Penn men’s basketball headed to Big 5 championship game after 84-68 win at Drexel

33rd Street belongs to the Quakers. 

In its final game of Big 5 pod play, Penn men’s basketball was victorious in the Battle of 33rd Street, defeating Drexel 84-68 to clinch a spot in the Big 5 championship game. The duo of senior guard/forward Ethan Roberts and junior forward TJ Power once again led the Quakers with 30 and 18 points, respectively. 

“Things are going in the right direction, and a Big 5 Championship was marked on our calendars. It’s what we wanted to do. It’s just so exciting that we’re all coming together right now, and we got the job done,” Roberts said. 

Philadelphia 76ers guard Jared McCain was notably in attendance in support of Power, who was his former teammate at Duke. 

Though Drexel (2-4) won the tipoff, Penn (3-2) took an early lead in the first few minutes. Roberts set the night’s aggressive tone early, drawing a foul and hitting a pair of free throws. Senior forward Michael Zanoni, who did not score in Penn’s last game against Saint Joseph’s, hit a three-pointer and a pair of free throws of his own to help Penn to a 7-2 start. 

The Quakers maintained their offensive firepower, notching their points primarily in transition and second chances. With 12 minutes left in the first half, Zanoni and Roberts combined for the team’s 16 of 17 points. At the same time, the Dragons struggled from the field, notching just eight points in the first 10 minutes of play, and missing all five of their first three-point attempts.

After a three-minute scoring drought, Drexel guards Shane Blakeney and Josh Reed led an 8-2 scoring run that cut the Quaker lead to three with less than eight minutes left. After an abysmal start from three, the Dragons caught fire from beyond the arc in the final minutes of the period, with three total triples from forward Victor Pavnov and guard Josh Reed to close Penn’s lead to 43-38 at the end of the half. 

Coming out of the locker room, Power shook off a quiet first start to the game and scored six of the Penn’s first ten points of the second half. 

“I try not to focus on the shooting. … These past two games, I feel like [when I] focus on playing hard, everything falls behind that,” Power said. “I knew at some point that would settle in. I just had to focus on the defensive part and getting rebounds.”

Meanwhile, Penn’s defense stifled the Dragons’ attempts to score. After allowing Drexel to score 50% from the field in the first, the Quakers limited the Dragons to a mere 33% in the second half.

“We addressed that at half time, and it starts at the point of attack with ball screen defense. … In the second half we were really crisp about our rotations and challenging them to make tough twos,” Penn coach Fran McCaffery said. 

Drexel found some offense firepower with under 12 minutes to go with a triple from forward Horace Simmons. The two teams continued to trade baskets until the midpoint of the second half, when Penn pulled away. 

Senior guard Cam Thrower made back-to-back triples to respond to any attempt Drexel made at cutting into the lead. 

Meanwhile, Roberts and sophomore guard AJ Levine continued the trend of Penn profiting off fast break points as the Quakers scored 14 fast break points to Drexel’s four on the day. 

Consistent scoring from Roberts and Power allowed the Red and Blue to extend the lead to 20 points with just under five minutes left on the clock.

“You know, analytically, [Roberts and Power] kind of go against the grain if you study that stuff,” Drexel coach Zach Spiker said. “A lot of heavy two point usage. But they’re makers, they make them at a pretty good rate, and they’re attacking.,”

At the final buzzer, the Quakers bench erupted as they punched their ticket to Xfinity Mobile Center to compete for a Big 5 Championship. In the championship matchup, Penn will battle the winner of the Temple at Villanova game held on Dec. 1. 

“It’s my favorite season I’ve ever played basketball ever,” Roberts said.