M. Hoops beats La Salle in OT to claim Big 5 title

Penn - 81 La Salle - 76

It took an extra five minutes, but the Penn men's basketball team finished off its non-conference schedule with an 81-76 overtime win over La Salle last night.

In the process, the Quakers (14-4, 4-0 Big 5) wrapped up the Big 5 title and went undefeated in the City Series for the first time since the 1973-74 season.

Early on, the game looked like it would be a coronation, as the Quakers grabbed a quick lead over the Explorers (8-12, 1-1), on the strength of three straight three-point baskets to open the scoring.

"The first five, six seven minutes of the game, Penn took us out of our offense," La Salle coach Billy Hahn said. "Their start was phenomenal, and the three-ball hurt us."

On the strength of almost 50-percent shooting from beyond the arc, the Quakers built their lead to as much as 20 with under 10 minutes remaining in the half before the Explorers started chipping away.

La Salle "is as hard a playing team as we've faced in our first 18 games," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "We shot it very well early, but you know they're going to make a run."

The Quakers scored just five points over the last seven minutes of the half, enabling the Explorers to pull within nine.

After the break, Penn seemed to be holding La Salle at arm's length, but the Explorers' starters made a push at the end.

La Salle forward Rasual Butler scored 26 of his 30 points in the second half, while freshman point guard Mike Cleaves had nine points and five assists after the break.

"Butler's such a terrific player," Dunphy said. "He made some shots tonight that were just terrific. And Cleaves, we just couldn't keep him in front of us. He kept blowing by us and making great plays."

One of Cleaves' biggest plays was hitting one of two free throws to pull the teams even at 62 with under a minute left in regulation. Cleaves also had the ball at with three seconds remaining, but his would-be buzzer-beater fell short.

Cleaves "sort of glanced at the clock to see if he had time to get a shot off," Hahn said. "I wish he'd just taken the shot, because if the clock beats him, then it beats him."

Quakers forward Ugonna Onyekwe began the overtime scoring with a left-handed hook over La Salle's Butler, but Cleaves dished to Rasheed Quadri at the other end who buried a three-pointer to give the Explorers their first lead of the game.

But freshman guard Tim Begley answered with a three-pointer, just the second for the Quakers after halftime, which gave Penn the lead for good.

"That was a big shot, a huge shot," Dunphy said.

While Begley's shot was huge, it was not as impressive as forward Koko Archibong's thunderous, tomahawk dunk from the left side of the lane, which gave the Quakers a 71-67 advantage with about two minutes left. Archibong finished with nine points on 4 for 7 shooting, while pulling down 11 rebounds.

While Dunphy was happy with the win, he would have preferred a little more breathing room at the end.

"We probably made [the game] a little bit harder on ourselves than we needed to," Dunphy said. "It would've been nice to close it out a little bit better, but maybe that's what this team is about, facing adversity and overcoming it."

Forward Adam Chubb played a larger-than-usual role in the Quakers' win. The sophomore scored 13 points on 5 for 7 shooting while pulling down three rebounds in just 22 minutes.

On more than one occasion, Chubb was in position to put back a teammate's shot or to take a pass in the lane and finish with a two-handed dunk, which he did twice.

"He made great contributions," Dunphy said. "And I'm very very happy for him. He did a great job tonight in all ways. He's such an athletic guy, he can play a big role for us."

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