After the men's basketball team struggled to find a groove through the first half of the season, winter break brought much of the same. Penn split its four games, 2-2.
Here, The Daily Pennsylvanian recaps all of the hoops action from the last three weeks.
Penn 67, Elon 64
Dec. 20 - Penn didn't know which Elon squad would show up on Thursday, but it certainly wasn't the one that lost to Division II Tusculum.
The Phoenix hung tough for the majority of the game, but, in the end, tight late defense and Tyler Bernardini's 23 points - including 12 in the final five minutes- put Penn over the top, 67-64.
It was a back-and-forth contest for the first 30 minutes before the Quakers scored on three-straight possessions to go up by 10. But Ola Atoyebi quickly brought Elon back with three consecutive baskets and tough inside defense.
Brett James capped off that 8-0 run to bring the score to 52-50. That was the closest Elon would come.
With under five seconds to go, Penn clung to a three-point lead. But Elon was left with the final shot.
Aron Cohen's clutch full-court defense prevented Montell Watson from tying the game. Cohen forced Watson to hesitate just enough so that the 4.7 seconds remaining wasn't enough to get a good look at the basket. When Grandieri came to double-team him, Watson was left with no choice but to heave a prayer.
"We're very happy to get the win; we're on a two-game winning streak," Penn coach Glen Miller said after the game. "It's a modest two-game winning streak, but I think we're showing some improvement and it sure makes the holidays happy."
- Josh Wheeling
FGCU 60, Penn 30
Dec. 29 - Mark it down, because it was a record-setting night for the men's basketball team. But the record is probably one the Quakers would like to give back.
They scored six points in the first half at Florida Gulf Coast, then an NCAA shot-clock-era record (Savannah State "bested" the mark nine days later). And while things in the second half got better for Penn, they didn't get better enough, as the squad was doubled-up, 60-30.
Several players were injured for the Red and Blue, most notably guards Harrison Gaines and Michael Kach, and forward Brennan Votel.
But that wasn't enough to explain the 6-percent first-half shooting (1-17 from the field), or the paltry 13 points from Penn's starters.
Senior captain and Penn's leading scorer on the season, Brian Grandieri, finished 0-9 from the field with zero points in 23 minutes. Sharpshooting freshman phenom Tyler Bernardini was cold all night, going just 2-9 and finishing with five points.
The Eagles were not on fire themselves, shooting 42 percent for the game, but in between the Quakers' poor shooting and 34 turnovers, they did not have to do too much to win.
- Brandon Moyse
Miami 88, Penn 62
CORAL GABLES, Fla., Jan. 2 - His team had recorded a humiliating loss at Florida Gulf Coast, and Penn coach Glen Miller knew something - anything - had to change against Miami.
Why not the frontcourt?
"We just scored six points in a half and got beat by thirty points," he said. "Just time to change the lineup, mix it up a little bit. If anything, hopefully it gives us a little spark."
Projected starters Justin Reilly and Jack Eggleston began the game on the bench. The switch to Cameron Lewis and Andreas Schreiber provided an initial boost, but was not sustained, as Penn fell 88-62 at Miami.
The Quakers' first three possessions (Schreiber miss, Schreiber miss, Lewis turnover) didn't inspire much confidence.
When yet another Schreiber miscue propelled the nation's third-best three-point shooting team to a 9-2 lead, it looked even worse.
The Swede was helped out by his even less-experienced partner. Cameron Lewis, relegated to the bench since a Nov. 11 start at Loyola (Md.), found his rhythm inside: three straight Lewis layups slashed a 9-point Miami lead to three.
But at the half, clumsy entry passes and sloppy ball-handling left Penn with a 10-point deficit, 14 turnovers and little momentum.
The 15th giveaway led to a fast break that earned Lewis his third foul and Schreiber a lecture on the bench. Miami tore the cover off the game in a heartbeat, with nine points in the 75 seconds after halftime. Dwayne Collins (18 points, 12 rebounds) and Brian Asbury (22 points) reaped the rewards for Miami.
"Our defense set the tone in the second half," Hurricanes coach Frank Haith said.
-Andrew Scurria
Penn 79, NJIT 68
Jan. 5-After their embarrassing Florida trip, perhaps the Quakers needed a return to their home court in order to get them going in 2008. It didn't hurt that their first game in the new year came against a winless team in only its second year as a Division I program.
Yet, another humiliating defeat seemed possible for Penn, as NJIT hung around for most of the game. In the end, though, an 11-0 Penn run midway through the second half proved to be the difference. The Quakers pulled away for a 79-68 victory.
Penn captain Brian Grandieri rebounded from a couple of abysmal performances in Florida and led the way for the Quakers with 22 points on 9-13 shooting.
The real bright spot for Glen Miller's team, though, was forward Cameron Lewis. The junior set the tone defensively early onand continued his spirited play throughout the game, filling up the stat sheet with 15 points, nine rebounds, five steals, and two blocks.
"I don't think that kid is coming out of the lineup," NJIT coach Jim Casciano said of Lewis.
Lewis helped create foul trouble for Casciano's squad. Penn finished with 40 free throw attempts - compared with NJIT's 16 - and four Highlanders fouled out.
Freshman guard Harrison Gaines returned to the lineup and looked fully recovered from the hamstring injury he had suffered against Elon. Gaines played 24 minutes in his first game back.
Grandieri said the win was a confidence-boost, but it seemed more like a relief.
"The worst thing that could have happened is we lose to a winless team," the senior captain said. "I don't know what that snowball would be like negatively. I couldn't imagine what a loss would feel like right now."
- Rob Gross
