Although Dori from Finding Nemo tells us to “just keep swimming,” Winter Storm Nemo is what kept the Men’s team from swimming at Harvard on Saturday. Since nearly all of the roads in Massachusetts were closed, the meet was postponed for a week.
This change in meet scheduling is adding some complications for our coaching staff. Those swimmers who are not on the Ivy team will travel to the University of Virginia for an invitational meet, the boys on the Ivy team will travel to Harvard for a duel meet, and the women’s Ivy team will remain at Pottruck to train. Luckily we have three coaches, one for each location!
One spot remains open on the each Ivy team – the final member of each squad will be chosen based on the performances at the UVA invite. Based on what I am seeing at practice, it is going to be a tough decision!
Favorite racquet sport besides squash?
Tennis — I played throughout high school and continue to play today. It’s very similar to squash in terms of strategy and competitiveness, and I love those aspects of both sports.
Funniest person on the team?
Matt Sheridan, always makes the team laugh during our meetings (sometimes unintentionally) with his unexpected comments.
Who loses their temper the most during matches?
Derek Chilvers (nickname: ‘time bomb’). Always one of the most energetic and enthusiastic members of the team during matches, which sometimes results in an explosion on-court.
Nadal or Federer?
Federer — I prefer his style of play, though I like both of them.
If you had to take Jack Wyant and Randy Lim out to dinner, where would it be and why?
Sitar — I’ve run into them there several times and as such happen to know that it’s one of their favorite places.
Duke or UNC?
Duke — I’ve always been a Duke fan, and many of my friends now attend the school.
What’s your sandwich order at Wawa?
Meatball sub — best sandwich they have by far.
In this week’s Recruit Roundup, we have updates on Penn men’s basketball recruits Tony Bagtas, Matt Howard, Dave Winfield Jr. and Dylan Jones as each player’s high school nears the end of its regular season before playoffs begin in the coming weeks.
5-foot-11 Guard Tony Bagtas: Bagtas dominated on senior night for Westlake High School (Ga.), scoring 32 points to lead Westlake to a 71-53 victory on Feb. 8 over nearby Langston Hughes High School. Westlake moved to 21-4, including 9-1 in its region, as it heads into the regional tournament next week. After the game, Bagtas’ coach, Darron Rogers, had nothing but good things to say about the senior guard.
“Tony’s a four-year starter for us at point guard, and he’s our catalyst,” Rogers told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He can do it all. He’s going to Penn so you know he’s intelligent and has basketball smarts. He can score the basketball, but tonight I was glad to see him show his toughness, too. He went to the hole and made some tough baskets tonight.”
6-foot-4 Guard Matt Howard: Howard came up with a game-high 21 points to lead A.C. Flora (S.C.) to a 69-57 win in their regular season finale again Dreher High School on Feb. 5. Flora finishes the season 15-9 with a 5-2 record in conference. With Lower Richland losing on the same day, Flora ends the year tied for its conference title, but will take the No. 2 seed in next week’s playoffs.
6-foot-9 Center Dave Winfield Jr.: Winfield saved the best for last this season as he put up one of his strongest performances of the year in his final game. He had 12 points, nine rebounds and four blocks in a losing effort for Harvard-Westlake (Calif.) against rival Los Angeles Loyola, 56-52, in double overtime. Winfield scored baskets at the end of both regulation and the first overtime to keep Harvard-Westlake in the game, but Loyola, led by 11 points from Miles Cartwright’s younger brother, Parker Jackson-Cartwright, ultimately won the game.
6-foot-7 Forward Dylan Jones: The Village School (Texas) neared the end of its regular season as well this week. Jones scored ten points in a blowout victory against Christian Homeschool Sports Ministries, 79-43. The Village School jumped out to a 33-4 lead after just one quarter of play and held on for an easy victory. The team remains undefeated at home this season and will look to defend that record as it has two more games scheduled at home this season.
I stopped by the Palestra today to check in with freshman Darien Nelson-Henry and his knee injury. During Friday's game against Yale, he injured his left knee in the first half and returned for limited action in the second. Saturday against Brown, Nelson-Henry was bandaged and ready to play, but didn't see any game action.
The verdict? Nelson-Henry called it a low-grade sprain of his left MCL. He's practicing this week and feels he'll be 100 percent for Harvard on Friday. Here's the full interview:
Do you have a diagnosis for your knee?
Yeah, it's just a sprained MCL. Low Grade 1, maybe Grade 2. Nothing serious.
And you're practicing this week?
Yeah, I am practicing this week. I'll be back for Harvard.
On Saturday, were you able to play and just taking a precaution?
It was mostly precautionary. I definitely was not going to be at 100 percent if I was to play, so the coaches just didn't want to chance it and have my injury exacerbated. So they just decided to sit me out and wait for this big weekend coming up.
So you're practicing [Monday], you're off tomorrow and you're all good?
Yeah, I'll be good to go.
Do you feel like you'll be 100 percent?
Yes, definitely. I'll definitely be 100 percent by Harvard.
FULL RECAP // BOX SCORE
THE GOOD: Penn's three-point shooting
There was a lot of good to around for the Quakers against the Bears, but the Red and Blue kept throwing dagger after dagger from downtown that ultimately put this one in the bag for most of the second half. Penn shot 60 percent from beyond the arc, while limiting the Bears to an atrocious 2-for-18 from downtown.
Junior Miles Cartwright, who broke his career high in points with 28 (previously 27), did so predominantly with the three ball. He went 9-for-13 from the field, including 5-for-6 from three.
THE BAD: Brown's stamina
There was an eerie feeling on press row, right around 6:40, when Brown came out to warm up. And after watching the second half unfold as it did, with Penn outscoring the Bears, 45-23, the DP's resident ghostbuster has determined the cause. Brown came with just nine players, and two of them only played a total of six minutes. Thus, Brown ran essentially a seven-man rotation the entire night. While this worked out fine in the first half, Penn was eventually able to crank the tempo up and run the few bodies that the Bears had out of the Palestra and back into the snowstorm from whence they came.
THE UGLY: Rafael Maia's foul shot form
Now, I know that big men have a lot of trouble shooting foul shots. Some of the best centers of all time have carried atrocious FT percentages on their backs and walked proudly in spite of that. But Rafael Maia's foul shot was so linear, had so little touch on it, that I was amazed that he was able to go 6-for-8 from the line.
In fact, maybe this shouldn't have been the ugly after all, since essentially, by shooting line drives for foul shots, he's just making his life that much more difficult. But he's succeeding anyway. I'd tip my hat to you, Rafael Maia, but there are no hats on press row.
Follow along as the Quakers look for their second Ivy win of the season against Brown at the Palestra.
After an up and down game against Yale last night in which the bottom eventually fell out for Penn, the Quakers look to right the ship tonight against the Bears, who are coming off of a 63-46 loss at Princeton. Who's up and who's down?
Three Up-
Penn's free-throw situation: The Quakers shot just 12-for-20 (60 percent) from the line last night after shooting an even dimmer 1-for-3 against Cornell. So is this the same team that shot 26-for-29 at the charity stripe against Columbia? Perhaps against a Bears squad allowing opponents to sink nearly 12 free throws per game, we'll see a little Jekyll tonight at the foul line.
Darien Nelson-Henry: Taken out of the equation from the getgo by Yale's inside defense, DNH should improve upon the whopping one point he posted last night. At the very least, it'll take a low-post presence to combat Brown's rebounding prowess.
Miles Cartwright: More Jekyll-and-Hyde business here. Cartwright can't shoot to save his life in some games this season, and Cornell was one of them. Miles shot 1-for-7 from the field in 31 minutes of play, so surely there's room for improvement there, right?
Three Down-
Brown's three-point defense: Brown's opponents come in averaging nearly 38 percent from beyond the arc, and PLP's second-best three-point shooting percentage in the Ivy League awaits the Bears. With a roster in flux, now is really PLP's time to take advantage of a Brown defense that prides itself on playing defense from the inside out.
Penn's three-point defense: Brown boasts two of the top three Ivy players in three-pointers per game in guard Sean McGonagill and forward Tucker Halpern (2.5 and 2.4 per contest respectively), so expect some vintage downtown Brown tonight.
Henry Brooks: After fouling out for the umpteenth time last night, expect Brooks to make another early exit against Brown's superior rebounding and overall inside presence. Expect centers Rafael Maia and Cedric Kuakumensah to outmatch Brooks early and often.
Follow along as the Quakers take on Yale at home in their fourth Ivy matchup of the season.
The past week has been full of ups and downs for the Quakers - an upset win over Columbia to a disappointing defeat to Cornell to the reemergence of Miles Cartwright to the likely season-ending injury to Fran Doughterty. Here are some predictions for the ups and downs likely to happen when Penn takes on the Yale Bulldogs on Friday at the Palestra:
Three Up-
Jerome Allen: If there was ever a time for coach Allen to step up, this weekend is it. Allen has been criticized often this season for his team’s lack of discipline and costly mistakes, but he has the chance to prove his doubters wrong if he can pull off a victory or two this weekend without Fran Dougherty and Steve Rennard.
Patrick Lucas-Perry: Over the season, the diminutive sophomore guard has slowly but surely made his claim to be a more integral piece in coach Allen’s plans. The Penn offense needs a spark from somewhere, which is exactly what PLP can provide. His fantastic three-point shooting cannot be ignored, and PLP should at the very least be the Quakers’ first option off the bench.
Camryn Crocker: The sophomore guard has put together a string of solid performances (25 assists to just seven turnovers in his past eight games) to prove that he should be Penn’s main ball handler. Against Cornell, Crocker put together his best game of the season (six assists to only one turnover), and was a great example of the kind of composure that the team needs right now.
Three Down-
Penn assists: Against Cornell, the Quakers dished out a season-high 24 assists. That number should come way down on Friday, as Yale only allows its opponents half of that (12.0 assists per game). Also, with two of their leaders in Fran and Rennard out, the Red and Blue will likely have scoring troubles.
Jamal Lewis: Through the end of December, Lewis looked like he had firmly established himself in the starting lineup for the Quakers. However, his recent scoring slump and tendency to turn the ball over resulted in fewer and fewer minutes for the freshman guard. The emergence of players like PLP, Hicks and Crocker has contributed to this decline, and Lewis remarkably went from starting last Friday versus Columbia to not playing at all Saturday against Cornell.
Penn rebounding: One of the main weaknesses of Allen’s team this season has been the lack of presence on the boards. The Quakers have been consistently outmatched in the rebounding category, currently holding an abysmal rebounding margin of -4.7 on the year. That weakness should be exposed by the Bulldogs, who lead the Ivy League in rebounding margin (+3.5).
Penn women's basketball player Jewel Clark surpasses 1,000 points in her playing career at Cornell
Feb. 8, 2003
In the history of the Penn women's basketball team, few women have had as illustrious a career as Jewel Clark.
On Feb. 8, 2003 the Quakers opened a set of back-to-back weekend games in Ithaca, N.Y., against a tough Cornell squad.
The game was tight throughout, with the Big Red giving Penn all it could handle. Cornell seized a lead late in the first-half, but only briefly. The Quakers responded to take a 25-22 lead with 4:26 remaining, and would not relinquish for the lead the rest of the game.
While the Quakers went on to win the game, 75-65, the highlight was certainly Clark's basket with 4:53 remaining in the first half.
The basket, which helped Clark clear the 1,000 point hurdle for her career, was one of many for the junior. She finished with 26 points and allowed the Quakers to even their Ivy League record.
Clark would end up adding 28 points in another victory the following night, this time against Columbia.
The pair of wins that weekend improved the team's record to 9-9 overall, and 3-2 in the Ivy League.
Against Cornell, Clark became the 15th woman in Penn basketball history to reach the 1,000 point mark. She finished her junior season at fifth all-time on the scoring list.
A dominant senior season brought Clark's final point total with the Quakers to 1,743, good for second-best all-time. She finished her career 643 points behind former teammate Diana Caramanico, who remains Penn's all-time leading scorer with 2,415 points.
Clark's 19.8 points per game led the Quakers to a 17-11 record, 11-3 in the Ivy League, and an NCAA tournament berth. It was Clark's second Ivy League crown in four seasons.
Jewel Clark was a three-time All-Ivy first-team selection, and was inducted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame in 2011. The women's team has not had a winning season since her graduation in 2004.
On its opening weekend of Ivy League play, the Penn basketball team pulled off a big win against Columbia before falling to lowly Cornell the following night, losing Fran Dougherty for the season in the process. Heading into this weekend's tilt, against Yale and Brown at the Palestra, the Red and Blue will also be without Steve Rennard. Senior Sports Editor Mike Tony and Sports Editor Ian Wenik give you their lastest take on the state of the Quakers:
This Week on 33rd Street: Feb. 8 from dailypenn on Vimeo.
It's not every day that you see a hip-hop music video shot at the Palestra and Franklin Field, but that's where much of the video for OCD: Moosh & Twist's "This High" was filmed.
Moosh & Twist are both Philly natives whose video for the song "City Kids" has gotten nearly 1.5 million YouTube views who recently performed at the Roots Picnic alongside Wiz Khalifa and Nas.
An empty Frank has never sounded so fly.
Women's hoops turns its season around against Cornell
Feb. 7, 2009
Before this past weekend, the Penn women’s basketball team had lost to Cornell in three straight meetings.
Yet Penn’s 65-56 win on Saturday couldn’t have been as sweet as the Red and Blue’s victory over the Big Red four years ago today.
Struggling to shake off an eight–game losing streak, Penn conquered Cornell in Ithaca on Feb. 7, 2009, 79-70, to notch its first Ivy win of the season.
After a tough loss to Columbia the night before, it seemed as though the Empire State was determined to keep the Quakers down. Cornell shot 7-for-10 from the three-point line in the first half, leaving Penn with an 11-point deficit at the break.
“I was very angry,” then-coach Pat Knapp (Mike McLaughlin’s predecessor) said. “We weren’t defending people tightly enough, thus they got way more open shots than they should have.”
But the second half saw a team reborn. The Red and Blue bounced back to play a near-perfect offensive game, outscoring the Big Red 55-35 and sinking 16 of 22 shots from the field in the half.
Then-senior guard and captain Anca Popovici was perfect from the floor (4-for-4) and the charity stripe (3-for-3) that night, culminating in a then-season-high 11 points. Together with forward and fellow senior co-captain Carrie Biemer, the two boosted the Quakers up to a 46-46 tie with 9:46 left in the game.
With 5:41 to go and Penn up by one at 56-55, Popovici jump started a successful stretch, scoring on four of Penn’s next five possessions, single-handedly outscoring Cornell, 7-5. With 3:50 left, she sank a free throw to push Penn up to a 65-60 lead.
Then Biemer stepped in and hit a three-pointer, increasing the Quakers’ edge to eight.
The Red and Blue had taken their largest lead at 73-63 with 1:30 to go when then-junior guard Sarah Bucar came off the bench, locking in a Penn victory by making four out of six foul shots.
Biemer had fouled out only 13 minutes into the previous night’s game against Columbia, going up against star forward Judie Lomax.
“She’s very athletic, and she’s very patient with the ball, and she is definitely one of the strongest players I’ve ever played against,” Biemer said. “She goes hard, and she is a great rebounder, and that’s why I got into foul trouble.”
With Biemer on the bench, Lomax came away with 12 rebounds in what would be a Lions record-setting season of 401 rebounds.
Moving on from her struggles that night, Biemer stacked an impressive 27 points against Cornell and tied a career high by making five three-pointers.
“Teams leave me open, and I get rhythm going once I get confident, and I feel like I can shoot all the time,” Biemer said.
In addition to Biemer’s and Popovici’s performances, fellow senior Katarina Lackner and sophomore Erin Power all scored in double digits that night.
With the losing streak firmly in their rearview mirror, the Quakers took the win over the Big Red and kept right on rolling, sweeping their next weekend of Ivy contests.
-by Danielle Chuang
This weekend marked the last two dual meets for the women’s team. The men will travel to Cambridge on Friday to face Harvard for their final dual meet of the season.
Though dual meets might be over, we still have nearly a month left of training before Ivies. The swimmers who are not a part of the Ivy team will journey to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville for an invitational meet Feb. 15-16.
For those who are not familiar with the training regimen for a swimmer, I shall explain. Basically, we swim nine times a week, with seven to eight of these workouts being extraordinarily challenging. Also most of the team lifts weights in addition to swimming three times a week, those who don’t lift, distance swimmers (such as myself) do a cardio circuit and run during that time. Lastly, the women’s team also participates in a spin class once a week.
This brutal schedule begins Oct. 1 and continues throughout the season until about two weeks before a swimmer’s final meet. At this point we cut out all activity outside of the pool, eliminate morning practice, and begin to cut back our yardage significantly. This process allows the muscle a swimmer has built up all season to recover and prepare for high performance at championships. It is known as taper and is swimmers favorite time of the season!
So, we are approaching taper and some of those not on the Ivy squad have already begun this glorious time of year. Waiting for taper is like counting down the days until Christmas. The end is near and we could not be more ready to see all our hard work pay off!
It was a busy weekend for the Quakers as nine teams were in action, and that doesn't even include four combined games for the men's and women's basketball squads. The Red and Blue came up big this weekend, scoring important victories in women's squash, men's tennis and both men's and women's swimming, among others. For coverage of this weekend and more, here's this week's edition of Weekend Wrap.
Women's Squash:
The weekend provided the No. 3 ranked Quakers with a variety of stern road tests that would either make or break the team's season. Coming off a 9-0 defeat to No. 1 Princeton on Wednesday, the Quakers defeated No. 9 Brown and No. 7 Stanford on Saturday. On Sunday, Penn completed a sweep of the weekend with a 7-2 victory over No. 5 Yale. It was a Super Squash Sweep for the ladies who now sit at 10-2 overall, 3-2 in the Ivy League.
Penn women's squash scores weekend hat trick
Gymnastics:
Penn's gymnastics competed in a tri-meet this weekend at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. Led by freshman Elyse Shenberger who placed second on the balance beam, the Quakers put together a strong effort but came up just short of first place. The host Cardinals won the event with a score of 193.800 while the Quakers finished the meet at 189.575. Penn did, however, finish ahead of Centenary, who came in third with a score of 187.550. The Quakers will be back in action next weekend when they visit West Chester.
BRIEF | Gymnastics finishes second at Indiana tri-meet
Men's Tennis:
Looking for a strong start to their spring season, the Quakers faced two tough opponents in a series of back-to-back matches this weekend. On Saturday, Penn fell to in-state rival Penn State 6-1. Although sophomore Jeremy Court was the only Quaker to win a singles match, the overall contest was much closer than the scoreline indicated. The Red and Blue returned to campus on Sunday and met Buffalo University. Led by another strong performance by Court, Penn dominated the matchup and captured a 6-1 victory of its own.
Penn men's tennis breaks even in season opening doubleheader
Men's and Women's Swimming:
The men's and women's swimming teams competed at LaSalle this weekend, and both scored important victories over the hosts. On the men's side, Penn dominated the dual-meet, capturing 13 of the first 14 events on Saturday. The team got off to a strong start in the 400 yard medley relay, thanks to the team of Dillon McHugh, Kyle Yu, Rhoads Worster and John Germanis. While the men won easily, 175-121, the women faced a much tougher battle in their dual-meet. Although the Quakers eventually won the meet, 159-140, the victory was not secure until the very end. The men head to Cambridge, Mass., next Saturday to take on a battle-tested Harvard team, while the women's team has a weekend off.
BRIEF | Penn swimming victorious over La Salle
Men's and Women's Fencing:
It was a flawless weekend for both of Penn's fencing teams, as the men and women finished a combined 8-0 at the Eric Sollee Invitational. Competing against Stevens Tech, MIT, Boston College, and Brandeis, both squads put on a performance that will provide momentum for the rest of the season. It was the first tournament this season in which the women did not suffer a defeat. On the other side, the men's team extended its winning streak to 11 matches. Nationally, the men are ranked No. 8 and the women are slotted at No. 10. With the Ivy League championship up for grabs, the men and women head to Cambridge, Mass., next weekend to compete in the Ivy-League round-robins.
BRIEF | Penn fencing undefeated at Eric Sollee Invitational
Men's Squash:
The Quakers secured their first Ivy League victory of the season on Saturday with a 6-3 victory over Brown. Though the team has struggled this season, it has been competitive in consecutive Ivy League games, a positive sign for the team moving forward. Thanks to strong performances by juniors Derek Chilvers, John Dudzik and Daniel Judd, the team now sits at 1-4 in the Ivy League. Next weekend, the squad will travel to New York to face Columbia on Friday before returning home to battle Cornell on Sunday.
Penn men's squash picks up first Ivy win of the season
In this week’s Recruit Roundup, we have updates on Penn’s men’s basketball recruits Matt Howard, Tony Bagtas, Dave Winfield Jr., Dylan Jones and Preston Troutt.
6-foot-4 guard Matt Howard: A.C. Flora High School (S.C.) played two games within their region (Region 4-3A) and won both this week. On Jan. 29, the senior hit two three pointers in the first five minutes of play and helped lead A.C. Flora to a nine-point victory over nearby Westwood High School, 51-42. He led the team with 16 points.
On Feb. 1, Howard finished with a game-high 23 points to help A.C. Flora defeat Lower Richland. Lower Richland is in first place in the region and had previously defeated A.C. Flora. A.C. Flora is now just one game behind Lower Richland and is assured of a spot in the postseason, as Flora has now clinched second place in Region 4-3A.
6-foot-0 guard Tony Bagtas: Bagtas, a senior at Westlake High School in Atlanta, Ga., has played well this season, with Westlake sporting a 20-4 record on the season. In back-to-back games a week and a half ago, Bagtas helped lead Westlake to two victories.
On Jan. 25, Bagtas had 29 points, 11 assists and two steals, which assisted Westlake in avenging one of its early season losses against Douglas County. The following day, Jan. 26, Bagtas scored 21 points to go with 9 assists and three steals, as Westlake defeated Tri-Cities High School.
Overall, Westlake has won 10 straight games, with nine of the 10 victories coming by double-digits.
6-foot-9 center Dave Winfield Jr.: Harvard-Westlake (Calif.) had three games last week and went 1-2 in the three contests. On Jan. 28, Winfield scored two points and had one rebound in a loss to Chaminade High School. Winfield followed that up with a seven point, five rebound performance during a victory over Alemany High School on Jan. 30.
On Feb. 1, Winfield had a solid outing with eight points and four rebounds in a loss against St. Francis. Winfield went 2-for-2 from the field while hitting all four of his free throw attempts.
6-foot-8 forward Dylan Jones: There was a death at the Village School (Texas) this past week and all games were canceled as a result. Their next scheduled game is Wednesday.
5-foot-11 guard Preston Troutt: The Trinity Christian (Texas) senior still has not played since mid-December due to injury and it is unclear when he will return.
In this week’s Mano-a-Mano, Associate Sports Editor John Phillips and Senior Sports Editor Mike Tony debate which weekend game showed us where the Penn men’s basketball team is really at: Columbia or Cornell.
John Phillips: The Quakers are not going to win the Ivy League this year. Let’s not fool ourselves. But this isn’t a team I would want to run into if I were Princeton or Harvard.
And that’s because the Friday night edition of the Red and Blue was a better representation of how they’ve been playing on the whole rather than the squad that appeared (and failed to at key moments) on Saturday.
The Quakers’ youth has started to blossom. Darien Nelson-Henry has proven to be a huge offensive asset for the Quakers, while coach Jerome Allen has finally figured out the amount of playing time that Jamal Lewis and Tony Hicks each should receive.
Meanwhile, Miles Cartwright is finally learning when to score and when to distribute, a clear sign of leadership. And perhaps most important of all, the team is getting stronger despite the absence of Fran Dougherty from the lineup.
Mike Tony: But it’s hard to say the Quakers are happily evolving into a new squad when we saw the same old team collapse Saturday night against Cornell.
The same lack of aggressiveness we’ve seen all season long re-emerged as Penn only got to the charity stripe three times against the Big Red.
The same lack of clutchness we’ve seen all season long also re-emerged as the Red and Blue blew a 51-41 second-half lead and completely botched the final possession and inbounds play.
This team plays hard, but it still doesn’t know how to finish games. The Cornell contest was stark evidence of that.
JP: Winning games is the last step, isn’t it? Clutchness is more about repetition than anything, and this is still a young team.
With the way Allen shuffled around the lineup for most of the season, the players have been stuck playing musical chairs rather than playing basketball.
Recently, however, we’ve seen the rotation solidify and players accept their roles. Nelson-Henry’s increasingly stellar play can be attributed to knowing he’ll get minutes just as much as to his skill development.
I’ve said it all year — this is a talented unit. The flashes of a good team we’re seeing will develop into consistent success.
MT: But when? Sure, Penn shot and distributed the ball well offensively as a team against Cornell, but the Big Red rank dead last in the Ivy League in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense anyway. This is still a team defined by its crunch-time ineffectiveness. Let’s wait until we see the Quakers close out a game with authority until we say they’ve turned the corner.
JP: They closed out a game on Friday night! When Cartwright rose up and sank that shot, the crowd went nuts — not just because Penn took the lead, but because it was a sign of things to come.
Penn won’t win the Ivy League, but the Quakers will win a fair number of games in the Ancient Eight this year, thanks to the bright spots they showed Friday.
MT: And on the night following Cartwright’s clutch play, Penn lost another game it should have won. Just like Drexel. Just like Fordham. Just like Wagner. The Quakers still can’t seem to figure out how to get all of their offensive spark plugs firing at the same time. Late-game mismanagement and youth are still the rule for Penn, not the exception.
Verdict: Mike takes this one. Until the Quakers limit turnovers and shoot well over 40 percent from the field on a consistent basis, they won’t notch the victories that will make them come of age.
In a shockingly close finish on Saturday afternoon, the Penn alumni game ended in a tie, 67-67
The Red and Blue teams were tied at 65 in the final minute when Tim Krug (C' 96) made a shot to put the Blue team up two. The Red team quickly responded with a two of their own from Brian Grandieri (C' 08).
So with the game tied in the final seconds, Krug drew a foul and went to the line for two free throws. Unfortunately, he succumbed to pressure, missing both free throws, including an air ball on his first attempt. He made up for it on defense with a steal to preserve the tie.
“Historically, I’ve been a poor free throw shooter,” Krug said. “Being out of shape and at the foul line at the end of the game, being a bad free throw shooter, isn’t the best place to be.”
The Blue team (0-0-1) led for much of the contest thanks to some strong jump shooting early from multiple players, including Joe Gill (C' 08), who hit two early three pointers.
With the team behind early, the Red team (0-0-1) resorted to the worst of basketball’s vices: cherry-picking. Penn coach Jerome Allen and Stan Greene (C' 78) failed to get back on defense in order to get the glory of an easy layup on the other end.
Allen faced off against assistant Ira Bowman (W '96) with multiple members of the current Penn men’s basketball team watching the game. Both players abandoned their team shortly after halftime to focus on playing Cornell.
The Red team’s cherry-picking strategy worked, as the red team, with Greene at the point, staged a comeback, cutting the Blue team’s lead from double digits to just three right before the half.
The second half was shortened to just 15 minutes, helping the older players on each side. When the final buzzer sounded, both teams were surprisingly cordial after the close finish.
“I didn’t even really know games could end in ties, one of the Donovan McNabb quotes,” Red team star Mark Zoller (C '07) said. “It was just to get out here and have fun. Nobody got hurt, which was the most important thing.”
Both teams struggled from the free throw line throughout the game and strong ball handling was not on display, as both teams turned the ball over often.
Additionally, the game featured unusual and untimely substitutions, as teams would switch players while bringing the ball up the court. One of the keys to the blue team’s early success was their bench, including Brennan Votel (C '09) and Justin Reilly (W '10).
“I was winded, a little out of shape,” Votel said. “I shot when I was open, and that was pretty much all I contributed to the team.”
Despite the thrilling finish, the crowd was strongly disappointed by Rob Belcore’s absence from the game. The 2012 graduate attended the game, but did not play. However, he was honored at halftime of the Cornell game later that evening.
The players on the court provided the Palestra faithful with a look back throughout Penn history. Although many of the players came from the past decade, the team’s combined to display over four decades of Penn basketball on the court at once.
“There’s so much history on the court,” 2010 graduate Drew Godwin said. “So many players went to the NCAA tournament, so it’s awesome just to talk to them and see how they’re doing.”
Godwin summed up the thoughts of everyone at the Penn alumni game about the tie.
“All of us are competitors, so we’re kind of like ‘Really, do we have to end in a tie?’ but it is only right. We are one big family. We were all competitive but we are all part of Penn’s team"
On Friday, Penn football held its annual postseason banquet to celebrate the team’s 2012 Ivy League championship, honor the seniors, and hand out the individual awards to the outstanding performers from 2012. Here is a rundown of who took home the accolades from Friday night:
Edgar Church Memorial Award (Biggest Overall Contributor)
The team’s letterwinners voted for senior quarterback Billy Ragone to receive the Edgar Church Memorial Award. Ragone started nine games for the 2012 Ivy League champions. The honorable mention All-Ivy quarterback ranked sixth in the Ivy League in total offense, seventh in passing yards and ninth in rushing. He finished the season 118-of-210 passing for 1,288 yards and 11 touchdowns, while also rushing for 476 yards and four touchdowns to lead the team with 1,764 yards of total offense.
Chuck Bednarik Award (Most outstanding offensive and defensive linemen)
Senior offensive lineman Joe Bonadies and senior defensive tackle Taylor Brown took home the Chuck Bednarik Award for their fantastic work in the trenches this season. Bonadies was a first-team All-Ivy and Academic All-Ivy selection, as he started all 10 games at right tackle for the second consecutive season. Brown started all 10 games on the defensive side for the second straight year, recording three sacks along with eight tackles for loss.
George Munger Award (Offensive and Defensive Most Valuable Players)
Named after Penn's Hall of Fame coach, the George Munger Award was given to senior running back Lyle Marsh and senior captain Brandon Copeland. Marsh was a second-team All-Ivy selection as he led Penn and finished eighth in the Ivy League in rushing with 515 yards, finding the endzone six times. He also led Penn with 791 all-purpose yards, while his 5.4 yards per carry ranked fifth all-time at Penn in a single season. Copeland was Penn's first solo captain in 15 years and was named first-team All-Ivy. The defensive lineman led Penn and finished seventh in the Ivy League with five sacks and was second on the team with 8.5 tackles for loss.
Reds Bagnell Award (Unsung Heroes)
Senior tight end Ryan Allen and senior linebacker Steve Lias were handed the Reds Bagnell Award, named after Hall of Fame running back Francis (Reds) Bagnell. Allen played in all 10 games and finished the season with nine catches for 107 yards and 11.9 yards per catch. Lias started all 10 games for the Quakers, finishing with 43 tackles on the year in addition to three tackles for loss and two sacks.
George A. Weiss Award (Demonstrating “Pennsylvania kind of football”)
Junior offensive lineman Chris Bush was honored to receive the George A. Weiss Award, given to the player who best displays the toughness and determination that represents the "Pennsylvania kind of football." Bush was a second-team All-Ivy selection and Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area honoree. He started nine games at center for the Ivy League champions and played through injury during most of Penn's season-ending four-game winning streak.
Football Club Award (Distinct Athletic Achievement)
The Football Club Award was given to junior wide receiver Conner Scott on offense, senior cornerback Dave Twamley on defense, and senior punter Scott Lopano on special teams. Sophomore tight end Mitchell King and sophomore linebacker Dan Davis also received the award as offensive and defensive rookies. Scott had 52 receptions for 691 yards and five touchdowns in 2012. Twamley earned second-team All-Ivy and Academic All-Area honors as he led the team with 43 solo tackles. Lopano set Penn's career records for punts (184) and punt yards (7,111), while King played in all 10 games and finished with six catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns.
Coach Lake Award (Leadership, Team Spirit, and Penn Pride)
Awarded for the first time in 2010, the Lake Award is presented in honor of Coach Dan "Lake" Staffieri, a team motivator for 33 seasons. Senior running back Jeff Jack was the recipient of the award for the 2012 season. Jack played in all 10 games, starting the last seven for the Red and Blue. He ran for 413 yards and had four rushing touchdowns on the season.
Man of the Year Award
Along with the awards given to the athletes, Hench Murray, C'66, GEd'67, was named the Man of the Year for his continued dedication to and support of Penn's football program. Murray played baseball while attending Penn, and has served as the color analyst for the football team for 33 seasons.
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