
Jan. 6 - Up 14 at halftime against Lafayette, Penn could have turned in a poor second half like it did against Central Florida last week.
Instead, the Quakers got a trio of threes to start the half, as sophomore Tyler Bernardini and freshmen Zack Rosen and Rob Belcore drained treys on three successive possessions to key Penn's 9-2 run at the start of the second frame.
Although the Leopards did cut the lead back down to nine with 2:52 remaining, Penn turned yet again to the deep ball, as sophomore forward Jack Eggleston hit a clutch three-pointer on the ensuing possession to hold off the Leopards in the Quakers' 84-70 win at the Palestra.
It was just more futility on 33rd Street for Lafayette (4-10), which is now an imperfect 0-29 at the Palestra. The Quakers (3-7) extended their record against the Leopards to 38-4 all-time.
"We haven't played very well here," Lafayette coach of 14 years Fran O'Hanlon said. "But then, Penn is one of the best home teams in the country. It's very hard to come into this building and win."
Penn had all five starters score in double figures, as Bernardini led the way with 18. Rosen pitched in 17, senior Brennan Votel had 16, including 12 in the first half, Eggleston registered 14 and Belcore scored a career-high 11.
"We had some good spacing and great ball movement," Penn coach Glen Miller said. "For us to be successful, I think we really have to be a balanced scoring team."
All told, Penn got 20 assists on 27 field goals, eight players logged at least 10 minutes - including six over 20 - and four Quakers made at least two trifectas. Even free throw shooting - which dogged the team in losses early this year - was a positive, as the team went 21-for-24 from the charity stripe.
"It was nice to get a win," Miller said. "I felt we came out for the first half very well-prepared. Guys were focused. It was our best defensive half of the year."
At the same time, the third-year coach was quick to point out some weaknesses, especially the 20 turnovers, including 13 in the second half.
"The record, for any team that is 3-7, it's disappointing," Miller said. "The thing we have to focus on is just trying every day to improve, so hopefully today we're a better team than yesterday and tomorrow we're a better team than today."
Never were Penn's problems clearer than during a stretch of two minutes in the second half. With 4:52 left, the Quakers' lead stood at 19. However, after successive possessions in which Lafayette made two foul shots and then Penn turned it over in the backcourt, Leopards junior Michael Gruner caused a turnover and made a three-pointer, cutting the lead to 12.
Rosen then turned it over yet again off an inbound pass, two more Gruner foul shots followed, and just like that the lead was down to 10 without the ball crossing the half-court stripe.
After Penn finally reached offensive territory and made two free throws, Lafayette's Ryan Willen came down the floor and hit a three, cutting the lead down to nine with 2:52 remaining on the clock - exactly two minutes after Penn had been up by 19.
However, on the next Quakers possession, Eggleston's three-pointer from the top of the arc sealed a double-digit lead that the Leopards would never overcome.
"You can't give a team like Penn that much of a lead," O'Hanlon said. "They closed the door on the comeback."
Penn was just happy to get a win, especially after its 1-7 start to the season. But now, they're on "a modest two-game winning streak," as Miller called it, after beating Campbell last Tuesday in the consolation game of the UCF Holiday Classic.
"This was huge for us," Eggleston said. "We made some progress [in Florida], but we wanted some momentum heading into the games against the Big 5 teams. It was a big win."
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