EASTON, Pa. -- With one half to go, the Penn men's basketball team led Lafayette 47-39, but they still had much to improve. The Leopards had been shooting 54.2 percent from the field, including going 5-of-8 from three-point range. Penn had turned the ball over nine times.
Eight minutes and 14 seconds later, the Quakers led by 20, 63-43. They only committed three turnovers during the run while causing five, and held Lafayette to two field goals. They scored 16 points themselves on 6-for-11 shooting from the field.
From there, the Red and Blue allowed the Leopards to get no closer than 15 points as it coasted to the 85-63 win. In arguably its best eight minutes of the season, Penn turned a relatively close halftime score into a laugher, something that the Quakers had not done previously in the 2004-05 campaign.
The Red and Blue won in part because it played aggressively on both ends of the floor. The transition game was something that allowed Penn to get away from a half-court offense that at times resembled Princeton's, with several passes around the key until someone settled for a three-pointer.
But last night, in the Quakers' 71 possessions, they allowed the shot clock to run down under 10 seconds only seven times.
In total, while Penn only turned the ball over three fewer times than the Leopards did, the Quakers outscored them on points off turnovers 35-16. Also, 16 of their 38 second-half points were from the paint, and 19 came off Lafayette turnovers, which numbered 22 for the game.
"We transitioned well offensively tonight, which was nice to see," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said.
When the Leopards were sloppy on offense and slow getting back, the Quakers capitalized.
"They were very active defensively," Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon said. "We didn't respond well to that."
Another strong area statistically for Penn was the offensive glass. The Quakers held a 17-10 advantage in that area and had 21 second-chance points to the Leopards' eight. Despite the fact that Lafayette started a 7-foot center in Jamie Hughes and a6-6, 240-pound power forward in Jamaal Douglas, Penn controlled the rebounding in part due to hard work.
"Steve [Danley] was working his butt off on offense," senior guard Tim Begley said. Danley had seven offensive rebounds last night to lead all players. On the other bench, no Lafayette player had more than four total rebounds.
The win marked the second straight game with over 80 points for Penn, and last night's total was second only to the 89 scored at Siena last Saturday for the season. A new trend could very well be in the making.
Before the last two games, the team averaged 62.3 points per game in its first 11 contests, breaking 80 only once, in Nov. 23's 81-50 win over Drexel.
While it certainly helps when one player sets a career high in points, another ties his, and a third ties the school record in assists, it could be the new-look Quakers, with a more up-tempo offense and defense, that brings Penn back to the top of the Ivy League.
