Penn basketball falls to Drexel in Battle for 33rd Street

If Penn’s last two games were examples of a young team making youthful mistakes, then Saturday’s Battle for 33rd Street against Drexel was what the Quakers look like when living up to their potential.

Penn fell to the Dragons, 61-59, in a game that the Quakers let slip out of their grasps as the clock wound down.

Though they didn’t pull off the victory, the Red and Blue hung with a team that just missed making the NCAA Tournament as an at-large squad last season. Penn showed that, despite its flaws, this team can play.

“I guess for theater … it was a good basketball game,” Penn coach Jerome Allen said. “It’s always good when it comes down to the wire.”

The Quakers (1-3) allowed the Dragons (1-2) to go on an 18-4 run at the midway point of the second half that put Drexel up seven with a minute remaining, but Penn didn’t quit.

“Those guys are going to be good, they’ve got some good young players,” Drexel coach Bruiser Flint said. “They’re going to be back sooner than people think.”

Freshman Jamal Lewis was just one of the Quakers’ young guns to have a standout day.

He spent the majority of the contest covering Drexel point guard Frantz Massenat, doing “a tremendous job of guarding the basketball,” Allen said.

In addition to his defense, Lewis made two huge layups — sandwiching two foul shots by Miles Cartwright — that put Penn down by just one with 20 seconds remaining.

Drexel junior Frantz Massenat was fouled with a chance to give the Dragons a three-point advantage, but he missed the second freebie, and the Quakers charged up the floor.

However, Cartwright slipped as he tried to drive into the lane, leading to a tie-up that gave the Dragons the ball and the win.

“I just wanted to come off the screen and be aggressive, maybe look to throw back to Fran [Dougherty] to see if he had an open three,” Cartwright explained. “When I came off the screen, I saw [Daryl] McCoy jump out and hedge really hard, so I tried to cut back. I lost the ball.”

Though the Quakers’ offense stalled at the end, it was their defense that allowed Drexel to hang around. As the game wore on, the Red and Blue started allowing too many open looks from the outside, something that Penn didn’t give up in the first 20 minutes.

While perimeter defense failed the Quakers at times, their size and their ability to rebound against more physical teams still proved to be an issue.

The Dragons outrebounded the Quakers, 36-28, with 18 of those being offensive boards.

The Red and Blue gave up far too many second chance opportunities — Drexel had 16 second chance points compared to Penn’s seven.

Forward Henry Brooks got into foul trouble quickly and had to play much of the second half with four fouls, a difficult task considering Drexel’s dominance inside. He fouled out with 4:14 left in the game.

Despite going up against the Dragons’ biggest bruiser in junior Dartaye Ruffin for most of the contest, Fran Dougherty was still able to dominate.

“He has just been going out and been confident, getting shots, getting rhythm and being confident in his ability,” Allen said. “That’s it.”

Dougherty finished the contest with 21 points and 10 rebounds for his second straight double-double. Cartwright, meanwhile, got into the lane with relative ease on some drives, finishing with 18 points of his own.

But the Quakers still didn’t have a third player step up to make a significant scoring contribution. Lewis was the third-highest scorer for the Red and Blue with eight points.

It will be a quick turnaround for the Quakers, who travel to Lehigh to take on Fordham Monday in the consolation bracket of the NIT Tip-Off Tournament.

SEE ALSO

Penn basketball to face Drexel in ‘Battle for 33rd Street’

Penn basketball falls again in second round of NIT Tip-Off Tournament

Wisniewski | Dougherty was the only bright spot in Penn loss

Red and Blue too sloppy in Tip-Off Tourney loss

Delaware tops Penn basketball in NIT opener, 84-69

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