. Carmody, however, did not second guess himself. "I thought it would have been worse the other way," Carmody said. But it was pretty bad for the Tigers anyway. On the night, Owens scored 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting. And, more surprisingly, the Penn big man showed an uncanny ability to find an open teammate inside, as he dished out a career-high six assists. "I think it's always nice to have that kind of presence in there making good decisions," Dunphy said. "I can't say that that's one of the big fella's strong points, but he certainly did a great job at it tonight." Onyekwe, meanwhile, scored 20 points of his own, including four dunks -- two in a 20-second span late in the second half. Owens and Onyekwe combined for four blocks and three steals, but Carmody did not blame all of his team's shortcomings inside on the Quakers' defense. "We did what we wanted to do offensively," Carmody said. "We just didn't put the ball in the basket. I didn't think their defense bothered us tonight like it did at our place." But whether it was Penn's defense or their own volition, Princeton struggled mightily inside in the first half -- hitting just 1-of-7 shots inside the arc. The second half was a little different inside, as Walton's ability to penetrate and tenacity on the boards helped to close the gap between the frontcourts. But despite Walton's 14 points and nine rebounds in the final 20 minutes, Penn won the scoring battle in the paint, 40-14. "Nate was the only guy that seemed to have life out there," Carmody said. But, like Robins, Walton was hampered by foul trouble and fouled out with 22.7 seconds remaining. The key big man for Princeton was supposed to be Young. But last year's Ivy League Rookie of the Year had not practiced in the last four or five days due to tendonitis in his ankle and had a quiet 16 points on the night. "Chris, he has a sore ankle, but he wasn't moving very well in there," Carmody said. That, in addition to Penn's defense, made it hard for Princeton to find their big man in the post most of the game. And when they did find Young, Owens was often there to at least alter his shot. When Owens was not in the game, the Tigers did have some success on the inside, but not nearly enough to make a difference in the end result.

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