Penn is suffering through a season of ups-and-downs due to its abundance of inexperience. Most of the playing time shelled out by coach Glenn Miller is being divided between sophomores and freshmen. And when you have to rely on youngsters to win basketball games, a lot of times it just ain't pretty.

La Salle coach John Giannini has been there, done that. He understands what it's like to rely on underclassmen to carry your program. He can empathize with Miller.

Miller's young squad, which was led last night by sophomore Tyler Bernardini's 23 points, was pretty much taken to school by Giannini's more mature group at Tom Gola Arena, as the Explorers pinned a 79-70 loss on the Quakers in the Big 5 contest. The loss dropped Penn to 4-9, 0-3 in the City Series, while La Salle improved to 10-7, 1-1.

"A couple of years ago, our freshmen and sophomores dominated [playing time] and we really struggled," said Giannini. "But through the years, Rodney [Green] has become a better shooter, he's become stronger. Our guys have become more skilled and we're a little stronger and a little bit better. And they will, too. I know exactly what they're going through and it will be different soon. They'll get better year by year."

Green led the Explorers with a career-high 26 points, while fellow juniors Yves Mekongo Mbala (13), Kimmani Barrett (10) and Ruben Guillandeaux (10) joined him in double figures.

The Quakers got better as the game went on, particularly in the second half. Though, after the kind of first half they had, it would have been hard not to show improvement.

Had it not been for an absolutely horrid first 20 minutes, things may have been different for the Quakers.

Penn missed 14 of its first 17 shots, went almost 8 minutes without a point, and during that time saw a one-point lead (7-6) turn into a 15-point deficit (22-7).

The worst of it was, Penn had a lot of good looks on the offensive end in the first half, but converted just 1-for-12 from beyond the arc and failed to get to the foul line. It all added up to a 31-17 halftime lead for La Salle.

"I thought we came out defensively and had a good game plan," Miller said. "We missed a few layups early and offensively it just snowballed from there. You have to make them. That gives you some confidence, maybe, in the perimeter game. We're young and inexperienced and we go in and out of executing. [Defensively] we wanted to sink and shut off the lane, defend the lane. But we got a little loose and overextended. Then, for the game, they hit four three-pointers with less than 4 seconds on the shot clock. You have got to sense the moment and get out there then."

Something that surely will come with time and experience. Still, the growing pains hurt.

A lot of Penn's ineptness was a result of good La Salle play in the first half. The Explorers again controlled the boards, were able to get four baskets after offensive rebounds and played solid defense. La Salle's size made it virtually impossible for the smaller Penn guards to get their offense started.

"Every game we have a [height] advantage, especially at the guard spot. We took advantage of that," said La Salle senior forward Paul Johnson, who finished with 12 points and seven rebounds.

For different reasons, neither coach was very happy about the second half. Giannini was livid that his club gave up 53 points and allowed Penn to shoot 18-for-32 (56.3 percent) and make a game of it.

"I'm very displeased with the second half," Giannini said. "Our defense was dramatically different. They scored 53 points against us. Wow!"

Miller was upset for another reason. With 6 minutes, 55 seconds left and his team trailing, 57-45, guard Harrison Gaines made a steal at halfcourt and seemed to be intentionally fouled as he was going toward the basket. A foul was called, but not an intentional. What angered Miller further was that a questionable intentional foul was called on his team earlier in the game. He was assessed a technical for arguing the noncall.

"I didn't think there was any play on the ball [by La Salle]," Miller said. "It was a critical point of the game. It was unfortunate. But we scored 53 in the second half. Maybe I should get more technicals."

His frustration is understandable, though brighter days certainly seem to be on the horizon for his young club.

All he had to do is look over at last night's opponent for proof. *