PISCATAWAY, N.J. — It was a holiday miracle for the Scarlet Knights.
After leading for more than 35 minutes of the game, Penn men’s basketball could not hold on at Rutgers, falling 70-69 to the Big Ten school. The nail-biter was the teams’ first matchup since 1975. Coach Fran McCaffery, though, came into Saturday well acquainted with the Scarlet Knights after 15 seasons at Iowa.
In the final two minutes, foul trouble gave both teams opportunities to seal the win. Freshman guard Jay Jones committed a foul that sent Rutgers guard Tariq Francis to the free-throw line. Francis made both shots to cut Penn’s lead to one point with less than 30 seconds left.
Then, two back-to-back fouls by Rutgers sent junior forward TJ Power to the line, who missed two free throws out of three. But, in the final five seconds, Francis drained a three-pointer — one of Rutgers' total three made triples of the night — to give the home crowd of 8000 an early Christmas gift.
Francis, who notched a game-high of 34 points, was sent to the charity stripe 16 times in the second half out of his total 19 attempts for the night.
“You can’t foul like that … We just kept fouling and stopping the clock … You can't put [Francis] on a free throw like 19 times,” McCaffery said.
Penn had the same starting lineup as in its narrow victory over Lafayette last week. Senior guard Cam Thrower stepped in for senior guard/forward Ethan Roberts, who remains out due to injury with no timetable for return.
The Quakers started the game hot with a 10-0 run in the first four minutes. However, the packed stands of Scarlet Knights fans roared as Francis broke the silence with two made jumpers. Penn responded on both following possessions to keep Rutgers at bay, 16-12.
The Penn freshmen continued to make an impact. Jones and reigning Big 5 and Ivy League Player of the Week freshman forward/center Dalton Scantlebury brought offensive firepower during a scoring drought in the middle of the first half. Scantlebury made a big dunk, and Jones followed it up by completing a three-point play with eight minutes left of the first frame.
Both sides traded free throws — a trend that would continue into the second frame — but Power made a triple to extend Penn’s lead to 26-18. The Quakers had been on fire from beyond the arc this season, averaging 40.1%, which is good for 10th in the NCAA. On Saturday, the Quakers shot 23.8% from three.
Another underclassman stepped up for the Quakers — sophomore guard Alex Massung, who was in the rotation with senior guard Dylan Williams being out. Massung notched his first points of the season on a fast break, and Thrower followed that up with a triple to prompt a Rutgers timeout and put the Quakers up 31-23 with a minute and a half left in the first.
The two teams traded baskets as the seconds wound down, but Rutgers hit a last-minute shot to cut Penn’s lead, 33-29, at halftime. The shot foreshadowed the game’s ending and proved Rutgers’ ability to make clutch shots.
The second half started on a quieter note, with foul troubles continuing. Scoring primarily came from free throws by Penn, but Rutgers guard Jamichael Davis cut the silence with a triple. Davis continued leading the offensive charge for the Scarlet Knights, scoring a three-pointer off a steal.
Over four minutes into the half, two botched inbound plays by Thrower contributed to a 7-0 run by Rutgers. Both turnovers resulted in points on the board for the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers kept the momentum going, taking its first lead of the night, 43-41. Foul troubles from both teams kept the game close.
With about eight minutes left in the game, Power went down after colliding with a Rutgers player. After being slow to get up, Power returned to the court promptly after, with a cut covered by a headband. He ultimately ended the night as Penn’s leading scorer with 19 points.
Senior guard/forward Michael Zanoni, Scantlebury, and Thrower made shots that contributed to a 10-2 scoring run heading into the final two minutes, taking the lead 66-59.
But foul troubles and a clutch shot ultimately propelled the Scarlet Knights' comeback win. At the end of the night, Penn committed a season-high of 24 fouls — two-thirds of them being in the second half.
“They got [to the] free throw line 31 times. We turned this over 11 times in the second half … That was the difference." McCaffery said.
Penn did, however, excel on the glass, outrebounding the physically larger Rutgers roster 42-29 with 12 on the offensive end to Rutgers' eight. The Quakers also took advantage of second-chance opportunities, notching 20 points from those.
“We felt if we did [outrebound Rutgers], we'd win, but give them credit, because we outrebounded them, and they still won,” McCaffery said.
Penn men’s basketball closes out its non-conference play at George Mason on Dec. 28 and against NJIT on Dec. 31. Conference play begins on Jan. 5.
