FINAL OT: Drexel 67, Penn 59
In-game updates can be found after the jump.
Drexel hits its free throws and that is it, Penn’s chance for its first bona fide upset in a while slips away. A great performance nonetheless, especially on the defensive end in the second half. Craftiness on the part of guys like Grandieri on the inside got the Quakers back in it, but it wasn’t enough. Drexel finally started scoring, and Penn’s big men missing threes created too many wasted possessions.
0:29.4 OT: Penn 57 Drexel 65
Still in the one-and-one, but Rodgers makes the first.
Kach gets doubled, hits Votel, but he misses a three, and this one is just about over.
0:52.5 OT: Penn 57 Drexel 62
Drexel fans send out a “we can’t hear you” chant as Penn goes silent.
Kach misses a three, I’m not sure why he settled so quickly for a shot like that.
Drexel fans start a “this is our house” chant, but are once again owned by the Red and Blue crew on a rollout: “this is your house, then where do you sleep?”
1:16 OT: Penn 57 Drexel 62
Eggleston connects on a feed and layup and it’s down to two.
Neisler misses a jumper in-and-out, and at the other end Grandieri draws yet another foul. Grandieri hits two, almost all going short.
Are you kidding, you’d think they’d have learned by now. The Quakers leave Colds open for another three in the corner and he hits it.
Neisler hits inside and just like that the lead for the Dragons is back up to five.
3:13 OT: Penn 53, Drexel 57
Colds is money again, hitting a deep but wide open three. Grandieri hits one at the line after getting fouled.
After a strip on Elegar, Kach gets rejected. A Neisler shot is missed, but Elegar slams it home.
Cohen takes a hard charge, and he’s shaken up, but Hawthorne is even more hurt. He comes out, but will immediately check back in.
0:00 Penn 52, Drexel 52
OH MY GOD. Cohen pump fakes, misses a three, but Kach rebounds and gets fouled. His free throw goes in.
The second goes in-and-out (seemingly no missing on purpose down by 2), and Grandieri gets the rebound. He misses a reverse layup, but Eggleston gets the rebound and makes the putback with 1.6 seconds to go. WOW.
We’re gong to overtime!
0:19 2nd Half: Penn 49, Drexel 52
Penn in a 2-3, but Colds hits an unbelievable three to go up by four, I should have waited to give my onions call till that one, wow. I’m also mad I already used my “Colds has icewater” reference. That could be the dagger.
Grandieri hit one free throw, but 1-2 isn’t enough.
1:01 2nd Half: Penn 48, Drexel 49
Drexel misses a big 1-and-1, and Grandieri gets fouled, fourth foul on Elegar. A shooter’s roll gets Penn within one, but he misses the second.
1:32 2nd Half: Penn 47, Drexel 49
Neisler gets a pass inside and hits a biiiiiig jumper. But Cohen is onions with a three from the top of the key with 1:32 to go.
2nd Half: Penn 44, Drexel 47
Penn back in a 2-3 now, as Drexel misses a three. Eggleston nails a three, and the Quakers are down by three points. What a persistent comeback. This has been a wonderful game to watch.
2nd Half: Penn 41, Drexel 47
Penn is so close, but it seems so far, the Quakers are playing opportunistic defense, but just can’t cut the deficit to less than six.
2nd Half: Penn 41, Drexel 47
Cohen misses a three as the shot clock winds down, the first time we’ve seen that in single-digits in a while. Eggleston misses as well.
A travel, and Drexel is failing to convert almost every possession.
In case you’re just tuning in, I’m not forgetting to update the scores, these teams are just not scoring.
2nd Half: Penn 41, Drexel 47
Elegar out of the game, Drexel is weaker on the inside. Egee gets off a nasty block, and Penn’s got it.
Wow, Grandieri has been a monster this half, floating in an and-1, and it’s a two-possession game. The Penn crowd has really woken up now.
Colds has icewater, though, he nails a big three, and Drexel gets another turnover. It’s Drexel’s first field goal in a while.
But Gaines finds Grandieri again and it’s back to six.
A genius move by the Red and Blue crew. After exchanging a few demeaning chants at each other, Drexel fans say “Daddy’s trust fund!” But one timeout later the Red and Blue Crew rolls out: “Do you even know what a trust fund is?”
2nd Half: Penn 36, Drexel 44
Grandieri gets a nice feed from Gaines for a layup. Votel misses two free throws, but gets it back. A Gaines airball is the team’s fourth of the game.
Drexel has great ball movement, but Egee (I believe) makes an even better block.
2nd Half: Penn 34, Drexel 44
A layup by Votel, a Votel three and then a layup in traffic by Grandieri all miss. Penn is getting so many chances to come back, and not capitalizing at all now.
Rodgers misses from point blank, and Eggleston misses a three. Elegar gets called for an over-the-back on a rebound, that looked harmless, and Bru is pissed. It’s Elegar’s thrid.
2nd Half: Penn 34, Drexel 44
Penn is still in the man defense, and it’s working better than the zone was. Drexel hasn’t hit a three in a while. They foul Elegar, though, and he makes one at the line.
Eggleston misses off a Grandieri miss, then gets another loose ball, but rushes the shot and Drexel gets it back. A Votel turnover, and the Dragons have another chance. Penn is back in the 2-3 zone now.
Cohen makes a fantastic pass over the defender to Eggleston, but he gets his shot blocked out of bounds
2nd Half: Penn 34, Drexel 43
Brian Grandieri is taking over. With an inbounds pass with 2 on the shot clock he nails a long two, and completes a tough and-1 over Neisler, who picks up his fourth foul.
Eggleston takes a charge on Elegar, and the tide is slowly turning.
2nd Half: Penn 29, Drexel 41
Kach powers his way into the lane, but his floater gets thrown out of bounds by Elegar.
Drexel fans counter Penn’s earlier one of quality with a great rollout: “Did Ben Franklin pop his collar too?”
2nd Half: Penn 29, Drexel 41
Whenever the Quakers get a basket they haven’t been able to keep that momentum going. Finally, though, Cohen hits a three, Lewis gets a steal, and Grandieri puts in a nice baseline bank.
2nd Half: Penn 24, Drexel 39
More bad news for Penn: Darren Smith has a knee injury and is out of the game for now, as Cohen starts the second half at PG in his place. He was able to walk with a limp, but not looking like he can play for now.
An Elegar two and a terrible 22-footer from Grandieri and Drexel goes up 15 again.
Lewis gets a nasty block off on Jamie Harris shooting over Cohen. After Cohen turns it over, Lewis almost does. The passing hasn’t been very good. And the free throws are worse - Grandieri misses another two.
HALFTIME: Penn 24, Drexel 37
Cohen misses a three at the buzzer, barely getting it off because no one else seemed able or wanting to take it.
I knew that the Quakers would empty the bench, but this is a little much. Thirteen players have gotten into the game.
The Penn band is weak in its showing today, I assume devoting a large portion to the Harvard football game in Boston. Seems to me like an odd decision, Drexel has a much bigger band here.
Penn 24, Drexel 37
Gaines has been in a while, and playing solid basketball, good ball pressure on defense. Penn is in a 2-3 zone, as Drexel misses a three off of it.
Cohen misses another trey, and we’ve gone scoreless for a bit. Penn is switching between the 2-3 and a man, seemingly going man in transition, or after a miss.
Now that John Chaney is gone, Bruiser Flint is the greatest coach to sit behind at a game. At one point he turns to his assistant asks “what the name of that ref”, his assistant tells him, and he proceeds to call out that official.
Penn 24, Drexel 37
Schreiber airballs a three, but Grandieri cleans up with a put-back.
Penn 22, Drexel 37
The disparity in free throw shooting is noticeable, as the Dragons’ Elegar misses what I believe was his team’s first. Meanwhile, Penn isn’t making many.
Elegar takes a pass in for a dunk, but Schreiber fouls the big man and he misses, but will go to the line.
Grandieri is back in the game, as is Eggleston.
Schreiber makes a nice move and throws it down. But a Grandieri miss in transition and an Elegar and-1 and it’s 15 again.
Penn 20, Drexel 32
The Quakers are back in a man, but still getting torched. Egee is playing alright defense, but just isn’t fast or strong enough as Scott Rodgers backs him down and scores.
Egee hits a three, but Penn is still down 12.
Best sign I’ve seen from the Red and Blue Crew in a while: “You can’t spell Flint without an N.I.T.”
Penn 17, Drexel 30
Glen Miller, as we expected has emptied the bench thus far. If I remember correctly Andreas Schreiber, Votel, Bernardini, Cofield, Cohen have subbed in, and now finally Egee, Justin Reilly and Harrison Gaines check in in a full five-man line-change.
I don’t remember Schreiber being a long-distance shooter, but he takes and misses a three, making up for it with a nice jumper though.
Meanwhile Colds drains two treys, and this Penn zone is getting destroyed as the defenders can’t get out fast enough.
Penn 13, Drexel 22
Votel forces a jump ball, but then misses a three. He and the forwards have started to ferociously rebound as they get their nerves out.
Penn just went to a 1-3-1 zone defense (Cohen at the top, Cofield at the base) but Drexel it seems has shot them out of it.
Penn 12, Drexel 18
Hawthorne is killing the Quakers now, as he nails another three despite Kach leaping at him.
Remy Cofield Replaces Kach, the second freshman into the game. Brennan Votel is in now, I thought he’d be starting.
Smith misses a transition three, and Lewis connects on the offensive board and put-back. But Hawthorne drains yet another trey from the corner.
Right now Penn has no starters in the game, as Tyler Bernardini and then Cofield both put up airballs. Cohen hits a three to keep Penn within six.
Penn 6, Drexel 10
Grandieri drives through the lane and trucks Randy Oveneke, for an offensive foul, but he gets rejected by Frank Elegar anyway. Grandieri picks up his second personal already, that hurts.
Smith doing the passing this time, hits a cutting Lewis for an open two-handed dunk.
Aron Cohen, in the game for Grandieri, nails a three that bounces on the rim three times, but Tremayne Hawthorne gets him back by nailing one at the top of the key in Cohen’s eye.
Penn 1, Drexel 5
The Dragons start it off with a quick two baskets to take a 5-0 lead. Smith misses a shot for Penn, but gets his own rebound and is fouled.
It’s finally here - the Quakers tip off the 2007-08 season in a matter of minutes.
Wow, big surprise, as Penn starts the game with a freshman, but not the one we thought:
G Darren Smith
G Brian Grandieri
G Mike Kach
F Jack Eggleston
F Cameron Lewis
Tags: Game Updates
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November 9th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Well, as an alum who skipped work and took NJ transit down from NYC to be at the game tonight, I gotta ask - was there even a student section *there*? Quietest Palestra I’ve ever been in. Laaame.
I mean, I’m usually louder than everyone else, but at least I have to work for it.
November 10th, 2007 at 12:07 am
I have to agree with the last poster. Drexel’s student section was much larger and louder. While several of us were making an effort to cheer, others behind us didn’t join in.
November 10th, 2007 at 12:43 am
Did the poster really say “OH MY GOD” in his blog?