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Saturday, December 03, 2005
Who'd a thunk it?
(Originally posted Friday, 9:42 p.m., updated at 8:42 a.m.)

If somebody had told us Friday afternoon that the Patriot League and the Ivy League would split a pair of games tonight, we would have probably been skeptical, but we'd have been willing to admit the possibility of Navy upsetting Penn seemed, well, possible.

But Army beating previously unbeaten Columbia? Is that a pig we saw overhead?

Army 67, Columbia 66 -- From the Army Web site:
Colin Harris hit a 3-point shot at the buzzer, leading Army to a 67-66 victory over Columbia on Friday night and snapping the Lions' season-opening five-game winning streak.

Army trailed by 10 points, 48-38, with 12:56 remaining before Dan Borcherdt hit six free throws over the last 6:29 and got the ball to Harris for the winner.Army's hometown paper, the Times Herald-Record, did not bother stopping in NYC en route to Philly for today's football game. But the brief report they ran does mention something that seems significant:
Army (3-3) has already matched its win total from last season. The two wins against Division I foes doubles last season's output. The Black Knights were 0-13 on the road last season but are already 2-2.
Harris finished with 22 points, Jarell Brown added 15 and Borcherdt 10 for the Black Knights.
Somebody should have told Columbia, you need to play at least something resembling defense. And no, that does not mean hacking away when the opposition is shooting the ball.

The Black Knights shot 54.3 percent from the field, including an amazing 7-for-8 (87.5 percent) from 3-point range. When they were not knocking down shots from the floor, they were at the foul line, where they went 22-for-29 (75.9 percent).

Columbia was better from the foul line -- percentage wise anyhow-- making 90 percent of its free throws (18-of-20) and shot the ball pretty well from the floor (21-of-47, 44.7 percent). They also outrebounded Army 29-21. It didn't matter. They are no longer undefeated because they didn't D it up.
  • Box score
  • AP story

    Penn 86, Navy 73 -- A career-high 31 points for Penn's Ibrahim Jaaber as the Quakers came from behind to beat the winless Midshipmen.

    The key stat of the game: Penn shot 55 free throws, making 39, including 11 during a 15-2 run that gave the Quakers control after they trailed 58-56 with 13:36 to play. Those free throws were crucial given Penn's 3-for-22 shooting from the arc.

    Freshman guard Clif Colbert, making his first start in place of injured Corey Johnson, had 22 points to lead Navy. Carlton Baldwin was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field (12 points) before fouling out/ The 6-8 junior only played 11 minutes. Matt Fannin also fouled out for Navy. Three other Mids finished with 4 personals,

    Steve Danley had four personals for Penn. Nobody else had more than 3.

    Mike Kern of the Philadelphia Daily News points out:
    The Quakers were 3-for-22 from the arc, which won't get it done on most nights. But you don't shoot 55 free throws on most nights, either, compared with Navy's 20. The school record is 60, set in 1955. Penn made 39 (28 in the second half), which never hurts.
    Both teams had 32 points in the paint. Navy outrebounded Penn 35-32. And the Mids only attempted 14 three-pointers (making five). None of those stats seems to indicate how the huge (35-19) disparity in fouls.

    As the Talking Heads used to sing, "What's that I smell?" Since we did not see the game and have no first-hand accounts to go by until tomorrow's papers, we will assume it was only the Schuylkill. But it sure looks odd in the Box score.

    It doesn't even mention the foul shots disparity in Kevin Tatum's story in the Philadelphia Inquirer, though Tatum does note:
    Lange started three freshmen, a sophomore and a senior against Penn, and Navy still managed to establish that it had come to hold its own.
    Remembering how Navy came on at the end of last season, and seeing how many guys Lange played in this one (12 played, 10 had at least 7 minutes), anyboy writing Navy off after an 0-4 start is shortsighted. Especially given the way the Mids traditionally get away with a lot of physical stuff in Alumni Hall that might result in 35 personal fouls called in the Palestra.

    Come league play, they are going to bang out some wins at home, and even though they might come over teams with better records, they will not really be upsets.
  • AP story
    • Published at 8:42 AM by Hoop Time.
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