The Penn men's basketball team lost for the ninth time in 10 tries this season, falling on Wednesday night to neighborhood rival Drexel, 68-63. The Dragons (6-7) extended their three-point halftime lead to 13 with 11:26 remaining, but the Quakers clawed back. Penn cut the deficit to one at the 5:39 mark, but would get no closer, as Drexel snapped a three-game losing streak against the Quakers. "This is a great win for our program," Drexel center Joe Linderman said. "I'm so excited right now." Linderman caused troubles for Penn all night. The Dragons' big man scored six straight points in one stretch in the second half and finished with a team-high 20. "I don't think we made him make a decision as quickly as we would have liked to," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. Penn was led by senior guard Lamar Plummer, who rebounded from a 3-for-11 shooting performance on Sunday to score 22 against Drexel. Plummer hit 6-of-8 from three-point range and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line. Koko Archibong chipped in 14 and grabbed nine boards for Penn. But poor shooting stifled the Quakers. Penn shot just 35.6 percent from the field and a horrid 47.8 percent from the foul line. The Quakers open their Ivy League season this weekend, hosting Columbia on Friday and Cornell on Saturday. Although Penn has won two consecutive Ivy titles and was the consensus pre-season favorite to three-peat, Dunphy admits that his team is, by no means, invulnerable in the Ancient Eight. "We're inconsistent, and that's what really bothers me," Dunphy said. "Both of those teams are going to come in and think they can beat us at home."
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