skip navigation

Penn follows up Big 5 win with dispatch of Dartmouth, 58-51

01/30/2015, 10:00pm EST
By Tom Reifsnyder
Matt Howard

Matt Howard (above, against Lafayette in November) scored a career-high 18 points in tonight’s victory over Dartmouth. (Photo: Josh Verlin)

Tom Reifsnyder (@tom_reifsnyder)

For two teams having what most would consider unimpressive seasons, both Penn and Dartmouth came into their Friday night matchup on somewhat of a high note.

The Quakers entered tonight’s game just six days removed from knocking off Big 5 rival Saint Joseph’s while the Big Green took down Ivy League foe Harvard on the same date.

Antonio Woods would seal the deal in front of a sparse Palestra crowd as the Quakers knocked off visiting Dartmouth, 58-51.

After a mad scrum for the ball, an Alex Mitola 3-pointer would take Penn’s six point advantage and cut it in half, leaving Dartmouth trailing by just three with just over a minute left.

But Dartmouth’s comeback was all for not, as Woods, a freshman, iced the game with a driving layup followed by two free throws after a Darnell Foreman steal on Dartmouth’s ensuing possession.

The Quakers entered the game with momentum and finished the game with momentum, but they sure didn’t start with any.

“Bad” would be a mild-mannered analysis of the first half shooting performances from both Penn and Dartmouth.

For the first three minutes of the game, neither team would record a field goal; not a single point.

“It wasn’t pretty, but we’re not pretty,” Penn head coach Jerome Allen said of his team and its performance. “It was a grind for 40 minutes.”

The scoring would eventually pick up as the Quakers headed into the locker room with a 20-16 halftime lead over the visiting Big Green.

“In the first half we struggled offensively but we held them to 16 points; and they’re a pretty good offensive team,” Allen said.

Each team managed only six made field goals through 20 minutes of action, with Penn (33.3 percent) shooting only slightly better than ice-cold Dartmouth (25 percent).

It wasn’t a particularly strong half for either team’s leading scorer, as Dartmouth’s Mitola (14.3 ppg) and Penn’s Tony Hicks (14.0 ppg) went scoreless. Mitola shot 0-of-4 from the field while Hicks didn’t even attempt a shot, playing only three minutes due to picking up two quick fouls.

Hicks would finally get on the board with a driving layup to give Penn a sizable 33-21 advantage over Dartmouth, due largely to the play of Matt Howard, who knocked down two 3-pointers and a layup for eight of his career-high 18 points in the opening four minutes of the second half.

“[Howard] was sick; he threw up at halftime, stuff all over the toilet,” Allen said. “But to his credit, he weathered the storm and gave us what we needed.

“And I ride Matt, but it’s only because I think when he’s aggressive and he’s active we’re a much better team.”

Howard’s illness seemed irrelevant on the court as he posted his best offensive performance since joining the Quakers two seasons ago. After the game, Howard looked a bit queasy, but brushed off any concerns about his health.

“It’s just a little stomach bug; been bothering me for a few days,” Howard said. “The win helps it a lot.”

Hicks would follow Howard with a scoring run of his own, dropping in seven of his 11 points within a two-minute span to give Penn a 48-39 lead with 6:05 to go.

But the Big Green would rebound behind the play of Malik Gill, who went on a personal 5-0 run to cut Penn’s lead to 52-47 with under three minutes to play; Gill led Dartmouth in scoring with 15 points on 4-of-8 from the field.

Up just four points, Hicks would give Penn some breathing room with two free throws to hand the Quakers a 54-48 advantage with two minutes to play.

Despite a late push from Gill and Dartmouth, the Quakers would ultimately prevail behind the play of underclassmen guards Howard and Woods.

“In the second half coming down the stretch we were still trying to find our rhythm, whether it was inside or off the dribble, but I thought Matt Howard hit some big shots to get us a little comfortable,” Allen said. “And then just coming down the stretch, Tony got in the paint, Matt got in the paint, and Antonio made a big floater which was huge for us.”

Greg Louis also made a significant contribution for Penn as the senior forward scored all 10 of his points in the second half to go with eight rebounds.

Aside from Gill, senior Gabas Maldunas (14 points) and junior Connor Boehm (10) shouldered the scoring load for Dartmouth, which struggled on offense due to the lack of production from Mitola, who would finish with just six points on 2-of-11 shooting.

The Quakers (6-10, 1-1) finish up their home stand against Harvard (12-5, 2-1) tomorrow at 7 p.m.

Dartmouth (8-9, 1-2) will also be in action on Saturday as the Big Green look to rebound against Princeton (8-10, 1-1) on the road.


Recruiting News:

HS Coverage:

Tag(s): Home  Tom Reifsnyder