Although it took nearly 20 minutes of basketball for Saint Joseph's to suck the drama out of its 84-74 win over Penn on Saturday, three momentum-changing plays can really tell the whole story.
The Quakers had closed to within five at 54-49 around the midway point of the half, and Ahmad Nivins threw up one of just three misses of the day. But Rob Ferguson moved in for the tip, which did not fall, and Nivins cleaned up the mess for the bucket.
Ninety seconds later, Ferguson followed his own shot and converted a layup. Then after Stephen Danley's bad inbounds pass, D.J. Rivera got an easy layup and an 11-point lead when Danley played the pass on the 2-on-1.
Finally, after the Quakers closed to within five with just over a minute left, Pat Calathes launched a three with just a second to go on the shot clock. But there was no box-out on the shooter, and Calathes got his own rebound and dished to a streaking Nivins for the easy basket and the foul.
So just when it seemed that the Quakers were not giving up second-chance points after intermission, they were giving up third-chance points.
Of the 16 missed field goals and live-ball free throws in the half at that end of the floor, the Hawks collected 11 offensive rebounds, while Penn only had five
defensive boards.
"I think [the disparity was] due to lack of boxing out," Quakers forward and tri-captain Mark Zoller said. "We weren't disciplined, and they just came and attacked the offensive glass and got a lot of easy buckets."
But that was not the case over the course of the entire game. The first half saw the Quakers get the better of the glass, taking a 19-15 rebounding advantage into the locker room.
In the second half, though, the Hawks' size and power were too much for the Quakers to handle. Power forwards Nivins and Ferguson, at 6-foot-9 and 6-foot-8, as well as 6-foot-10 "power guard" Calathes combined for all nine of the second-half offensive boards not scored as team rebounds.
Overall, the Hawks grabbed 35 rebounds to the size-challenged Quakers' 29.
"That was the main focus at halftime," said Calathes, who along with junior guard Brian Grandieri finished with a game-high 23 points. "We were playing really soft in the first half, and with the way we came out in the second half, that was one of the main reasons we won the game."
"It wears you down a little bit," Penn coach Glen Miller said. "They're a physical team offensively as well as defensively. They're athletic, and they got to the glass."
Penn has now been outrebounded in 10 of its 17 games with one tie.
On Saturday, the Hawks took advantage and, on two separate stretches, scored on of 11 of 12 possessions and 17 of 20.
And when it seemed the Quakers had a chance to slow the Hawks' momentum after a missed shot, too often, there was another shot coming. Or sometimes two more.
