The Penn men's basketball team was in a very unique situation when it traveled to Lawrenceville, N.J., to take on Rider a year ago.
The Quakers were trying to culminate an undefeated campaign over winter break, which would have been their first since 1979, the year they went to the Final Four. Unfortunately for those hopes, Penn was unable to hold a seven-point lead with two minutes remaining in the game, and eventually succumbed to the Broncs in overtime, 77-72.
But this season, the situation is very different. This time the Quakers need a win.
The Red and Blue (4-6, 0-0 Ivy) is coming off a four-game winless stretch dating back to early December. They will return to the friendly confines of the Palestra for the first time in five games for their rematch with Rider (7-5, 4-0 MAAC) tonight.
"It's good to be home after losing a couple of close ones on the road," Penn sophomore Mark Zoller said. "We're gonna need to come in with the right mindset and try to get after this one."
The Quakers have several reasons why they need a victory against the Broncs tonight, not the least of which is their realization that they let last year's game slip away.
In the loss, Penn allowed Rider to finish regulation time on a 7-0 run, during which the Quakers committed two costly turnovers, preventing any chance of sealing the victory.
"It was a pretty tight game the whole way through," Zoller said. "We were exchanging buckets for a while. They seemed to have a little more energy in overtime than we did."
Rider point guard Jerry Johnson led his team's comeback, hitting the game-tying free throws with 50 seconds left and connecting on two three-pointers in the extra session. The two-time All-MAAC player finished with a game-high 27 points and seemed to have the answer each time the Quakers tried to even the score.
Now a senior, Johnson is leading his team in scoring with 15.8 points per game, and is currently among the top 15 in the nation in free-throw percentage.
"He's a really solid player," Zoller said. "He's quick, distributes the ball well and makes the big shots."
While the Quakers might have revenge on their minds after last year's heartbreaking loss, Penn coach Fran Dunphy admitted that the Quakers have a much bigger motive against Rider.
"I don't think you really worry about that payback thing," Dunphy said. "What we need is a win just because we have to reestablish ourselves as a pretty good basketball team."
Zoller echoed his coach's sentiments and emphasized the Quakers' need to bounce back from their four-game losing skid.
"This is one of those points in the season where we need to find ourselves as a team and have that camaraderie," Zoller said.
But while Johnson is well on his way to leading the Broncs in scoring for the second year in a row, he is not the only player the Quakers will have to focus on.
A formidable force inside the paint for Rider is 7-foot senior center Steve Castleberry. The Mullica Hill, N.J., native was a dominating force against Penn last year, recording one of only four double-doubles the Quakers let up all season -- 20 points and 14 rebounds -- while also blocking three shots.
"Offensively, we're gonna have to work real hard to keep him away from that basket area, especially on second chance opportunities," Dunphy said. "But he's got some pretty good skills, where he can step away from the basket ... and make some shots too."
Once again the Quakers' four- man frontline rotation of Zoller, Jan Fikiel, Steve Danley and Ryan Pettinella will be used to neutralize Castleberry's interior presence. The good news is that the Quakers have already faced tall, physical forwards this season in games against Providence and Villanova.
"We're just gonna have to go after him, maybe try and get him in foul trouble," Zoller said. "Just not be fearful of the guy."
As for the Quakers' offense, Dunphy said that the team will not do anything different to give itself more opportunities to score, even though the Quakers were held under 50 points in their loss to Illinois-Chicago last weekend.
"When we watched the film ... we can't get many more open shots than we got [last Saturday]," Dunphy said. "The ball just didn't go in the basket."
