Dan McQuade: Palestra hosts a Classic

It was the second half of the opener, pitting Drexel against St. Joseph's. Hawks guard Delonte West stole the ball from David Hilton on the sideline.

There was some contact. Both sidelines screamed at the referees, begging for the call to go their way. Drexel coach Bruiser Flint screamed something that he probably shouldn't have.

He got a technical foul. The crowd -- a full 8,722 at the Palestra -- roared in enjoyment, disgust or excitement.

"Bruiser's an embarrassment to the Big 5," a fan behind the St. Joe's bench screamed. "That's why Drexel's not in it!"

St. Joseph's had a healthy lead at the time and would hold on to win in an ugly contest. But that moment, with the entire crowd and both benches on their feet, was a fitting moment of almost tribute to the second annual Big 5 Classic.

Not every game was great. In fact, two of them were awful. St. Joseph's and Drexel shot a combined 31-for-98. While Penn played tremendously, Temple hit only 4-of-22 three-pointers and looked lost. The middle game was the only well-played contest. It showcased two young squads -- La Salle and Villanova -- that could be factors on the national scene in the years to come.

That's not to say the afternoon was a disappointing one. When a packed Palestra is rocking, it's impossible to go home disappointed -- even if your school lost.

Near the end of the Hawks' 50-37 victory, the St. Joe's crowd chanted, "Start the buses!" to the disappointed Drexel fans, who probably didn't take buses to the gym that is practically on their campus.

And then there was the clever TEMPLE: BEST OF THE BIG 0-5 sign rolled out after the Quakers' 71-46 thrashing. This was after, of course, the Owls' fans did an "E-A-G-L-E-S" chant with 14 minutes left in the second half.

The coaches were great too. After his team shot 8-for-20 from the free throw line, La Salle coach Billy Hahn said, "My assistants were in charge of free throw shooting this week."

Then there's the brutal honesty of Temple's John Chaney, who said that "the rebounding efforts of [starting forward Antywane] Robinson and [starting center Keith] Butler have just been horrendous."

"My kids' confidence may have been destroyed because of me," the Owls' grizzled coach continued. "But, guess what: tomorrow I'm going to beat the shit out of them, and I'm going to keep beating the shit out of them until a light goes off."

Flint was at it, as well, comparing the Big 5 to a "good old boys network," when asked if Drexel should have a banner up with the other city schools in the Palestra.

"Those things are tough to crack," he said. "Just ask Augusta National."

It was the moments in the games, however, that made the day truly matter.

There was West pushing St. Joseph's to a big halftime lead with a pair of sweet threes. There was La Salle freshman Gary Neal playing the game of his life, scoring 19 points in a reserve role and keeping the Explorers in it until the very end against the Wildcats. There was Villanova's Ricky Wright scoring 21 points and pulling down 12 boards, a senior showing all the freshmen how the game is played.

There was Temple's Alex Wesby dropping 27 in a losing effort, playing his heart out until the end. One shudders to think how bad Penn would have beaten Temple if Wesby had not shot 11-for-17.

There was Penn's David Klatsky coming off the bench to shoot 7-for-8 from the field for a career-high 18 points. And there was Pat Lang staying a perfect 100 percent from the field in his collegiate career, with a three pointer from the corner.

It was a day of sweet plays and strange things, like the Wildcats playing six guys for 20 seconds and nobody noticing. Nobody included official William Bush III.

"Hey William, they have six guys on the floor," Hahn screamed as 'Nova got away with one.

A few years ago they declared the Big 5 dead. Saturday showed that it's better than ever.

"That's all right, they can ask as many questions as they want," Chaney said after the Temple Sports information director said that this was the last question at the postgame press conference. "You know I enjoy this."

Me, too, coach. Me, too.

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