GAME NOTES: The Penn Quakers take a break from the road as they entertain the Marist Red Foxes in non-conference play at The Palestra on Tuesday night.

The Quakers, who opened the 2014-15 season with five straight defeats, are coming off a four-game road trip and will be taking off for another four-game run as soon as this meeting with Marist is completed. Penn managed to snap the early-season skid with a 57-46 triumph over Navy last week and then topped Binghamton on Saturday as well, 79-70, giving the team some momentum heading into the meeting with the Red Foxes.

As for Marist, the team not only has just a single victory on the campaign against Fresno State during tournament play, it is already 0-2 against the rest of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference as well. Since defeating the Bulldogs, the Red Foxes have registered three more defeats, the latest of those coming against Manhattan on Sunday afternoon by a score of 60-38.

Marist leads the all-time series by a count of 2-1, thanks to a 76-62 victory last season at home.

The offensive effort by Marist wasn't simply lacking on Sunday, it was downright dismal as the team made five field goals in the first half of play and then registered a mere three baskets after intermission, en route to scoring a grand total of 38 points. Phillip Lawrence, who sank a team-best three field goals, accounted for 15 points as he connected on 8-of-13 at the free-throw line.

The Red Foxes had more than two times as many turnovers (19) as they did made field goals (eight), not to mention being crushed on the glass by a 45-29 margin as well.

Part of the problem for Marist on Sunday was that Chavaughn Lewis (17.9 ppg) was missing in action for the first time in more than 100 games, as was Khallid Hart (24.5 ppg), the latter having played in just two games this season before going down with a foot injury. Hart is out indefinitely, while Lewis is being listed as doubtful for Tuesday's meeting with Penn, which means the active leading scorer for the program is Lawrence with his 10.6 ppg.

For the first time under head coach Jerome Allen the Quakers had six players score in double figures over the weekend as they dismissed Binghamton on the road by nine points. Tony Hicks, who landed on the bench just minutes into the meeting die to foul trouble, still finished with a team-high 18 points, followed by Darien Nelson-Henry with 16 points and nine rebounds. Sam Jones, Antonio Woods and Darnell Foreman all dropped in 11 points, the latter capturing eight boards, while Matt Howard posted 10 points for the Quakers.

Hicks, who leads Penn in assists with 27 over seven games, is also the top scorer for the program with 16.1 ppg, followed by Nelson-Henry with another 11.1 ppg as he handles the action in the paint with 7.0 rpg. Because of his efforts, the Quakers are beating opponents on the glass by an average of 6.4 rpg currently and that has limited foes from getting too many second-chance scoring opportunities which would lift their scoring output above 69.9 ppg.

With the Red Foxes still dealing with injuries to major contributors, this is the perfect opportunity for Penn to sneak out another victory before the schedule gets tougher down the line.