Penn basketball: Quakers complete sweep of Big 5 with win over Saint Joe's

Hurrah, Hurrah Pennsylvania; The Quakers have gone undefeated in Big 5 play and earned an outright city championship with their win over Saint Joe’s on Saturday

Penn basketball clinched an outright Big 5 title on Saturday night, beating Saint Joe’s 78-70 at the Palestra. In front of a packed crowd split between fans of each team, Penn added icing to the cake of their city championship that they clinched at least a share of with their win over Temple last week, completing a remarkable 4-0 Big 5 season and denying Villanova a share of the title for the first time since 2013.

The atmosphere was electric well before tip off, in a classic Big 5 environment with the virtually sold-out crowd physically split down the middle of the century-old Palestra; the Penn band, student section, cheerleaders, and general crowd occupied the west end of the building, their Saint Joe’s counterparts the east. In an odd situation you can almost only see in Philadelphia, the Quakers were technically the visiting team on their own home floor, small Saint Joe’s decals pressed onto the court alongside the Penn logo that dominates the central space of the building, the painted area donning the insignia of the Atlantic 10.

Saint Joe’s came out in their white uniforms, Penn in the red throwbacks that read “Pennsylvania” that they wore in their most recent home game in honor of the 1979 Final Four team. The public address announcer reminded the crowd that “their” Saint Joe’s Hawks were taking the court during player introductions.

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The familiar bang of the big bass drum that accompanies the Saint Joe’s student section filled the Palestra walls from the start of the game, the regular “When the Hawks go Marching In” ringing out from the crimson and gray end as play got underway. Every play of the game was met with a roar from one side of the building or the other, the level of intensity in the stands outdoing the atmosphere of last year’s Ivy League final played between Penn and Harvard on that very court (another game in which the second-seeded Quakers were visitors on their own court, wearing their road blues and occupying the visiting bench).

The Penn effort was led by Bryce Washington, the freshman guard who has been given a starting role in the absence of last year’s leading scorer Ryan Betley. Washington had a career high with 23 points, added 10 rebounds and two assists, and stole the ball twice. He was 6-12 from three point range. Junior forward and usual suspect AJ Brodeur had 20 of his own, Saint Joe’s’ weak and undermanned frontcourt no match for his offensive weapons inside. Jake Silpe and Michael Wang also contributed double-digit point totals.

Charlie Brown filled up the stat sheet for a second straight game for a Hawks side badly decimated by injuries. The brunt of the production burden has fallen squarely on the shoulders of Brown, with Saint Joe’s missing second-leading scorer Fresh Kimble. He scored 27 points and had 12 rebounds, following up a 31 point /14 rebound performance on Wednesday, playing all 40 minutes of the game. He was the best player on the court on Saturday, as he’ll need to be on a consistent basis for Saint Joe’s to have any chance of finishing their Atlantic Ten season with a respectable record.

Saint Joe’s held a modest lead for parts of the first half, but a 6-0 Penn run late in the opening frame gave the Quakers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Penn held a four-point lead at halftime, and Saint Joe’s wouldn’t get closer than the two-point margin they narrowed it to thirty seconds into the second half. The Hawks would remain within striking distance after whittling a 13-point second half Penn lead down to as little as three, but like they did so often during the Big 5 season, Penn would hit timely threes and manage the clock to efficiently close out the eight-point win. Penn rotated 10 players onto the court and added over 40 minutes from their bench, while Phil Martelli only played seven from his depleted lineup that was missing three key contributors.

Perhaps the biggest story from this year’s Big 5 Odyssey is Penn coach Steve Donahue, who used a less talented lineup to time and time again beat high-powered teams with more athleticism on the ends of their benches than he has in his starting five. To earn the Big 5 sweep and outright championship, Donahue out-coached a handful of legends of Philadelphia basketball, including two-time national champion Jay Wright, the all-time winningest Big 5 coach in Fran Dunphy, and Phil Martelli.

His players gave him an exceptional effort in all four of their city series games, but no team with Ivy talent makes a routine of beating teams like Villanova and Temple without a strong system that is bought into by everyone on the roster. They proved that their wins over those schools weren’t flukes or upsets; this Penn team knows how to take down major talent, and no one will want to see them in March if they can earn a second consecutive Ivy League championship.

Following Big 5 tradition, blue and red streamers came hailing from the stands upon the final buzzer, the Penn bench modestly rushing the court in celebration. They were handed a vinyl banner that acknowledged their championship effort and posed with it for a team picture. The players and cheerleaders then lined up facing the crowd, the band playing Pennsylvania’s popular stand song “Red and Blue” that’s preformed after every home game, fans and players singing together in celebration.

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Congratulations to the Pennsylvania Quakers on their amazing feat and for ending their 17-year championship drought. Hurrah for the red and blue.

Penn basketball: Quakers complete sweep of Big 5 with win over Saint Joe’s

By Pan Karalis | Jan 27, 2019

Hurrah, Hurrah Pennsylvania; The Quakers have gone undefeated in Big 5 play and earned an outright city championship with their win over Saint Joe’s on Saturday

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