City of Basketball Love

Will Slover (@WillSlover31)
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Holding onto a comfortable 10-point lead with just under seven minutes to play, all signs pointed towards Penn coasting to its highly coveted first Big 5 win of the season on the road over La Salle.

Then, slowly but surely, La Salle started to claw its way back into the ballgame.

Ten points. Eight points. Six points. Four points. Then, as Jordan Price let go a 3-pointer from the right corner with the shot clocking winding down and Penn defenders swarming towards him, the shot fell and it was a one-point lead for Penn with 2.1 seconds to go.

On the inbound, La Salle had no choice but to foul and the Explorers sent freshman A.J. Brodeur to the line.

Just as Brodeur had done all night, the big man continued to execute and knocked down both ends of the one-and-one to seal the deal for his Quakers and give them a 77-74 win over La Salle at Tom Gola Arena on Wednesday night.

While this win gave Penn (7-9, 1-3 Big 5) its first Big 5 win of the season, it also ended a four-game skid for the Quakers that dates all the way back to December 30th, which was when they last tasted victory in a win over Fairfield.

“I’m excited for our guys. We’re on a little skid here where I think we played really hard and didn’t execute and tonight I thought, except for the last two minutes, we really did execute. Obviously, a huge game for AJ,” Penn head coach Steve Donahue said. “I’m really proud of our guys.”

“Huge game” is an understatement for the way that Brodeur played on Wednesday night.

The 6-foot-8 freshman was a force from the get-go, as he cashed in for 14 first half points, but the best was still in store for Brodeur.

A strong second half, including a stretch where he scored 16 straight points for Penn, propelled Brodeur to finish with a career-high 35 points, the most by a Penn player since 1993, on 14-of-19 shooting, including going 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.

“I was comfortable in the post,” Brodeur said. “That’s where the majority of my points come from, inside, but I was able to step out a couple of times from three and I think they underestimated my range a little bit and I was able to take advantage and that opened up a lot more for not only me, but also my teammates.”

After dropping the first three Big 5 contests to Villanova, Temple, and, most recently, St. Joe’s, Brodeur knows that getting his first win in the city league is more than just a regular win.

“It feels great. It seems more than just another win because the Big 5 is such a historic league,” Brodeur said. “I would’ve like to get one at the Palestra but that will come, three more years, so I’m really excited about this win.”

Donahue was impressed, but not surprised with the way that the Ivy League Rookie of the Year frontrunner performed with the possibility of going winless in the Big 5 on the line.

“The stage is never too big, it’s not about that. It’s about competing and having fun. He wants to win so bad,” Donahue said. “He needed to have a big game and I think he was ready for it.”

Although just a freshman, Brodeur has still been a force to be reckoned with this season as the Northborough, Mass. native is averaging a team-best 15.3 points per contest this season while also reeling in 6.9 rebounds per game.

“If you’re out there, you’re playing as a basketball player not as a freshman,” Brodeur said. “I don’t really appreciate that excuse because when I’m out there it doesn't matter how you play, it's whether your team wins or loses. When you’re out there it doesn't matter if you're a freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, you’re out there for one purpose.”

Just as Brodeur impressed in his first Big 5 win, Penn senior Matt Howard was also stellar in his last contest with a city opponent.

The senior captain finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, and five steals for Penn in the win, including hitting a three-pointer with just over a minute to go that gave his squad some temporary breathing room in the late going.

“Matt Howard in his last Big 5 game. He’s been through so much with this program. He hit a big three. He stepped up,” Donahue said. “He’s playing at a very high level and I thought he had a lot to do with us closing out this game.”

Penn’s offense was carried by the performance of Brodeur and Howard, along with 13 points from freshman Ryan Betley, but its team defense was also a huge reason for its triumph over the Explorers.

Penn’s 1-3-1 zone defense irritated the usually offensively sound Explorers and forced La Salle (11-7, 0-3 Big 5) into 17 turnovers, its third worst performance of the season. Penn also held La Salle to 8-of-26 (.306) from beyond the arc, way below their .382 season clip, which is good enough for 47th in the country.

“Their 1-3-1 really threw us off. We thought we were ready for it, we knew they were going to play it, we worked on it in practice and we have the length to simulate it but we just passed the ball really poorly,” La Salle head coach John Giannini said. “And if you can’t pass, you can’t score.”

La Salle was highlighted on the offensive end by the effort of B.J. Johnson, who scored all 15 of his points in the second half after being sidelined for the majority of the first frame due to foul trouble.

Aiding Johnson were Amar Stukes and Cleon Roberts, who both finished with 14 points in the loss.

La Salle will look to get back on track after a brief two game skid on Saturday when it travels to St. Joe’s in search of its first Big 5 win in the last possible opportunity of the season.

Penn, however, has a bit of a longer break before its next game as the Quakers don’t take the court again until February 3rd when it will travel to Harvard and try to win its first Ivy League contest of the season.

Until then, Donahue and the Quakers can enjoy this Big 5 win because after all, there is no other league like it around.

“This isn’t any other city. It doesn’t exist,” Donahue said. In this city, the Big 5 means a lot, and it separates us from every other city and that’s why I love to coach here.”