Palestra

IT ONLY seemed like Phil Jasner covered the 76ers forever. In fact, he once wrote about the Big 5. And he did it with the same passion he brought to the NBA. Friday, Jasner will be inducted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame at a Palestra luncheon. "It's an incredible honor, well-deserved," said Andy Jasner, Phil's son. "I don't like to use the term overdue, but it probably is, even though people remember him for his Sixers coverage and rightfully so because that's what he did for the last 30 years of his life.

St. Joseph's basketball coach Phil Martelli and his team arrived back in Philadelphia at 4 a.m. Friday following Thursday's 92-86 overtime loss to Atlantic Ten rival VCU. And with the schedule, there was little time to rest since the Hawks meet Penn in Saturday's 5 p.m. Big Five matchup at the Palestra. The Hawks are 9-6 and 1-2 in the A-10. The two conference losses are to arguably the top two teams, Butler and VCU. And even though both games were close, Martelli isn't out for moral victories.

NEWARK, N.J. - Penn coach Jerome Allen would like to forget some parts of Thursday night's memorable win over New Jersey Institute of Technology. The Quakers' 54-53 win at the Fleisher Athletic Center was the 1,700th in program history, and makes them the 11th Division I school to reach that milestone. Penn's first season was 1897-98. Overall, the Quakers are 1,700-1,008-1. Thursday night's win didn't come easy. The Quakers (3-13) had to overcome 26 turnovers and didn't breathe easy until sophomore guard Patrick Lucas-Perry scored five unanswered points - a three-pointer and two free throws - to break a 47-47 tie. On the plus side, the Quakers got another good outing from freshman center Darien Nelson-Henry, who had 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Starting forward Halil Kanacevic will miss St. Joseph's next few games because of a death in his family, the team said Friday. A Hawks spokeswoman said Kanacevic's maternal uncle died this week and that he will accompany his parents to their native Montenegro for the funeral. Kanacevic, a 6-foot-8 junior, is averaging 7.1 points and is second on the team in rebounding (7.2), assists (3.0) and blocked shots (1.7). The Hawks next three games are Saturday at Duquesne, Thursday at Virginia Commonwealth, and next Saturday against Penn at the Palestra.

Exactly a month had passed between Penn's last home game and Tuesday night's return to the Palestra. Forty days had passed since the Quakers' last win. A matchup with Lafayette - a team that had never beaten Penn in 22 previous meetings on 33d Street - seemed to be the perfect midwinter pick-me-up. It proved to be just the opposite. The Leopards rode an early second-half surge and staved off a frantic Penn comeback to deal the Quakers an 85-83 loss. Penn's offense found a good rhythm in the first half, registering 11 assists while scoring 40 points.

Alyssa Baron had 28 points - the most for any Quaker this season - while Katy Allen posted her first career double-double and sophomore Kara Bonenberger added 15 points and seven boards in Penn's fast-paced 79-73 home win over Morgan State on Tuesday at the Palestra. The Quakers won for the seventh time in the last nine games to improve to 7-5 overall. Morgan State, in its first-ever visit to the Palestra, fell to 4-10. Ursinus 52, Gettysburg 50 - The Bears came out the victors against the Bullets (7-5, 4-3)

PENN HAD NOT won a game since Nov. 28. Penn had not played a game at the Palestra since Dec. 8. Penn had never lost a game at the Palestra to Lafayette. Penn trailed Lafayette by 15 points with 7 1/2 minutes to go at the Palestra. With 3 minutes to go, it was tied. With 3 seconds to go and his team trailing by two points, Penn's Steve Rennard, the lone starter on the floor, was wide open on the left wing beyond the three-point arc. He set his feet and took his time. Lafayette is now 1-22 against Penn at the Palestra.

La Salle's John Giannini is the only City Six coach not from the area. But he gets the city. He knows what we have and what we could lose. "I'm a Chicago guy," he said. "I grew up in the era of Mark Aguirre and Isiah Thomas and Terry Cummings and DePaul having a great team. " Chicago college basketball was really special then. It did not last. "When I got to Philly, frankly I was stunned at the importance of the Big 5 to so many people," Giannini said. "It's important to people in their 40s, 50s and 60s, probably 50s and 60s now because they've seen the double- and tripleheaders at the Palestra.

IT WASN'T exactly Eagles-esque, but the losing streak Penn dragged into the Palestra on Wednesday night was starting to get tiresome. The young Quakers had dropped five in a row and had 8 days to think about it since their last disappointment. "It was tough," said junior guard Miles Cartwright, one of the team's leaders. "I think we were all anxious and ready to play. We had some really good days of practice. I thought the focus was great since our last loss. " They may not have painted a Picasso Wednesday night, but the Quakers did manage to get past pesky Binghamton, 65-54, and end that losing streak.

IF A CAMPAIGN for the White House is one very long sales pitch on politics and policy, former President Bill Clinton is the Democratic Party's top closer. President Obama left his re-election efforts in Pennsylvania in Clinton's hands Monday, one day after Republican nominee Mitt Romney packed a Bucks County rally in a last-ditch effort to win the state and the presidency. Clinton told a raucous crowd of 9,300 young people at the Palestra in West Philly that they should encourage others to vote Tuesday because Obama needs "every last solitary person" to win Pennsylvania.