Penn - 62 St. Joseph - 60
The Penn men's basketball team improved to 13-4 on the season and 3-0 in the Big 5 with a narrow 62-60 win over St. Joseph's on Saturday.
The Quakers were led by junior forward Ugonna Onyekwe, who had 17 points and 13 rebounds. Marvin O'Connor led the Hawks (12-5, 0-1) with 29 points.
The Hawks had a chance to tie the game with 1.9 seconds left, but Na'im Crenshaw missed the front end of a one-and-one, O'Connor's follow went in and out, and center Alexandre Sazanov's putback was a ruled just after the buzzer by the officials.
After St. Joe's tied the score at 56, the Quakers scored six consecutive points, capped by a jumper by Archibong with just under three minutes to play. A layup by Damian Reid and two O'Connor free throws put the Hawks within two with a minute and a half to play.
Onyekwe had several chances to put away the game, but missed six consecutive free throws on three trips down the court. The Hawks, however, missed inside shots on two consecutive posessions.
Koko Archibong had 16 points and Andy Toole had 14 for the Quakers, who have won seven of eight. Jameer Nelson had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Cityliners.
Penn next plays against LaSalle on Tuesday at the Tom Gola Center in the Olney section of Philadelphia. A win would give the Quakers their first outright Big 5 title since 1973-74.
