The Quakers were close, but never quite caught up to No. 4 seed Illinois WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- For the Penn Quakers, the door was open. The chance to pull off an upset was right in front of them. But as the seconds ticked off the clock, that chance slowly slipped further from their grasp and soon disappeared as the clock wound down at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Fourth-seeded Illinois would be the one to move on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and the 13th-seeded Penn men's basketball team (21-8) would soon find itself on a plane back to Philadelphia from Winston-Salem, N.C. Penn's Ivy League championship season came to an abrupt end last Friday, as the Fighting Illini (22-10) came away with a 68-58 victory in the first round of the Eastern Regional. "We had a number of opportunities in the second half, but we missed a couple of easy chances at that," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "Against a team like Illinois that will hurt you badly." Penn's inability to capitalize on their chances indeed hurt in the end. Despite limiting star Illinois guard Cory Bradford to just five points on 2-of-9 shooting and forcing 11 turnovers in the second half, the Quakers were just never able to close the gap. Part of the reason for the loss was the fact that center Geoff Owens and senior point guard Michael Jordan found themselves in early foul trouble. Part of it was because the Quakers shot just 34.6 percent from the field in the second half, and part was that the Red and Blue could not get to the foul line enough. These parts added up to a victory for Illinois, which went on to fall to Florida in the second round on Sunday. "We were pleased with the number of turnovers we forced. We were disappointed that Mike [Jordan] and Geoff [Owens] got into foul trouble," Dunphy said. "A culmination of a lot of those factors leads to the fact that a good team like Illinois wins the game." Another reason for Illinois coming away with the win was the stellar play of freshman point guard Frank Williams. While Bradford, last year's Big 10 Freshman of the Year, was never able to make an impact against the Quakers, it was Williams who did much of the damage. The freshman scored a career-high 21 points in 35 minutes of action. "[Williams] stepped up and made some outstanding shots. He penetrated and laid the ball up, and we didn't play well enough defensively," Jordan said. "He is a good player, a scoring machine and that is what he did." It's also exactly what the Quakers did not do. Penn opened the game with a 6-2 lead on three-pointers by Ugonna Onyekwe and Matt Langel. That lead, however, did not last very long. With 17 minutes and six seconds remaining in the first half, Williams buried a three. That sparked a 16-0 run by the Illini, giving them a 18-6 lead, one they would never relinquish. Penn eventually closed that lead, but as the margin got smaller, the Quakers started finding themselves in foul trouble. With 11:52 remaining in the half, Jordan picked up his first foul. Thirty-nine seconds later, Dunphy had him on the bench with three personals. "I never got three fouls in the span of like 30 seconds before," Jordan said. "I should have backed off, but I try to play with as much intensity as I can." Owens also found himself on the bench with three fouls of his own as the first half wound down. With starting Illini center Brian Cook only playing 13 minutes, Owens was often matched up with reserve center Marcus Griffin, who finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Griffin consistently found his way to the basket, and the Quakers often reacted by fouling. "That was one of our main focuses going in," Griffin said. "We had to let them know the Big 10 is a rough, tough conference." With Owens seated on the sidelines, Dunphy turned to reserves Oggie Kapetanovic and Koko Archibong. As time expired in the first half, Kapetanovic hit a short baseline jumper to pull the Quakers to within five at 34-29. It seemed as though Penn might have finally gained the momentum. After a turnover by Bradford to open the second half, Jordan made a slashing drive down the lane to cut the Illini's lead to three. Three minutes later, as Frank Brown swished a jumper from the top of the key, Penn was only trailing by one at 38-37. But then it all fell apart. Three-pointers by Langel missed the mark, and Onyekwe's layups just would not go down. During the last minute, Penn resorted to fouling the Illini. Illinois buried most of its foul shots and walked off the court with a 68-58 win. And so, an Ivy championship season came to an end. The Langel-Jordan era in the Penn backcourt is over. A 16-game winning streak was halted, and the Quakers returned home with another less-than-memorable tournament performance. The chance was there, but Penn was simply not able to take hold of it.
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