The Statesmen (18-8, 7-5 MCC) entered the evening just one game back of Grand View, and although they did not know it, a win Wednesday would have pulled them even atop the standings as the #15 Vikings fell to Waldorf on the road. Unfortunately, a late rally from down 12 points came up short and Penn fell to the Saints (17-9, 8-4 MCC) for the first time since January 25, 2003, a stretch of 16 straight wins.

Ashford, Grand View, and St. Ambrose are all tied for the MCC lead at 8-4, while Penn is one game back.

The visitors played fairly even with Ashford for much of the first period, falling behind by seven at one point before cutting the deficit to one at 40-39 by intermission.

The Saints came out blazing in the first portion of the second half, however, and pushed the lead to a game-high 15 points at 58-43 with 13:56 remaining in regulation.

Penn responded with a little run of its own, but did not make its real push until the 8:18 mark. At that point, the Statesmen trailed by 11 points, but then dominated the next three minutes of action with a 13-1 run to take the lead back for the first time since the score was 14-12.

The final five minutes was a dog fight as the score changed hands seven times and was tied once.

Penn claimed the advantage one last time when, with 28 seconds left, Kris Miller (Sr., Belleville, Mich., Belleville HS) knocked down a jumper to make the score 83-82. Miller tied for the team lead with 14 points.

The Saints' Daniel Joiner scored 11 seconds later to give the lead back to the hosts. The Statesmen then pressured the Ashford defense and forced a foul on Miller, but the senior was unsuccessful in both free-throw attempts.

Ashford's Matthias Burns pulled down the second miss and was immediately fouled. He hit both of his charity stripe throws to push the lead to three at 86-83, but it still left Penn one final opportunity to tie the game.

Another senior, this time it was Jesse DeGeest (Sr., Tracy, Twin Cedars HS), was given his chance to save the day, but his three-pointer as time expired would not fall.

In a contest that witnessed 14 lead changes and four ties, Penn somehow remained close despite losing the shooting battle 52.4%-39.1%. The Statesmen did help their cause by getting to the free-throw line on a more regular basis, finishing 24-37, while the Saints were just 11-19 at the stripe.

Penn also outrebounded the Saints 44-33, leading to a 16-10 edge in second-chance points. The visitors committed two less turnovers (16-18) than Ashford as well.

Joel Stout (Sr., New Sharon, New Sharon HS) matched Miller with 14 points, while Travis Iverson (Jr., Royal, Wash., Columbia Basin CC) came off the bench to contribute 13 points.

C.J. Hampton (Jr., Chicago, Ill., Chicago State) added 12 points, while DeGeest finished with 11, including a 9-12 showing at the free-throw line.

Caleb Stout (Sr., New Sharon, Kirkwood CC) reached the plateau with ten points in addition to 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the year.

Miller topped his squad with three assists and four steals.

Next: Penn is off this weekend and returns to action next Wednesday by traveling to Davenport to face St. Ambrose in MCC action at 7:30 p.m.