Penn 74, Saint Joseph's 84, Final

Final score, SJU 84-Penn 74:

Penn drops to 11-7 and finishes 2-2 in the Big 5 with the Hawks' 84-74 win tonight. Penn just could not get stops down the stretch, as SJU improves to 12-8, and 2-0 in the Big 5.

For full coverage, see Monday's Daily Pennsylvanian.

1:04 2nd, 79-72 SJU: A potential dagger, as SJU ran off the whole shot clock and missed a three, but Calathes got his own rebound and dished to Nivins for a layup and foul. He missed the ensuing free throw, but Penn now trails by seven with 64 seconds left.

1:49 2nd, 77-72 SJU: Another offensive rebound led to two Hawks points, but Grandieri hit a three on the other end to keep the game interesting. The Quakers absolutely need a stop on this possession.

2:34 2nd, 75-69 SJU: If Penn can't get a stop on the floor, the Quakers have gone to the steal. Two straight have given Penn life again.

3:23 2nd, 73-64 SJU: This is turning into another high-scoring game because Penn still cannot get a stop. The Quakers are succeeding offensively relatively well, but the Hawks have scored on 10 of 11 possessions, and are going to the line after an offensive rebound and a foul on Danley (his fourth).

Unless Penn buckles down in a big way, this game is over.

7:23 2nd, 64-55 SJU: It's coming down to crucnch time, with Penn not yet giving up, but trailing by nine (with two free throws coming up). The Quakers need to get some stops though. They've allowed 28 points in 12 minutes after allowing 36 the whole first half. Penn shows no signs of getting hot, it will have to work for this win on the defensive end and on the glass. Hitting free throws won't hurt either.

9:21 2nd, 62-51 SJU: Penn is starting to get sloppy on both ends, and the Hawks are owning the glass in the second half, with seven offensive rebounds to three defensive boards for Penn, resulting in a number of second-chance points, especially for Nivins, who has eight second-half points after six in the first.

Penn needs to go on a run now or this one could be over very quickly.

12:07 2nd, 54-46 SJU:After the fouls were 11-5 St. Joe's in the first half, they are 7-2 Penn in the second. Jaaber and Zoller have each picked up their third fouls, as Darrin Govens hit a layup, missed his foul shot, and Ahmad Nivins got the rebound and hit a shot to give the Hawks their largest lead tonight and force Miller to call a timeout.

12:24 2nd, 50-46 SJU: A delay where the officials are trying to sort out a shot clock situation has resulted in some good back-and-forth chants between the St. Joe's and Penn student sections.

15:54 2nd, 46-44 SJU: I said in the first half that there were a lot of lead changes and ties, and here's the numbers: Four ties and nine lead changes. In the first few frenetic minutes of the second half, there has been one tie and four lead changes.

The bad news for Penn right now is Danley picked up two quick fouls to give him three for the game, and is now on the bench for the next few minutes.

Halftime stats:

Penn is shooting 14-31 from the field, 2-12 from three, and 7-12 from the free-throw line, all below average numbers.

The Quakers are led by 10 points from Grandieri and seven each from Danley, Zoller and Jaaber.

The big edge for Penn is on the offensive glass, with 8 offensive rebounds to four for Saint Joe's.

Penn has five turnovers, and SJU has seven.

The Hawks are led by Calathes' 13 and four players between four and eight points. They are shooitng 50 percent from the field, 3-10 from three, and 5-7 from the line.

End of 1st half, 37-36 Penn: As expected, it's a close game, with a number of ties and lead changes, with Calathes hitting a three with about 16 seconds left to close to a one-point game.

Back shortly with first half stats.

3:51 1st, 29-27 SJU: Scoring has picked up a little in the last few minutes, with the Hawks' foul trouble sending Danley to the line for a 1 and 1 after the media timeout. Penn only only has five team fouls, although you wouldn't know that from coach Glen Millers' arguing with the refs on about half of the possessions.

7:49 1st, 21-19 SJU: After three Big 5 games at least in the 70s, this game is looking like an old-fashioned Philly tilt. Scoring is down, and the battles are being fought hard inside with people going to the floor on both sides. The crowd is into it too -- although SJU's two rollouts have both referenced Fran Dunphy, I think it's time to come up with a different idea.

Both of St. Joe's starting guards are in foul trouble -- Williamson has three and Carter has two.

11:15 1st, 14-14:Pat Calathes scored five straight to tie the game for the Hawks.

Good job by Penn so far on the boards, with Egee and Tommy McMahon grabbing some offensive rebounds. the Quakers have outrebounded the Hawks 11-4, including six offensive rebounds to three defensive rebounds for St. Joe's.

14:12 1st,11-6 Penn: Good last couple minutes for the Quakers. A great offensive rebound and put-back by Egee followed by a three-point play on an offensive-rebound by Jaaber have put Penn out in front.

15:57 1st, 6-5 SJU: It's been a sloppy first four minutes, with four total turnovers and only five made baskets. However, one of those was a three by Steve Danley, which was his first field goal in about 87 minutes, dating back to the second half against Columbia, three games ago.

Welcome to the Palestra for Penn's final Big 5 game of the season, against the Saint Joseph's Hawks. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The general admission experiment for the Penn students has been a success. Instead of a mostly empty student section before tip-off, the Red and Blue Crew goes almost all the way up to the top of the Palestra. Good job by the Penn students, and hopefully this will become a permanent policy next season.

Here are the probable starters:

Penn (11-6, 2-1 Big 5)
G- (2) Ibrahim Jaaber, 6-2 Sr.
G- (15) Kevin Egee, 6-3 So.
G- (21) Brian Grandieri, 6-4 Jr.
F- (3) Steve Danley, 6-8 Sr.
F- (24) Mark Zoller, 6-7 Sr.

Saint Joseph's (11-8, 1-0 Big 5)
G- (3) Jawan Carter, 6-0 Fr.
G- (23) Garrett Williamson, 6-5 Fr.
F- (12) Pat Calathes, 6-10 Jr.
F- (52) Rob Ferguson, 6-8 Jr.
C- (34) Ahmad Nivins, 6-9 So.

One note for Penn is that freshman guard Darren Smith does not appear to be playing tonight. He is dressed, but not participating in warm-ups, and I am told he has reaggravated a shoulder injury he suffered earlier in the season.

Check back for updates after tip-off.