Penn defeates Binghamton, ends losing streak

IT WASN'T exactly Eagles-esque, but the losing streak Penn dragged into the Palestra on Wednesday night was starting to get tiresome. The young Quakers had dropped five in a row and had 8 days to think about it since their last disappointment.

"It was tough," said junior guard Miles Cartwright, one of the team's leaders. "I think we were all anxious and ready to play. We had some really good days of practice. I thought the focus was great since our last loss."

They may not have painted a Picasso Wednesday night, but the Quakers did manage to get past pesky Binghamton, 65-54, and end that losing streak. Penn improved to 2-5 on the season and captured the 1,699th victory in the program's history. They try for No. 1,700 Saturday at Penn State.

"I don't want to say this is an ugly win or a bad win," Quakers coach Jerome Allen said. "Any win is a good win in my book. We have to learn how to win. I'd like to think [in some of] our previous losses, we had chances in the second half. If they'd have gone in our favor, there may have been a different result."

The Quakers committed 17 turnovers, were outrebounded by 10 and shot 35 percent from the field. Binghamton used a 2-3 zone to neutralize forward Fran Dougherty, who came into the contest red hot. Dougherty was averaging nearly 20 points, but had only two in the second half and 11 for the evening. He did pull down a game-high 13 rebounds.

"There are still some things we need to clean up and do better, but this will help us," said Cartwright, who made three of the Quakers' 10 three-pointers, which was the difference in the game.

Binghamton (2-5) is a team still trying to find its way 2 years after a scandal decimated the program and led to a 2-29 record last season. They have five kids from the Philadelphia area, including Jordan Reed, a freshman guard from Wissahickon High who led all scorers with 17 points.

"It's been a struggle coming from high school and winning a lot of games to helping rebuild this team," said Reed, who went 22-6 as a high school senior. "But I'm pretty sure things will get better. As time goes on, we'll get more wins and it will be more exciting. I work hard every day so that I can be a part of that."

Penn led the entire way, but was unable to shake the Bearcats until the latter part of the second half when the most humorous exchange of the night occurred.

Reed sank a pair of free throws to make the score 62-51, but the Palestra scoreboard had Binghamton for 50 points. There was a brief bit of confusion, so the refs stepped in.

"Did you make both free throws?," a Binghamton assistant yelled toward Reed during the stoppage.

"Yeah," Reed answered, "I got 16 [points]." Obviously, the kid keeps an eye on the entire scoreboard.

According to Penn's sports information department, the Quakers are one of four 345 Division I programs that entered the season with no seniors. Georgetown, Navy and Wright State are the others.

The Quakers are one of the winningest programs in college basketball, but may only be middle of the pack in the Ivy League this season. (Did you notice league-favorite Princeton lost to Wagner Wednesday night?)

The victory over Binghamton wasn't pretty, but it was a win. While many Quaker fans are looking at the trip to Happy Valley as a chance at No. 1,700 all-time, Allen sees it only as an opportunity at No. 3 for this season.

"Our standard is so high and the brand that we represent as Penn basketball, a lot of times expectations supersede the process," said Allen, who played on some dominant Quakers teams in the mid-1990s. "I'm not lowering the standard - we still have the same expectations. But as coaches, we're all about the process. We talk about embracing it, about teaching the fundamentals of the game. Having said that, I have an appreciation for forward progress and I think tonight we showed some sense of progress. It may not be where we'd like it to be, but I think we showed some progress."