PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team almost staged a miraculous comeback in overtime, but UMES' Elijah Wilson drained a three-pointer at the overtime buzzer to give the Hawks an 83-80 win Saturday night at the Hytche Athletic Center.
 
Penn fell to 3-2 with the loss, while the Hawks—who were celebrating their Homecoming on Saturday—improved to .500 at 2-2.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn once again outrebounded its opponent on Saturday, 44-35; the Quakers are now +64 in rebound margin through five games.
 
*Penn had 11 steals on Saturday, a season high and most since the Quakers had 12 against Brown on March 9, 2019.
 
*Senior Clark Slajchert led all scorers with 31 points, his season high and the third time he has hit the 30-point mark in his career; he has now totaled 58 points in two road games this season (he had 27 last Friday at Saint Joseph's).
 
*The revelation was freshman Sam Brown, who came into the game midway through the first half for his first collegiate action wearing the Red and Blue. He then finished the day with 17 points, knocking down four of his six three-point attempts and going 5-5 at the foul line.
 
*Junior Nick Spinoso posted his second collegiate double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds on Saturday; he also had three assists and two blocked shots.
 
*Senior Andrew Laczkowski finished the day with nine points and seven boards, five of them coming on the offensive glass.
 
*Junior George Smith made his first start this season and led Penn with four assists; he also had four rebounds and two steals.
 
*Freshman Tyler Perkins ended the day with a team-high four steals to go with seven points, six rebounds and two assists.
 
*UMES got a massive game from Troy Hupstead (22 points, 15 rebounds) on a night when all five Hawks starters hit double digits in the scoring column (Chace Davis 16, Dionte Johnson 16, Devon Ellis 12, Wilson 11).
  
How It Happened
UMES hit its first seven field goals in going up 15-10, but Penn settled down and went in front, 16-15, as Spinoso hit a free throw, Laczkowski scored on a putback, and Slajchert knocked down an open trey. UMES came back to go in front, 21-18, but Penn held the Hawks without a point for nearly five minutes in taking a 28-21 lead. That's when the Quakers hit the skids offensively, going the final 5:42 of the half without a field goal. UMES took advantage with 11 of the final 14 points of the period to take a 32-31 lead into the locker room.
 
The UMES lead was 40-36 early in the second half when Slajchert knocked down his second triple of the period. That set Penn off on a 9-0 run that included seven points by the senior guard.
 
The lead was still 51-44 when the Hawks went used an unconventional four-point possession to get back in it. It started with a UMES player making a free throw but missing the second, only for the Hawks to rebound the miss and complete an and-1 putback. A Penn turnover led to another UMES bucket and this was a one-point game.
 
Brown hit treys on back-to-back possessions, the second pushing Penn in front 57-52. It was still a four-point lead when UMES sandwiched a pair of buckets around another Quakers turnover—one a two, the other a three—and suddenly the Hawks were up, 60-59.
 
Perkins held up top, found an opening and was fouled on his drive. He made one of two to tie it up. Brown then came up with a steal, and at the other end Laczkowski cleaned up a Slajchert miss with a putback to put Penn back up by two. That forced a UMES timeout.
 
The Hawks tied it back up, but Penn went up by three when Laczkowski made the front end of a 1-and-1, missed the second shot but rebounded his own miss and Perkins knocked down a jumper just inside the line. The Quakers then had two chances to put the game away, but Perkins and Brown missed three-point shots in the final two minutes. However, Slajchert got the offensive board on Brown's miss—off a tip from Laczkowski—and was fouled. He hit both shots to give Penn a 67-64 lead with 17.4 seconds left.
 
UMES came down and got a good look at a trey, which missed but the ball went out of bounds and was awarded to the Hawks. A second try from beyond the arc was good, tying things at 67-67 with 2.6 seconds left. Both teams then had a chance to win it at the buzzer but neither converted, Perkins blocking a UMES potential winner to send this to overtime.
 
UMES opened the OT scoring with another three, then matched a pair of Spinoso foul shots with another bucket. However, Slajchert knocked down a triple off a Perkins feed, then Laczkowski got a steal on defense and Spinoso put back a Slajchert miss which gave Penn a 74-72 lead. UMES tied on a second-chance putback, then got a runout trey off a Penn turnover.
 
The UMES lead was 78-74 in the final minute when Spinoso threw down a Perkins miss; however, he was called for goaltending on the play and the call stood up on review. Forced to foul, the Quakers sent the Hawks to the line and they hit two shots for an 80-74 lead with 23 seconds left.
 
Turns out, it wasn't over. Brown hit a three-pointer and then, after a Penn timeout, the Quaker turned UMES over and Smith fed Brown at the top for a second triple which tied things at 80. However, that only set the stage for the Hawks to win it—after a timeout they quickly brought the ball up the floor and passed it across court for a clean look that hit nothing but net. A review put 0.9 seconds back on the clock, but on the inbounds Slajchert couldn't get his half-court effort off in time and Penn took the hard-luck loss.
 
Up Next
Penn is off until the Cathedral of College Basketball Classic, which will run next Friday through Sunday at The Palestra. The Quakers will face Lafayette on Friday (4:30 p.m.), Belmont on Saturday (4:30 p.m.), and Monmouth on Sunday (2:30 p.m.)
 
For the latest on Penn men's basketball, follow @PennMBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.