FINAL: Penn 73, Dartmouth 53

FINAL Penn 73, Dartmouth 53

Crowd agrees, as Adam Franklin chants ensue...and now Gill and Franklin are joining Cohen in the game. Gill tries an alley-oop to Frankin, but it's too high.

Penn moves to 4-1 in the Ivy League with the blowout win. It would have been closer if it wasn't for Dartmouth's horendous turnovers.

Cornell and Yale emerge victorious, so it appears Penn will stay in close second in the conference race.

Penn 73, Dartmouth 49 2:14 2nd Half

Large crowd makes for a nice Hey Song, still going through the timeout.

Zoller comes out, but the only real bench player in is Schreiber. I'd like to see a little Joe Gill, Adam Franklin and Aron Cohen action.

Penn 71, Dartmouth 49 3:04 2nd Half

Dartmouth scores a few, but is still down big.

Jaaber's really knocking down the FTs. Good inbounds pass to Barnett, as Reilly didn't know what hit him, fouls the Dartmouth swingman for the and-1.

Dunn makes conversation with Zoller while he's inbounding, wish I heard what they each said.

Penn finally going for some backdoor cuts, surprisingly not too many of them. Danley meanwhile gets another and-1 layup. He's drawn at least five fouls. This game is getting out of hand - Penn's transition keeps catching Dunn's squad offguard.

Hey song coming, you know it's over.

Penn 61, Dartmouth 38 7:55 2nd Half

McMahon gets a steal, then turns it over, then Dartmouth gives it back. Zoller good feed to Grandieri.

Free throws not going down after they were in the 1st. Danley goes crashing through the Big Green bench, hits the media table real hard, but he's a warrior, seems to be okay.

Penn 59, Dartmouth 38 9:25 2nd Half

Jaaber a steal, gets fouled. Egee drains a short jumper.

Dartmouth gets 2 o-rebs but can't score. The pace is getting faster, more to Penn's liking. Smith misses on a post, but Danley's all over the o-reb for a miss and then a tip-in.

Penn 52, Dartmouth 38 11:54 2nd Half

Jaaber takes a transition pass - after good post D from Grandieri and a block from Danley - and emphatically throws it down with his left hand (non-bandaged one) just before defenders get to him. Pretty sick for his off-hand. The crowd obviously approves.

12 combined fouls 8 minutes in, slow beginning to the half.

Penn 50, Dartmouth 36 13:15 2nd Half

Smith playing good D, but Sanders still gets into the lane for a nice jumper.

On-the-ball D looking good for Penn, but Darmouth's passing is getting sharper, as Meyer hits an open three. Kach gets a nice and-1.

Penn 48, Dartmouth 31 15:46 2nd Half

A few bad passes and Penn turns it into 2 points. A pump fake from Sanders and Zoller gets his third foul. This would be huge if Penn wasn't up by 17.

Penn 46, Dartmouth 29 17:06 2nd Half

A couple stops on defense (aka a pass from Ball to Smith's feet), and then each team hits a few close shots.

Grandieri is finally getting into the game, as he hits a nice fade and draws what hhe thought was a charge, but still was a travelling call.

Halftime: Penn 40, Dartmouth 26

McMahon misses a box-out as Meyer gets an o-reb, and McMahon fouls him. You know the Red and Blue are in a groove when they successfully execute a play to end the half. Usually a Grandieri half-court shot is the best option, but this time Jaaber has a great find as Egee nails a wide-open three from the far corner to end the half.

Quakers are looking much better at the end of the first half, driving and kicking for threes or getting it inside for easy buckets.

STATS:
Penn is getting outrebounded by six, as the Big Green have nine offensive boards, to Penn's nine defensive. Zoller leads Penn with 12 points, Ball has 8 for the away team. Penn only has three turnovers. Zoller and Danley are a combined 8-for-10 from the floor for 21 points. Zoller has to watch his two fouls, which forced him out for some time in the first half. Dartmouth has not made a three, while Penn is 5-for-12, two each from Zoller and Smith.

Penn 37, Dartmouth 25 :46

Penn coach Glen Miller screams at McMahon to get into the right place for the inbounds play. Dartmouth's Terry Dunn has been griping all game.

Danley grabs a nice steal. Danley then ~~beats~~, no manhandles Ball for an and-1 layup, but misses the 1. He scores again inside. Dartmouth looks nervous or something, two more bad turnovers.

As they have not done lately, the Quakers are feeding the post and reeping the rewards. Dartmouth has started to double-down, and that should mean some kickout threes.

Penn 30, Dartmouth 23 3:25

Penn's trapping in the corner forces a bad turnover.

Marlon Sanders takes another drive hard to the hoop as he tightens the lead to five. Votel answers with a great feed to McMahon under the basket for an easy layup.

Penn 28, Dartmouth 21 4:51

Mike Kach takes a terrible pass from Jason Meyer and gets fouled on a transition layup. Nothing is going down for Dartmouth, but another o-reb gets Alex Barnett free throws.

Danley beasts inside for a layup off a post feed. Brian Grandieri goes right back to Danley who draws a foul. And another.

McMahon and Egee getting some good time. Dartmouth has three fouls on this possession, and Jaaber hits two free throws. Unless you count McMahon as a forward, Penn going with a four-guard linup for the moment.

Free throws are goin down easy for Penn, as Jaaber hits two more on the 1-and-1. His finger sure isn't affecting his work from the line.

Penn 21, Dartmouth 16 7:52

Dartmouth starts trapping, but Smith makes them pay with his second three. The Big Green add a three though. Datmouth is killing Penn on the offensive boards, as Ball and Mosely both have putbacks from the guard position.

Penn 18, Dartmouth 12 10:00

Both teams are in a man defense to start. Dartmouth is getting some good penetration into the lane, but not making too many of the pull-up jumpers. Penn is getting the ball inside to Zoller, and as a result he has seven points already.

Zoller with another nasty block, but Dartmouth still scores. This time Cameron Lewis eats up a wild shot, sending it into the cheerleaders.

Lewis and Zoller are playing like monsters, as Lewis grabs a big offensive rebound and dishes it for an open three. The good news for Penn is Zoller has double-figures in scoring. The Bad news is he has two fouls.

Penn 12, Dartmouth 8 15:05

Stephen Danley hits a sick hook from behind the basket. As Zoller comes out for a breather Brennan Votel and Justin Reilly get a few minutes. As Zoller comes back in he gets a nasty block on DeVon Mosley.

Penn 8, Dartmouth 2

Jonathan Ball starts the scoring for Dartmouth but a Smith three, a Zoller post layup in transition and a Zoller three the other way opens up an early lead for Penn only five total possessions in.

Welcome to the Palestra for the Quakers' Ivy home opener.

This battle of the classes seems like a good idea - a lot of students who seem like non-ticket holders are in the upper decks, but these neon shirts are absurd. What a strategy to have more Dartmouth green in the student section that Penn red or blue. Just have everyone wear different shades of blue or red or something.

As for the game, Penn prepares to get back on the winning track after a disappointing loss at Yale last weekend. The Big Green are 2-4 in the Ivies, and the Red and Blue are 3-1. Dartmouth isn't the pushover it usually is, but Penn has got to be a big favorite tonight. Darren Smith starting in place of Tommy McMahon for Penn, as the Quakers go for a more defensive lineup.

Pre-game injuries:

Pattman has a stomach virus and didn't make the trip to Philadelphia. The Big Green's scorer would really help in this one.
Ibrahim Jaaber's finger is wrapped pretty well. He's playing alright, but doesn't seem to be shooting as much as he normally would.