With four seconds left in a game that was by no means calm and by no means perfect, Temple's Mardy Collins appeared calm as he stepped up to the foul line.
And then he was perfect.
Collins sank two free throws to give the Temple men's basketball team a hard-fought 52-51 victory over Penn in a Big 5 contest.
The Quakers (4-3, 1-1 Big 5) got 20 points from guard Eric Osmundson on 7-for-11 shooting including six three pointers. But Osmundson was the lone Penn player in double-figures and Penn failed to score in the last three minutes against the Owls (3-3, 2-0).
Temple ended the game on a 6-0 run with all its points provided by Collins, who finished with 20 points.
The Philadelphia native hit a jumper to cut the Penn lead to 51-48. Then, with 1:52 remaining, Collins hit a pair of free throws which trimmed the lead to one and set up the ensuing drama.
After a series of sloppy plays including a potentially costly turnover by Collins, Penn got the ball back with 43 seconds left.
The Quakers drew up a play for senior guard Tim Begley, who was limited to eight points on 3-for-14 shooting. Begley missed a three and the ball fell into Temple's hands.
Then it became Collins' game.
The Owls' leading scorer took the ball the length of the court and forced contact against Penn forward Steve Danley to get to the line.
"I just wanted to go there, take my time and make the free throws," Collins said.
After swishing the first, the second shot rimmed in, but victory was still not a definite for the Owls.
Penn guard Ibby Jaaber missed a buzzer-beating three-point attempt off the front rim, securing the Temple win and giving the Owls the inside track to the Big 5 title. The Cherry and White also defeated favorite Villanova Saturday at the Big 5 Classic.
Despite the final score, Temple head coach John Chaney was the first to note that his team had no business winning the game.
"Even at the end, we didn't finish the game off," Chaney said.
Collins thought Temple's sloppiness was evident at the beginning and at the end.
"We made a lot of mistakes, especially down the stretch," he said. "We just came out and we were flat from the beginning."
But a win is a win, and for the Quakers, a loss is a loss, and a difficult one at that.
"I think any time you're in position to win a close game on the road, you'd like to finish it," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said.
The Quakers knew going in that one key to success was going to be the play of their forwards against the Owls' much larger frontcourt.
Penn's forward team of Steve Danley, Jan Fikiel, Mark Zoller and Ryan Pettinella went a combined 7-for-24 from the field.
The undersized Quakers were outrebounded by the Owls 44-32 and Temple held a 19-8 advantage on the offensive glass.
Penn coach Fran Dunphy treated his forwards' performance with mixed reviews.
"I thought defensively they did everything we asked them to do," Dunphy said of his frontcourt, which limited Temple's Antywane Robinson, Wayne Marshall and Keith Butler to a combined 4-for-18 performance from the field. "Offensively, we struggled."
Zoller, still hampered by an ankle injury, was held scoreless and came up very short on his lone three-point attempt of the evening.
The game was very close throughout, and while Temple went on a 10-0 run in the first half, the lead never swung to more than six in either direction.
Both teams relied heavily on guard play, as the Quakers got 34 points out of Osmundson, Begley and junior Friedrich Ebede. Temple's Mark Tyndale, Dustin Salisbery and Collins contributed 37 of the Owls' 52 points.
Beyond the blow to their Big 5 title hopes, the worst part for the Quakers may be the 23 days to think about the loss until they hit the hardwood again.
Penn will travel to Villanova for a New Year's Eve matchup with the Wildcats at the Pavillion.
