Despite final surge, M. Hoops comes up short

If the Penn men's basketball team plans to keep garnering national attention, it's going to have to beat the teams that count.

In its second loss of the season -- and its first without starting point guard Andrew Toole -- the Quakers (6-2) dropped its matchup in the Big 5 Philly Classic, 67-61, to intracity rival, St. Josephs.

Although the Quakers stayed within striking distance of the No. 18 Hawks, they were never able to close the gap against a determined and talented St. Joseph's (5-1) team.

Penn coach Fran Dunphy surprised fans at the tipoff by starting senior Dan Solomito for the injured Toole, instead of the more obvious choice, point guard David Klatsky.

"I like bringing David off the bench," Dunphy said. "Danny has worked for three and change and deserves this opportunity. He did what we asked him to."

A menagerie of usual bench players stepped up to fill Toole's void. But no matter who Dunphy put in, the shots just weren't falling.

Solomito was held scoreless in the matchup, Klatsky dropped three, Fikiel added one point and Adam Chubb ended with seven. In four minutes, Charlie Copp committed one foul and grabbed a lone rebound, but was unable to cut the Quakers deficit.

Toole wasn't the only thing missing from the Quakers regular line-up. The three-point shot, which has been the Red and Blue's principle offensive weapon so far, was nowhere to be found on Friday.

Going into this weekend's contest, the Quakers were shooting 43.4 percent from downtown. Against St. Joe's tough perimeter defense, that number dropped drastically to a measly 25 percent.

The Quakers went 3-of-8 from three-point land in the first half and 1-of-8 after the break.

"I felt like we ran our offense and executed it," Penn forward Koko Archibong said. "We were getting pretty good shots and, I can only speak for myself, but many of them didn't fall. I think that was a big factor in the game."

These numbers were no accident. St. Joseph's, guided by coach Phil Martelli, studied Penn's offense and understood the pivotal role that the three-point shot played in its offense. The Hawks knew that that if they could limit the Quakers effectiveness from downtown, a victory would be likely follow.

"They're a wonderful passing team and its taught," Martelli said. "A [Penn] guy will dribble-penetrate, and the other four guys run to the three-point line. They don't end up there, they run. This is an extraordinary team they have."

Besides denying the Red and Blue the outside shot, the Hawks clogged up the inside game with the help of center Damian Reid.

Reid finished the day with 14 points, ten rebounds and two blocked shots.

He also dominated the Quakers' on the interior, banishing Penn forwards Ugonna Onyekwe and Archibong from the basket.

In the hard-fought, uncharacteristically sloppy games from both teams, the lone play deserving a place on the highlight reel came with 16:12 left in the first half.

Klatsky dished a long lobbing pass to Chubb, who snatched the ball mid-air and stuffed it into the net for his first points of the season.

But the Quakers would need more than one perfectly executed play to lead them past a very tough Hawks team.

And that extra boost was just not there.

The Quakers were dominated yet again on the board, out-rebounded by the Hawks, on both the offensive and defensive glass. For the game, St. Joe's tallied 13 more rebounds than Penn.

And Onyekwe, for the third straight game, was sent to the bench due to early foul trouble. Against St. Joe's, he picked up two quick fouls, limiting him to only 10 minutes in the first half. Although the Quakers junior forward finished with 21 points, his absence in the first half played a critical role in Penn's early deficit.

"I've got to give him more playing time with those two fouls and take our chances, or he's got to learn a little bit," Dunphy said. "I don't want to play without him that many minutes in the first half."

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