PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team opened the new year with a 76-68 win at Brown on Monday night. The Quakers and Bears were tied, 57-57, with a little less than five minutes remaining but the Red and Blue used a 15-6 run over a 3:17 span to pull away, then hit enough foul shots to keep the Bears at bay.
Penn has won three in a row and is now 8-7 overall, while Brown fell to 7-7. This was the Ivy League opener for both teams.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn matched a season high by scoring 51 second-half points; the Quakers have now done it in their last two games against NCAA D1 competition (also December 10 vs. Temple).
*Penn improved to 7-0 this season when holding its opponent below 70 points and 4-0 when committing fewer turnovers than its opponent (Penn 14, Brown 16).
*Penn shot 51.9 percent from the field (27-of-52), the third time the Quakers have been over 50 percent this season.
*Penn made 18 foul shots, a season high, and shot 81.8 percent from the line (18-22).
*Junior
Clark Slajchert scored 31 points, his second 30-point game this season (he had a career-high 33 vs. Colgate).
*Slajchert scored 21 of his points in the second half and extended his streak of double-figure scoring games to six.
*Junior
Jordan Dingle scored 20 points, 18 of them coming in the second half.
*Slajchert and Dingle entered the game as the highest-scoring backcourt in the country and combined for 51 on Monday night.
*Dingle extended his double-figure scoring streak to 22 games and his streak of 20-point games to 11.
*Sophomore
Nick Spinoso had his first collegiate double-double with 10 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, and added three assists.
*Spinoso also matched his season/career highs with two blocked shots and two steals.
*Junior
Max Martz had his double-figure scoring streak end at three games, scoring eight points. He also had five rebounds, his high since grabbing five against Hartford on November 25.
*Brown was led by Kino Lilly, Jr.; the sophomore drained 28 points. Nana Owusu-Anane was a monster, with 16 points and 16 rebounds, while Kalu Anya scored 12 points and Paxson Wojcik added 10.
How It Happened
Brown scored the game's first four points, but Penn scored 11 of the next 13 and went in front by five when
Andrew Laczkowski took a cross-court feed from Slajchert and drained a three-pointer. The host Bears scored the next six points and extended the run to 10-2 to go in front 16-13, but the Quakers converted four straight possessions for an 8-0 run and a 21-16 lead.
Brown's Lilly ended the streak with a three-pointer, but Penn scored the next four points and had its biggest lead of the half at 25-18 with 1:38 to go. However, the Red and Blue were sloppy down the stretch and the host Bears took advantage, scoring the last four points before the break. Penn went into the locker room with the lead only at 25-22.
Penn held its lead through the first five minutes of the second half, but Brown finally went in front when Owusu-Anane scored an old-fashioned three-point play that put the Bears up, 38-37. Slajchert immediately put the Quakers back in front, going backdoor and converting a feed from Spinoso, and that was the start of a 7-2 run that made the score 44-40 at the under-12 media timeout.
It was 46-42 when Lilly drained a trey and Anya followed with a bucket, the five-point run giving the Bears a 47-46 lead. Slajchert again pushed Penn in front, this time hitting a floater in the lane and converting the and-1 foul shot. A Laczkowski steal on defense then led to another Slajchert layup, and Penn's lead was 51-47 at the under-8 media.
The teams traded points for a few minutes after that, to 57-53, but Wojcik and Owusu-Anane scored on back-to-back possessions to tie the score at 57 with 4:41 left. However, Dingle was fouled going up for a three-pointer on Penn's next possession and hit all three shots, then
Lucas Monroe hit a pair of free throws on the other side of the under-4 media timeout to make the score 62-58. Following an empty Brown possession, Spinoso faked a handoff and took his man to the rim, his finish pushing the Quakers in front by six.
Lilly did his best to keep his team in it, halving the lead with a trey and then matching a Dingle bucket with his own to make the score 66-63 as the clock went inside two minutes. But Slajchert again converted a pullup in the lane, then drew an offensive foul at the other end with 1:40 to play. This time it was Dingle's turn to go backdoor, and he caught Spinoso's lob in traffic and finished to make Penn's lead seven (70-63) with 1:22 left.
Brown went empty on its next possession, and Spinoso grabbed the board while going to the ground and got a timeout before the Bears could force a jump ball. The hosts fouled Martz on the ensuing inbounds and he hit both, starting a parade to the foul line as the Quakers hit six in a row to put the game on ice.
Up Next
Penn remains on the road this weekend, traveling to Cornell (Friday) and Columbia (Saturday) as part of this four-game road trip to start conference play. Both games this weekend are scheduled to tip at 7 p.m.
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