PHILADELPHIA—Never turn down the chance to witness history in the making.
The University of Pennsylvania won its first City Series’ championship in 17 years here Saturday night, defeating St. Joseph’s, 78-70, before a near sellout crowd of 8,178 at the Palestra.
The defending Ivy League champions finished with a perfect 4-0 record, blowing away La Salle, breaking Villanova’s record setting 25 game Big 5 winning streak with a 78-75 victory over the Cats in an early December game at this historical landmark and then stunned surging Temple, 78-70, on North Broad St. when seldom used junior forward Kuba Mijakowski from Poland emerged from the abyss to drain four threes and score all 14 of his points in the first half.
“There is a documentary about the Big 5 that just came out and a lot of our guys were at the premiere,’’ Penn coach Steve Donahue said. “When they interviewed a lot of the former players, there was no disrespect, but they almost spoke about Penn as an aside.
“Our players noticed it and used it as motivation. They talked about it before this game.’’
And they basked in the afterglow as the Penn pep band stuck up ‘Harrah for the Red and the Blue’’ after the Quakers gutted out a gritty victory over the undermanned Hawks, getting 23 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists from freshman guard Bryce Washington and 20 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocked shots from junior forward AJ Brodeur, who has emerged as a strong candidate, along with guard Phil Booth of Villanova, for the Robert V Geasey Trophy, awarded annually to the outstanding player in the Big 5.
No one saw this coming, especially after sophomore guard Ryan Betley, the team’s leading scorer last year, suffered a season ending ruptured patella tendon five minutes into a season opening win 72-71 win at George Mason.
But it happened. And it happened on hallowed ground. ‘‘Spurs coach Gregg Popovich brought his team over here to practice and he told them something like, ‘You guys are all used to playing in plastic arenas. This is where you fall in love with the game,’’’ Donahue recalled.
This is where I fell in love with the game close to 60 years ago when I was 10-years old and used to take the subway to the Penn campus for Wednesday and Saturday Big 5 games in which the City Series matchup was always the featured matchup. I got to relieve my childhood with good friends—hall of Fame writer John Feinstein and 86-year old Jackie Scheur, the one-time AP guy who has seen every big city series game in this building since 1962; on press row.
We all had the privilege of watching an unselfish team achieve a dream. The Quakers found a way to overcome the fact St. Joseph’s forward Charlie Brown scored 27 points and grabbed 12 rebounds by limiting Brown to just 1- for- 8 from the three and the Hawks to 3 -for-24 from beyond the arc, then got a huge lift when resilient senior guard Jake Silpe, who started as a freshman, then disappeared for two years after the new coaching staff took over before reinventing himself as a senior, drained a huge three pointer from the deep corner in the final minute to give the Quakers breathing room at 73-67 with 1:40 to play.
The Big 5 may be going through a down cycle with Villanova scrambling through a transition year after losing four players to the first round of the NBA tournament, but don’t tell this to this 12-6 Penn team, which has competed in pick up against players from other Big 5 schools every spring and fallen in love with the Big 5 culture every day they wander through the Palestra museum before practice. “We wanted to win,’’ Brodeur said “The Big Five, we wanted that all to ourselves. We wanted to put that exclamation point at the end of our short Big 5 season. Coming into the game, we treated it like it was a championship game. Win or go home, and that’s what we did.’’
it was a special moment for Donahue, who grew up in neighboring Delaware County watching Big 5 games at the Palestra, worked as an assistant at to Fran Dunphy at Penn from 1990 through 2000, when the Quakers won six Ivy League championships, and then returned to his roots in 2015 as head coach at Penn after coaching Cornell to two Ivy titles in 2008 and 2008 and then being dismissed by Boston College after six years when he couldn’t find a way to navigate choppy ACC waters.
Donahue inherited a Penn program that had lost its way. He brought the Quakers back to life last year, coaching them to their first NCAA Tournament since 2007 by winning the Ivy League Tournament, which was held at the Palestra. Along the way, Donahue proved he is one of the best young bench coaches in the country. Now, he can add additional bragging rights in the city to his resume.
“I think it’s the third time in 40 years a Penn team has gone 4-0,’’ Donahue said. “We like to think of ourselves as a Big 5 team that plays in the Ivy League, not the other way. But you’re better win some games before you talk about that. There is a sense of pride. This is a big deal.’’
The last time Penn wore the city crown was back in 2002. In the past six years, when Villanova dominated the city series, they were just 4-20 against the other four local teams in this round robin. ‘What they did was a remarkable accomplishment,’’ said St. Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli, who has had enough reverence for the Big 5 to play his home game against Penn at the Palestra every other year.
“It is what we talk about, the Big 5 experience,’’ Donahue said. It’s what we grew up with. Building full. Two teams playing extremely hard. Half the building is rooting for you, half rooting against you. I’m just proud of our guys.’’
