M. Hoops: Reserves come through with needed points, boards

Penn's Eric Heil made his presence known last night in more ways than the final statistics show.

After two early fouls were charged to starting forward Jan Fikiel, the 6'8" Heil stepped up and took advantage of the opportunity.

With seven minutes remaining in the second half, Heil missed a relatively easy layup. After snagging the rebound, he reset and drained a three-point bucket to put the Quakers up, 63-52.

"They actually traded three for two there, so I guess if that's the plan we'll try that every time," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said.

Overall, Heil made three of five from behind the arc, and finished with 10 points on the night.

More than just his offensive play proved valuable to the Quakers. Heil's clutch defense down the stretch kept Drexel from coming no closer than four points of Penn's lead.

Late in the second half, the Dragons had picked up the tempo of the game and were pulling down offensive rebounds as well as sinking shots. With four minutes remaining on the clock, Heil grabbed two quick rebounds -- the first kept the ball in the Quakers' hands, and allowed Penn to take crucial time off the clock. Heil's second critical board set up Charlie Copp with an easy layup to put the Quakers up, 68-57.

Heil recorded 20 minutes, mostly in the second half, when he finished the game in lieu of Fikiel, who saw only 15 minutes on the court.

Freshman Steve Danley also made a statement in his second Quakers start -- on the rim that is. The 6'8" forward capitalized on a missed three-point shot midway through the second half from senior Jeff Schiffner with his first slam dunk for the Red and Blue. He finished with nine points.

"I guess that's youthful enthusiasm," Dunphy added. "I'm happy to put up with that, because he's a great kid, and he's worked really hard at it."

As in Friday's loss to Wisconsin, Dunphy went to his bench early in the game, this time with more success. Penn's new players helped build an eleven-point lead by intermission.

"I'd like to play as many guys as we can," Dunphy said. "It's nice to have 12, 13 or 14 guys you can play and feel good about that part of your team."

"The effort he gave coming off the bench, especially in the second half, and that dunk is just so important to our team," senior Adam Chubb said. "This is the kind of team we have this year, and we're going to need contributions like this night in and night out."

Unlike the Wisconsin game, Penn out-rebounded its opponent, 38-31. Heil was a major part of keeping Drexel's Danny Hinds and Sean Brooks from getting second shots.

"He rebounded the ball a lot," Dunphy said. "He was really alive tonight, and getting to the glass, which was great. We needed him to step up and he did."

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