Daniel McQuade: Penn makes key plays in the clutch

NEW YORK -- Clang. Ugonna Onyekwe's dunk attempt in the second half sent the Columbia stands into cheers. Tweet. Those screams abruptly turned into boos. It was that kind of weekend for the Penn men's basketball team. After escaping two of the Ivy League's worst gyms -- which host two of the league's worst teams -- with victories, there's only one thing swingman Jeff Schiffner can say. "A win's a win, and at this point, we only have 10 games left," he said. "And we're going to take every one we can get." Penn did lose a few close games earlier this season -- Drexel, Delaware and Providence -- but this weekend, it held off a pesky Cornell squad and slouched by Columbia. The Columbia game in particular brought back memories of last season's first game, where the Lions and Quakers played a low-scoring, boring contest -- except that last year, Columbia pulled off a shocking 54-53 victory. So what made this year's 47-40 win different, other than the location and the result? And why is this year's team shaping up to be actually in better league standing than last year's 'cardiac kids' squad? "We're learning how to make plays down the stretch," Onyekwe said. Onyekwe did more than just make plays. He and Koko Archibong usually have problems with early fouls, but both stayed out of early trouble against the Lions. Neither had a foul until Archibong got one on a charge with less than a second left in the first half. It was a good sign for Penn on Saturday night, but whether this is a trend remains to be seen. "I hope so. Your guess is as good as mine," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "We don't need them getting into early foul trouble, and we need them on the floor as much as we can." It was a big change from the night before, when the two both played limited minutes because of a few early fouls. Onyekwe played 24 minutes and Archibong only 22 as both had four fouls. And although Archibong picked up some quick fouls in the second half, Penn wasn't nearly in the amount of trouble it could have been in because of his solid, clean play in the first half. Dunphy said after Saturday's game that he didn't think the shooting was particularly good over the weekend. He was right about the second night -- only 14-for-41 from the field -- but the first night, Penn shot 52 percent. "I thought our numbers were good [Friday]," Dunphy said. "We weren't as crisp as we would have liked to have been." If that's bad shooting for Penn, then when the Quakers are on, there are going to be repeats of last year's 100-point, free-cheesesteak performance. Sure, there are still some concerns. Columbia's Chris Weidemann, hardly an offensive juggernaut, dominated Penn's inside defense at times. He continued the Quakers' trend of having problems with taller players. And if the Red and Blue can't beat Columbia and Cornell convincingly, albeit on the road, then how will they fare against Princeton tomorrow? None of that really matters, however. This weekend's games were two of those 'play-down-to-your-competition' contests. Penn didn't play necessarily well, but it did enough to win -- which is all that does matter. "Hopefully, we're doing enough good things to make our team think," Dunphy said. "And make our team more comfortable closing games out."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.