La Salle 79 Penn 70 FINAL

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FINAL: La Salle 79, Penn 70

Bernardini gave Penn a last chance when he made a layup and was fouled with 56 seconds left, but Penn couldn't get the rebound on his miss. Look for full coverage of the game in tomorrow's DP, although the blame for the loss begins and ends with that nine-minute scoreless streak in the first half.

Good night from The Buzz.

1:09 Second half: La Salle 70, Penn 59

Green hit two free throws after a ticky-tack foul by Bernardini, and Guillendeaux hit a floater from six feet that should about wrap things up.

2:13 Second half: La Salle 66, Penn 58

Zach Rosen gave the Quakers some momentum with a highlight-reel three-point play where he switched hands in mid-air and still made the shot, and on the next possession Penn pulled out a 2-2-1 zone for the first time — not their usual matchup scheme. But they gave the momentum back by losing Guillendeaux in transition; they paid for it with a thunderous dunk. Not much time left coming out of this timeout. Belcore, Eggleston, Bernardini, Gaines and Rosen on the floor. Green comes back in for La Salle with four fouls.

4:44 Second half: La Salle 62, Penn 51

Penn still has a lot of time but Kimmani Barrett just hit a dagger of a three just when the Quakers had made it a good game. That brought the lead to ten, and Barrett sunk one of two free throws on the next play to make it 11.

6:55 Second half: La Salle 58, Penn 45

Check this out — Gaines picked up a turnover after Ruben Guillandeaux fumbled a crossover and was heading alone toward the basket. La Salle fouled him and the Penn bench exploded, calling for an intentional foul call. In the aftermath, the Penn bench — and by that I mean Glen Miller — picked up a technical foul.

7:52 Second half: La Salle 55, Penn 44

Penn is in foul trouble, with 10 team fouls already. Votel has four, Eggleston three. But putting La Salle at the line has been effective in limiting its scoring since they haven't shot their free throws well. Paul Johnson, the onetime Penn recruit, in particular is getting hacked. Rodney Green just picked up his fourth foul and took a seat, although Penn has done a good job of not letting La Salle's best player be the one to beat them.

11:04 Second half: La Salle 49, Penn 39

Eggleston corralled a missed shot and put it back for a three-point play, making it a ten-point game.

Interesting that Penn has stuck with a man-to-man defense for all but the first few minutes, given that most of La Salle's damage since then has been done on the interior.

11:49 Second half: La Salle 49, Penn 36

Another Bernardini three and an and-one from Gaines has brought Penn within a manageable 13 points.

15:37 Second half: La Salle 39, Penn 27

Penn got a couple of quick threes — one by Bernardini — and cut the deficit to eight in under two minutes. They have since given a bit of it back. Votel picked up his third foul and is on the bench.

Halftime lowlights:

Penn is 1-12 from three, 8-for-31 overall and 0-0 from the line. Cam Lewis, Justin Reilly and Brennan Votel are a combined 1-13 from the field with 4 rebounds in 27 minutes. Tyler Bernardini was by far the best performer, hitting four of nine from the floor thanks to that late surge in the first half. La Salle's adequate 39 percent shooting has been more than enough so far.

Halftime: La Salle 31, Penn 17

The first half draws to a merciful close. The only good news is that Bernardini hit his final two field goal attempts of the half, and that Zach Rosen finished two nice drive, pulling the Quakers within solid striking distance of breaking 30 points on the evening.

Halftime stats coming as soon as I get them. Stick around and I promise you won't be disappointed.

5:00, First Half: La Salle 25, Penn 11

This offensive performance had put the Quakers on Princeton watch until Tyler Bernardini hit a pull-up jumper — and boy, did he need it — to put them into double digits. This offensive performance has truly been hard to watch. Good thing La Salle has not hit a hot streak, or they could be up by 30.

8:20, First Half: La Salle 22, Penn 7

Penn is in a ridiculous drought — eight minutes and 20 seconds without scoring, in which La Salle has scored 16 of its own. The lineup is now Reilly, Belcore, Egee, Rosen and Eggleston. It's turning over pretty rapidly as Glen Miller tries to make something — anything — happen. Penn came out of the gate playing great defense, but it's tough to keep up that intensity when nothing goes right on the other end.

10:21, First Half: La Salle 16, Penn 7

Echoes of last year's Penn-La Salle game, which the Explorers pretty much won from the line. Penn has 4 team fouls but has otherwise played good defense, forcing a pair of turnovers with tough pressure on the perimeter.

Tyler Bernardini's funk showed no signs of letting up, and Miller just yanked him. I don't have the stats but he missed a couple of open shots after an early layup and looked out of sync on defense. He's obviously frustrated.

13:04, First Half: La Salle 14, Penn 7

Penn started the game off strong defensively, exchanging baskets with La Salle and even taking the lead at one point on a Rob Belcore 3-pointer, which gave Penn a 7-6 advantage. But then a pair of threes by Yves Mekongo Mbala ignited a 7-0 run for La Salle, prompting a Quakers timeout. Harrison Gaines and Kevin Egee were subbed in for Rosen and Belcore. After missing several jumpers early on Brennan Votel is back on the bench in favor of Cameron Lewis.