Penn downs Eastern Illinois

Penn (2-1) bounced back from a close-but-not-quite Thursday night loss to the number 2 team in the nation to solidly defeat Eastern Illinois, 77-60, Friday night in Las Vegas.

In the third round of the holiday Las Vegas International Tournament, the Quakers returned to the win column and positioned themselves to play for third place in the 8-team round robin tournament on Saturday.

The Quakers were led by Koko Archibong, who turned in a career-high 26 point performance on 8-for-11 shooting from the field and 9-for-9 mastery from the foul line. Ugonna Onyekwe and Andrew Toole each contributed 16 points.

Archibong scored the first Quaker points from the line 90 seconds into the game, and proceeded to knock down 11 points in the first 8 minutes enroute to a 18-12 Penn lead. A 9-0 Quaker run late in the first half opened up a 40-26 lead, and the game was never in doubt after that. Penn led 42-29 at halftime, with nearly half its scoring coming from Archibong's explosive 20-point half. The Quakers shot 64 percent from the field in the half.

Eastern Illinois opened the second half with two quick baskets, but the Quakers answered back with a 7-0 scoring run. Penn widened the gap to as many as 25 points late in the game. The Quaker defense shut down Panther leading scorer Henry Domercant, whose 14 first-half points were followed with only 4 points in the last 20 minutes.

Friday's game was the first-ever meeting between Penn and Eastern Illinois.

The Quakers end their Las Vegas trip with a game Saturday (8 p.m. Eastern) against Iowa State for third place in the tournament. The Cyclones beat St. Louis on Friday and Hartford on Monday, but lost 66-57 to Southern Illinois on Thanksgiving Day. In the battle of unbeatens, Southern Illinois will face Illinois in the tourney title game.

Read about Thursday's near upset against Illinois

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