Good evening from the Palestra. Penn takes on La Salle tonight; refresh this page for live updates.

FINAL: La Salle 62, Penn 58

Turns out that was the game. Mbala missed, but all Bernardini could do was shoot a long three, which missed. A good offensive game at times for the Quakers, but La Salle was even better. Much more on this in tomorrow’s DP.

Good night from The Buzz.

:4.9, Second half: La Salle 62, Penn 58

That may have been the game. Penn got an open three for Reilly, but it was a smidge long. Mbala got the rebound and hit his first free throw. He has another one after we come back from this timeout, but its already a two-possession game.

:17, Second half: La Salle 61, Penn 58

Grandieri had a great drive to the hoop to bring the deficit to one, and on the next play he made the right call by fouling Mbala. Mbala, though, hit both free throws. Penn has the ball, let’s see if they go for the three or for the easy two. Tough call.

:41, Second half: La Salle 59, Penn 56

Eggleston drew a charge on a last-second drive to the basket — huge play. Penn gets the ball back with a chance to tie this thing. Timeout.

1:25, Second half: La Salle 59, Penn 56

Ugh, forget that. Two backbreakers for Penn — a dunk from Green with three on the shot clock and an unnecessary foul on Harris. He hits one to give the Explorers a five-point lead, and Penn makes a slight recovery when Cohen hits two free throws. Kach and Egee are in for Grandieri and Bernardini, presumably for defense.

2:14, Second half: La Salle 56, Penn 54

Eggleston hit a pair from the line and then executed a perfect give-and-go with Lewis for another two points. The Quakers have the momentum.

3:36, Second half: La Salle 53, Penn 50

Bernardini had a tough couple of plays but recovered nicely. He hit two free throws to bring the deficit to four, then missed a layup and got called for a ticky-tack personal foul on the other end. La Salle hit two from the line. Bernardini hit a deep three after the timeout to bring the gap back to four, and Grandieri made one free throw to make it three. La Salle is 20-for-22 at the free-throw line so far, which is basically the difference in the game.

7:18, Second half: La Salle 50, Penn 44

Slight recovery by Penn. The Quakers are clearly a much better team tonight with Lewis on the floor — he’s really playing La Salle tough on the boards. He missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Grandieri was able to put it back, bringing the defecit from eight to six. But Bernardini missed an open three on the next possession and Glen Miller called timeout.

12:02, Second half: La Salle 44, Penn 38

Green is cleaning up, and Penn’s shot selection has deteriorated. The team just doesn’t seem to have its rhythm with Egee on the floor; the Quakers are forcing shots and passes and turning the ball over. As a result, the Explorers are getting a ton of points in transition. Conor Turley and Schreiber are in for Reilly and Lewis, and Turley hits a three-pointer(!) for Penn.

15:33, Second half: Penn 35, La Salle 34

Green had a steal that he took coast-to-coast for another dunk, and Penn’s offense has misfired a few times in the opening minutes.

16:45, Second half: Penn 35, La Salle 30

Green had a dunk in transition to open the second-half scoring, and then he barreled through the Penn defense for another lay-in. But Lewis responded with a big dunk of his own, and after Barrett hit a layup, found Cohen for a nifty backdoor cut. Penn’s lead remains at five.

Halftime stats:
Field goals: Penn 13-34, La Salle 7-29
3-pt. field goals: Penn 2-6, La Salle 2-6
Free throws: Penn 1-4, La Salle 8-8
Rebounds: Penn 23 (8 offensive), La Salle 21 (7 offensive)
Turnovers: Penn 6, La Salle 7
Assists: Penn 9, La Salle 6
Fouls: Penn 8, La Salle 7
Steals: Penn 3, La Salle 4

Halftime: Penn 29, La Salle 24

Two big plays from Bernardini give Penn back the momentum. He hit a three with a defender rushing in, then drew a charge on the next possession. Penn lost Paul Johnson for a minute, and he capitalized with a dunk. Justin Reilly then missed the front end of a one-and-one. La Salle failed to get a shot off on the last possession. Halftime stats up shortly

2:48, First half: Penn 25, La Salle 22

The Explorers are finally starting to hit some shots. Jerrell Williams hit a three for La Salle, its first of the game, and Darnell Harris responded with his first points of the game, a three in transition, to bring the score to 23-22. But Bernardini hit a twisting and-1 under the basket on the next possession, made the free throw, and Penn still has a three-point lead.

7:44, First half: Penn 17, La Salle 12

Penn has been playing better basketball on offense and is in control right now. The Quakers’ passes, in particular, are much improved — on target with some zip. Lewis hit two more solid turnaround baskets inside, Grandieri grabbed his own miss and put it back for two and Bernardini just nailed an open three to force an Explorers timeout.

11:59, First half: La Salle 6, Penn 6

Grandieri hit a jumper and Reilly scored on an open layup for Penn’s first field goals. La Salle’s biggest game cue — turnovers — is hurting them. Giannini lit up Rodney Greene for turning the ball over in the open court twice. Kevin Egee is in for Cohen, and Andreas Schreiber for Eggleston. Remy Cofield is in as well.

15:56, First half: La Salle 2, Penn 0

Ugly so far. The Quakers are getting some looks close in, but they can’t convert anything. Eggleston was blocked from behind by Yves Mekongo Mbala, and La Salle hits two free throws to open the scoring. Reilly comes in for Lewis. Cohen is playing point for Penn.

17:57, First half: Penn 0, La Salle 0

Both teams have it rough in the first two minutes. Cameron Lewis started for Penn and so far has an airball but two offensive rebounds. La Salle has not really come close to scoring. John Giannini was upset when Brian Grandieri was assessed a personal foul for elbowing a player in the face. Giannini thought it should be a technical.

Tags: Game Updates, la salle

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 8:00 pm and is filed under Game Updates, Men's Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.