Box Score

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. ÃÆ'Æ’¢ÃÆ'¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡¬ÃÆ'¢Ã¢â€š¬Ã…â€Å" Second half play from both sides decided the contest on Wednesday evening at The Palestra as Penn outscored the Lafayette men's basketball team, 47-27, in the second stanza to defeat the Leopards by a final of 81-52.

The game was close throughout the first half as runs from either side made it a one-point game midway through. But the Quakers closed the half on a 10-2 run and never looked back, dropping the Leopards to 3-5 on the season overall.

Sophomore Paulius Zalys was the lone Leopard with double-figure scoring at 14 points on the night, while junior Matt Klinewski had his double-digit scoring streak snapped at 10 games, finishing with four points on 1-of-10 from the field.

The Leopards couldn't find anything offensively for the majority of the game, going 20-for-56 (35.7%) from the field and 8-for-24 from three (33.3%). On the other side, Penn was lights out, making 33 of its 59 shots (55.9%) and hitting 10 three's on 27 attempts from beyond the arc (37.0%).

Penn's defense controlled the game early as the Leopards had a tough time getting it going offensively. A Darnell Foreman drive-and-kick led to an open three from Matt MacDonald at the 15:32 mark to take the game into its first media timeout with the Quakers ahead by an 8-3 score.

The Leopards' offense remained stifled through the opening half of the first as the entire offense came from beyond the arc in the first eight minutes and the Maroon and White trailed, 17-9. That deficit continued through the eight-minute timeout as Penn held a 22-13 advantage with 7:49 to play in the half.

Then, Lafayette looked to hit its stride as a 10-2 run with three's from Eric Stafford and Paulius Zalys cut the Penn lead to just one at 24-23 with 3:20 remaining. However, that momentum quickly shifted to the home side as Penn closed the half on a 10-2 run of its own to take a 34-25 lead into the intermission.

Penn came out with seven of the first nine points to open up a 14-point advantage at 41-27, but the Leopards answered with a 7-2 spurt of their own to cut the lead to nine at the 15:21 mark. That lead quickly grew again, though, as a Jake Silpe three at the 12:20 mark pushed the edge to 16 and six more from AJ Brodeur out of the media timeout made it 58-36 with 10:38 left.

Stafford's three from the corner with 7:47 to play ended a six-minute drought for the Lafayette offense that effectively sealed the game for the home side, making it 62-39. The Leopards fought through the final stretch, but walked out of The Palestra with an 81-52 defeat.

Lafayette returns home for its last game before finals week on Sunday, a meeting with Sacred Heart at Kirby Sports Center at 2 p.m.