Philadelphia: It is always a big game when the Big 5 comes to “The Cathedral of College Basketball, The Palestra on the campus of University of Pennsylvania on Saturday night as the Penn Quakers took on the Saint Joseph’s Hawks. This would be a Saint Joseph’s home game at the Palestra. Saint Joseph’s Hawks comes into the game with 9-10 record and off a comeback win against Richmond on January 23 while the Penn Quakers head into Big 5 Battle with the Hawks at 11-6 and off a big win against the Temple Owls on January 19. If Penn would win this game, they would win the Big 5 Championship.
Saint Joseph’s Won the Tip to start the game and they would score right away on a basket from Chris Clover for the 2-0 lead, Penn got on the board with 3 pointer from Michael Wang. The Hawks would get out to 5 point lead at 16-11 with 12:35 left. The Quakers would take the lead at 22-20 and Hawks would keep it close and just could not make their 3 pt shot. The Quakers took a 35-31 lead into halftime.
In the second half, the Hawks would try to match the Quakers and also attempt to keep the game close at one point the Quakers would have a 13 point lead at 56-43 lead with 12:32 left. Saint Joseph’s would make their first three-pointer of the game by Lorenzo Edwards which made it 56-46 Penn with 12:05 left. Bryce Washington would make the Hawks pay the entire game. The Hawks would get the lead down to 3 at 70-67 with 2:09 left.
The Story in the game was the 3pt shooting for the Saint Joseph’s Hawks as they would go 0-10 in the first half and would finish 3-24 for 12%. A Crowd of 8,173 would see the Penn Quakers take down the Saint Joseph’s Hawks 78-70 to win the Big 5 Championship.
It’s time to celebrate as the Penn Quakers are your 2018-19 Big 5 champions
It's Over, @PennBasketball beats @SJUHawks_MBB and wins the Big 5 Championship#Penn #SaintJosephs #PennvsJOES #Big5 pic.twitter.com/ddi32gRjvm
— David Malandra Jr (@David_Malandra) January 27, 2019
With the win, Penn now goes to 12-6 on the season and will return to Ivy league on February 1 when they take on Cornell while the Saint Joseph’s Hawks falls to 9-11 on the season and will look to get back to their winning ways as they return to Atlantic 10 Play on January 29 at Dayton.
Final Stats:
Saint Joseph’s Hawks:
Charlie Brown: 27 points, 12 rebounds
Jared Bynum and Chris Cloer each with 14 points
Penn Quakers:
Bryce Washington: 23 points, 10 rebounds
AJ Brodeur: 20 points, 6 rebounds
Jake Slipe: 13 points, 3 rebounds
Video:
Saint Joseph’s Coach Phil Martelli:
Saint Joseph’s Taylor Funk:
Postgame with @SJUHawks_MBB Taylor Funk after loss to Penn at the Palestra#SaintJosephs #Penn #PennvsJOES #Big5 pic.twitter.com/GH3sIpmT8x
— David Malandra Jr (@David_Malandra) January 27, 2019
Penn Quakers Coach Steve Donahue:
Penn Quakers AJ Brodeur:
Asked @PennBasketball AJ Brodeur (@AJBrodeur) on winning the big 5 championship at the Palestra after winning the ivy league title at the Palestra last year#SaintJosephs #Penn #PennvsJOES #Big5 pic.twitter.com/R1ZuOzb6Ao
— David Malandra Jr (@David_Malandra) January 27, 2019
