Quakers shoot, score, dominate men's hoops

The men's basketball team — a team that was 16-9 overall (11-2 Ivy League) before last night's loss to Penn — was 3-9 when shooting under 46 percent from the field.

Make that 3-10.

Princeton made just over 37 percent of its shots at the Palestra, and in keeping with the trend this season, lost a game in which they were outshot.

Just as on the scoreboard, the margin on the score sheet at half time was close. The Quakers outshot Princeton by ten percent (10-24 compared to 7-22) from inside the three-point arc, but missed all eight of their shots from behind the line.

It was in the second half that Penn pulled away and, not surprisingly, it was shooting — rather than rebounding or turnovers — that made the difference. The Tigers fell into a three-way tie for first place in the Ivy League last night because they could not shoot well in the second half and the Quakers could.

Two point baskets, three pointers and free throws. Three ways to score and all three were dominated by Penn in the second half. Princeton shot 41.4 percent from two-point range (to the Quakers' 65), 15.4 from three (to 62.5) and 75 from the line (to 90). Getting outshot by 25 percent will never be good enough to overcome a five point half time deficit.

Freshman guard Will Venable and senior guard Ahmed El-Nokali had the most successful shooting nights for the Tigers, but for different reasons. Venable had was statistically the best shooter on the team, finishing four for six from the floor.

El-Nokali hit the arguably the most important shots, usually scoring just in time to prevent Penn from running away with the game each of the many times the Quakers threatened to do just that.

Ultimately, it was Penn's scoring success — and not Princeton's struggles — that decided the game. And the Quakers shot well relative to the Tigers because they created better scoring opportunities.

It is no secret that Princeton has serious matchup problems with just about any team that Penn can put on the floor. The size and range of both forward Koko Archibong and center Ugonna Onyekwe create problems that the Tiger defense has been unable to solve in either game this season.

Last night that inside scoring presence, combined with the ability to draw Princeton away from the basket, lead to open opportunities for the Quakers' best shooter — guard Andrew Toole.

Toole scored 19 points on 7-11 shooting in 36 minutes. If Archibong and Onyekwe were the pistons in Penn's offensive engine, Toole was the spark plug.

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As everyone by now knows, Princeton, Yale and Penn are all knotted together atop the Ivy League standings. If Penn and Princeton continue to shoot as they did last night, Thursday night's game will be largely irrelevant — the Quakers will claim the league's only NCAA Tournament bid.