Dick Jerardi: College basketball wrap: It's Penn at the wire

ACROSS THE CITY

WILDEST GAME:

The long day at the Palestra ended with Penn beating Saint Joseph's, 84-80. The game looked over when Penn, which never trailed, led 62-39 with 12 minutes left. Less than 8 minutes later, it was 68-64. Penn (10-9, 1-3 Big 5) held on to the finish line. St. Joe's (12-8, 1-1) simply got too far behind.

The teams combined to shoot 55-for-105 and 20-for-45 from the arc. Love those Palestra rims.

BEST PERFORMANCE:

SJU sophomore Langston Galloway (career-best 32 points) was 10-for-14, 6-for-9 from the arc and 6-for-6 from the line. He hit three treys in the final 2 minutes as the Hawks made a final charge.

NEXT-BEST PERFORMANCE:

Penn senior Tyler Bernardini (24 points) won his final Big 5 game while shooting 10-for-14.

What's next

Penn has 12 Ivy games, starting a week from tonight at home against Princeton. SJU has just 10 Atlantic 10 games from here to the wire and is searching for that December magic.

OWLS DO IT AGAIN:

Temple is now the only team that can finish unbeaten in the City Series. If the Owls are going to do it, they will have to win at La Salle and at St. Joe's. Won't be easy, but this team will not beat itself.

In the opener of the Palestra day/night doubleheader against Maryland, the Owls got a nice lead at the start of the second half, let Maryland get within a point and then surged again to win, 73-60.

Khalif Wyatt and Ramone Moore each had 20 points for Temple (13-5). The Owls led for the game's final 27 minutes and had 20 assists on their 27 field goals.

Maryland (12-6) is getting better, but was no match for the savvy of Temple's old-school guards.

Very good news for the Owls down the stretch is that Micheal Eric got back on the court. He played just 7 minutes, but it is about February and March for the Owls' big man.

THE CROWDS:

There were 8,722 in the house at 11 a.m. when Temple's game with Maryland began and another 8,722 in the house when the Penn-SJU game ended at 9, a testament to the city's love affair with college hoops and the best building in the sport.

PLAYING LIGHTS OUT:

That would be Drexel. After beating Northeastern at the DAC, the Dragons (14-5, 6-2 Colonial) have won six straight and 12 of 13.

Drexel shot a season-best overall (60 percent) and from the arc (64.3 percent). Junior Derrick Thomas (20 points) was 5-for-5 from the arc. Senior Samme Givens (19) and freshman Damion Lee (17) were part of a diverse offense.