PHILADELPHIA (01/25/03) - All season long, Saint Joseph's head coach Phil Martelli has named Penn as the city's best team. But Saturday night at the hallowed Palestra, he may have proven himself wrong. The Hawks (14-2, 2-0 Big Five) used its trademark stingy defense to hold the potent Quaker (7-5, 2-1) offense to their lowest point total of the season in a 66-48 City Series victory. In front of a soldout 8,722 at the nation's most storied hoops venue, the game featured everything a Big Five game should - creative chats, witty rollouts, and two passionate groups of fans, split right along halfcourt. The only thing missing were streamers falling after the game's first basket. It was the sixth time this season that Saint Joseph's had held its opponents to under 50 points. The feat was even more remarkable as Penn came into the game averaging 72 points per game and had scored 95-plus in two of its last three games. The Quakers had not been held under the half-century mark at the Palestra since a 50-49 loss to Princeton on Feburary 9, 1999. "This team has a remarkable ability to comprehend and then put into action a defensive game plan," Martelli said. "Really what I thought would be a challenge in this game would be 'Could we score against their defense?' because I think their defense is underrated." Junior Jameer Nelson led a trio of Hawks in double-digits with 18 points. He added five assists and three steals in a team-high 35 minutes. Sophomore Pat Carroll chipped in with 16 on 5-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc and classmate Delonte West added 15 in the win. The two rivals traded baskets in the early going before Penn took its final lead on a Ugonna Onyekwe (team-high 13 points) layup with 12:06 to go in the first. SJU would then go on a 14-1 run to breakaway from its West Philadelphia counterparts. Nelson kicked off the rally with a two threes and after a steal, fed freshman center Dwayne Jones (game high 10 boards) for a monster slam. Carroll hit one of his five triples and West added a jumper to give the Hawks a 24-12 lead with 6:35 to go. The St. Joe's lead would extend to its largest of the first half, 32-19, on a Carroll three as time expired. Penn jumped out on a 7-2 run to begin the second frame to close the gap to within eight at 34-26 with 17:52 to go. But a West fastbreak dunk sparked a 12-4 run that would extend the Hawk lead to 46-30 at 13:20. UP would cut the lead to eight again after an Onyekwe runner at the six-minute mark, but Saint Joseph's would convert on 15-of-18 (83%) during the next six minutes to ice the victory. It helped that they held Penn to just two field goals, an Andrew Toole runner at the 2:21 mark and a Koko Archibong (12 points) three at the 1:05 mark. Neither team shot particularly well - the Hawks at 38.5% and Penn at 35.4%. SJU forced 16 turnovers and committed just nine, one short of a season best. With the win, the Hawks leapfrogged the Quakers into first place in the Big Five standings and snapped a four-game winning streak by UP. "I don't think this team gotten near enough respect for what they've accomplished. I think there's a little bit of Philadelphia in everyone out there that says that our bubble is going to burst," Martelli said. "What we're going to do is to keep going everyday." Saint Joseph's returns to the hardwood on Wednesday when they travel to the nation's capital for an Atlantic 10 matchup with George Washington. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m.