PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team used an 18-2 run which turned a two-point game into an 18-point lead by halftime, and the Quakers were seldom threatened in the second half as they cruised to an 83-65 win Saturday at La Salle.
 
The Red and Blue improved to 8-2 with the win, the best 10-game start since the 1994-95 team also started 8-2. This was the Big 5 opener for the Quakers. The Explorers, under first-year head coach Ashley Howard, fell to 0-10 with the loss.
 
Notes
*This was Penn's third-straight win over La Salle and the Quakers improved their lead in the overall series to 41-31.
 
*Penn is 3-0 in true road games this season (George Mason, Delaware State, La Salle).

*Penn's 18-point margin of victory on Saturday was its biggest in a Big 5 win since a 71-47 win over La Salle on January 14, 2004. That win also took place in the Explorers' Tom Gola Arena.
 
*Penn's average margin of victory in its seven Division 1 wins this season is 16.2 points.
 
*Penn shot 57.4 percent from the field and improved to 8-0 this season when shooting a better field-goal percentage than its opponent (La Salle shot 40 percent).
 
*Penn improved to 6-0 this season and 42-6 under head coach Steve Donahue when leading at the half.
 
*Penn had 25 assists on its 31 baskets, a 80.7 ratio that was a season high. The Quakers have had more than 20 assists in three of their last four games.
 
*Freshman Michael Wang led Penn in scoring in the second-straight game with 18 points, giving him 41 points in the last two games and double figures in four of the last six contests.
 
*Junior AJ Brodeur scored 17 points on Saturday, giving him 52 points in two games at Gola Arena. He also had five assists, one shy of his season high.
 
*Senior Antonio Woods recorded season highs in points (17) and assists (5).
 
*Junior Devon Goodman scored 14 points, his eighth double-digit game this season, and tied his season high with four assists.
 
How It Happened
Penn scored the game's first points but fell behind 5-4 following an Explorer long ball, the only time the Quakers trailed all evening. Devon Goodman erased the deficit with a three and AJ Brodeur extended the lead to 10-5 with three the old-fashioned way just under the 15-minute mark.
 
Throughout much of the first half, Penn kept La Salle at arm's length while disrupting the Explorers' offense and causing 14 turnovers. However, the lead was just two, at 21-19, with 7:32 to play before Penn unleashed a vicious flurry to end the half.
 
Jake Silpe drove the baseline and slipped a pass to a cutting Antonio Woods for a bucket, then Devon Goodman finished at the rim after a steal on the other end to ignite an 18-2 tidal wave before the halftime break. At 25-21, Brodeur ducked under the basket where Goodman found him for a two-handed flush off an inbound pass; the defense locked La Salle down to force a shot clock violation and then Michael Wang slung a one-handed no-look pass to a cutting Bryce Washington for a driving layup; and Woods kicked to Goodman for an open three after the senior ripped down an offensive board to widen the lead to double digits, at 32-21.
 
To put a stamp on a terrific close to the half, Wang—who finished with a game-high 18 points—glided off a screen and drilled a straightaway three in the final 10 seconds, extending the lead to 39-21.
 
Penn continued to build off that first-half run after the break, pushing the run to 29-6, and after Silpe fed Woods—who matched Brodeur with 17 points—for a trey, the Quakers had doubled up the Explorers, 50-25, with just under 16 minutes to play. La Salle put together a 12-4 run during the midway point of the second half to inch as close as 16 with 7:28 to play.
 
Penn shut down any notion of a comeback quickly, however, stretching its lead back over 20 before closing out the victory with four Quakers in double figures.
 
Up Next
Penn is back in Big 5 action on Tuesday night, hosting No. 21/21 Villanova at Macquarie Court at The Palestra at 7 p.m. Tuesday's game will air nationally on ESPN2.