PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team clinched a share of its first Philadelphia Big 5 championship since the 2001-02 season on Saturday, defeating Temple 77-70. With the win, the Quakers are 3-0 in Big 5 play and will have a chance to earn the title outright next Saturday when they play Saint Joseph's at The Palestra.
 
The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Quakers and a four-game winning streak for the Owls. Penn is now 11-6 overall, while Temple fell to 14-4 overall and finishes Big 5 play at 2-2.
 
Notes
*The win snapped an 11-game losing streak to Temple; the Quakers played a Fran Dunphy-led Temple team 13 times, winning the first and last of those games and losing the 11 in between.
 
*After five games in a row shooting below 50 percent—including three below 35 percent—Penn shot 52.8 percent from the field on Saturday (28-53).
 
*Penn had 21 assists on 28 baskets, a season-high 75.0 percentage.
 
*Penn's 1.91 assist/turnover ratio today (21 assists/11 turnovers) was its second-best against a Division 1 opponent this season, bested only by its 2.56 ratio vs. Miami (23/9).
 
*Penn hit 12 three-point shots, the seventh time the Quakers have reached double figures in that category this season.
 
*For the third time this season, Penn took more three-point shots (30) than two-point shots (23).
 
*Penn shot 75.0 percent from the foul line (9-12), its best performance at the stripe since shooting 77.8 percent at La Salle.
 
*Penn improved to 9-1 this season when leading at halftime and 11-2 when shooting a better field-goal percentage than its opponent (Penn 52.8, Temple 43.5).
 
*Junior Kuba Mijakowski scored 14 points, a career high, all of them coming in the first half. Mijakowski's previous career high was eight points, set last year against Penn State Brandywine, and his season best was six against Stockton University.

*Mijakowski matched the point total he had against NCAA Division 1 teams for his career with today's 14-point performance.
 
*Junior AJ Brodeur led Penn in scoring for the sixth straight game with 16 points, reaching double figures for the 11th straight game; he has at least 16 points in each of the last nine contests.
 
*Brodeur also led Penn in rebounds for the third straight game, with seven, and finished one shy of his season high with five assists.
 
*Junior Devon Goodman had 15 points for the second time in the last three games, his 12th double-figure game this season.
 
*Senior Jake Silpe matched a season/career high with three three-pointers, going a perfect 3-3, for his nine points. He also matched a season best with six rebounds.
 
*Sophomore Jarrod Simmons had six points on Saturday, after scoring just two points combined over Penn's last nine games.
 
*Junior Ray Jerome played nearly five minutes—almost all of them in the first half—and tied a career high with two assists.
 
How It Happened
On the first possession of the evening, Penn jumped ahead 3-0 when a pair of freshmen linked up. Michael Wang drove and kicked a pass to Bryce Washington for the first points of the game. Wang assisted on the Quakers' next bucket, an AJ Brodeur hook, to make it 5-2. Temple eventually wrestled the lead away at 7-5, but it lasted just 19 seconds because Jakub Mijakowski, fresh off the bench, canned a three to pull back ahead at 8-7.
 
Less than three minutes later, Mijakowski, the story of the first half, drilled another long ball to extend Penn's lead to five, at 13-8 with 13:07 to play. That lead was quickly trimmed to one, but the Quakers countered with a layup from Jarrod Simmons, and then, after a Mijakowksi steal, Devon Goodman knocked down a long ball off a Ray Jerome assist; Jerome also assisted on Simmons' layup for dimes on back-to-back possessions. Immediately after Goodman's three, the junior guard jumped a passing lane and slammed it on the other end to make it 22-14 with 6:34 left, the largest lead of the game until that point.
 
Following a Temple timeout that led to an Owl bucket, Mijakowski pumped and drove to the rim, attracting help defenders before silkily whipping a no-look pass to Simmons, who hammered home a one-handed dunk to make it 24-16. Temple cut the deficit to six again, and again after two Mijakowski free throws, but Antonio Woods hit a big three-pointer as the shot clock was running out to push it to nine with 2:45 to play.
 
Penn finished the half in a flurry when Mijakowski flared off a screen and knocked down his third trey of the period and then tore down the court to hit a transition long ball off a Woods feed. The junior's 14 first-half points -- three shy of his point total for the season -- helped the Quakers to a 35-25 lead at the break.
 
Temple opened the second half with a quick 5-0 spurt in the first minute, but a timely Wang steal led to two converted free throws. The Owls answered with a three from Shizz Alston, Jr. but Jake Silpe quickly returned the favor to push it back to 40-33.
 
Before the midway point of the second half, Penn extended its lead to double digits three separate times; Wang launched a full-court outlet to Goodman for a layup for a 46-35 lead and then Woods found Simmons for another two-handed flush at 48-37 with just under 14 minutes left. The third time the lead was just seven but a 6-0 Quaker sprint raised it to 13 with 11:33 remaining.
 
The Owls continued the back-and-forth affair with consecutive buckets to cut it back to nine. Washington promptly canned a corner three and Brodeur finished a slick dish from Goodman to make it 10 at the eight-minute mark.
 
The Liacouras Center came to life when Temple dug in its heels and made it a six-point game but buckets from Brodeur and Washington again kept the Owls at arm's length. A Wang long ball with just under four minutes to play quieted the crowd and the lead again floated above the double-digit threshold at 69-58.
 
Things became tense in the final minute after Temple crept within five at 71-66, but Silpe hit on a clutch three from up top with 39 seconds left and Goodman -- who finished with 15 points, four assists and three rebounds -- calmly knocked down a pair of free throws to seal the 77-70 road win.

Up Next
Penn will close out Big 5 and non-conference play next Saturday with Saint Joseph's at The Palestra. Tipoff is 7 p.m.