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There have been some Big 5 contests that have had point totals like football games. Penn has not played city games like that this year, but Saint Joseph's acted like a well-oiled gridiron offense in the second half Saturday, wearing down the Quakers for an 84-74 win at the Palestra.

Like a great running game pounding the ball in the fourth quarter, the Hawks (12-8, 2-0 Big 5) scored on 17 of their final 20 possessions before the final seconds and overwhelmed the Quakers (11-7, 2-2 Big 5) on the glass and in the paint for much of the second half.

Of 16 missed St. Joe's shots in the second half, the Hawks got 11 second chances on them for 18 points.

"That's pretty much the ball game right there," Penn coach Glen Miller said.

After the Hawks took a 52-46 lead on a jumper by Darrin Govens with 12:13 left to start the streak, the Quakers never got closer than five points the rest of the way.

Once Penn got it to five on a three-pointer by junior guard Brian Grandieri with 1:50 to go, St. Joe's got yet another big basket. After running the shot clock down to two seconds, Hawks junior Pat Calathes took a three from the baseline. He missed, but tracked down the rebound and found center Ahmad Nivins under the basket for a layup and foul.

Nivins missed the free throw but Penn was done, down seven with 1:11 left.

After two tight and emotional Big 5 wins over La Salle and Temple in the previous 10 days, Penn just ran out of gas in the second half against a very physical Hawks frontcourt.

Calathes, Nivins and junior Rob Ferguson combined for 47 points and 24 rebounds, including 12 on the offensive end. In contrast, Penn only had 16 defensive rebounds the entire game.

"We got fatigued through playing defense," Miller said. "Their physical play had a lot to do with it."

Senior forward Mark Zoller did not want to use fatigue as an excuse but said that it was too difficult to guard the Hawks on the interior and that Penn did not do a good enough job boxing out.

Offensively, Penn did not have too bad a game, scoring 37 points in each half and shooting just under 50 percent from the field (29-for-60). Grandieri had a career high 23 points, Zoller had 16 and senior guard Ibrahim Jaaber 15. Even senior forward Stephen Danley, without a field goal for two games, was 3-for-5 from the field and scored 11 points with five assists.

However, Penn did have trouble hitting some open shots, going 6-of-21 from long range.

Penn led by as many as five, but a missed free throw by Grandieri, a three by Calathes and a missed jumper by Jaaber allowed the Hawks to creep within one at the break.

Hawks' coach Phil Martelli felt that foul trouble (Nivins had two fouls, and starting guards Jawan Carter and Garrett Williamson had two and three, respectively) derailed his game plan in the first half. It was the shooting of Calathes and Govens that kept the Hawks in it, with the duo scoring 21 of the team's 36 in the first.

"One of the things that Coach wrote on the board at halftime is that we weren't fighting; we weren't competing with our hearts and our minds," Nivins said. "And the intensity level definitely picked up. We were willing to fight for every rebound and every loose ball."

In the second half, the Hawks did just that, and executed Martelli's game plan to perfection.

After the teams traded baskets for the first three minutes of the second half, St. Joe's took the lead for good on a three by Ferguson 3:07 into the half.

Miller was not pleased with the loss or the non-winning Big 5 year, Penn's fourth straight.

"I don't like losing, our guys don't like losing and we're going to find a way to compete and be successful in the Big 5."

The Quakers had a chance for a share of the city title with a win and a St. Joe's win over Villanova. It was not to be.

Note: Freshman guard Darren Smith missed the game after reaggravating his partially torn labrum. Miller said he is "day-to-day [for] the rest of the year" because of the uncertainty of the injury.

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