PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team came back from a 10-point halftime deficit to force overtime against Belmont on Saturday, but the Bruins started quickly in the extra session and came away with an 84-79 victory at The Palestra on the second day of the Cathedral of College Basketball Classic.
 
Penn moved to 1-1 on the weekend and is now 4-3 overall. Belmont also is 1-1 this weekend and is now 3-3 overall.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn was outrebounded for the first time this season, the Bruins outboarding the Quakers 39-36.
 
*Freshman Tyler Perkins led the Quakers with 25 points, 21 of them coming after halftime. It was a season/career high and he added eight rebounds, three steals and two assists.
 
*Junior Nick Spinoso once again nearly pulled off a double-double, scoring 21 points—one shy of his career high—and grabbing a game-high nine rebounds. Spinoso shot 10-of-13 from the field and dished out four assists.
 
*Senior Clark Slajchert had 21 points, 17 of them coming in the second half. He also led all players with a career-high seven assists and snared four boards.
 
*It marked the first time in exactly six years that Penn had three players score 20 or more points in the same game; on November 25, 2017 Ryan Betley scored 26 points, Antonio Woods had 23 and Eddie Scott added 21 in Penn's epic, 101-96 four-overtime win at Monmouth.
 
*Freshman Sam Brown made his first collegiate start, but after scoring 29 points in his first two games he was held to three on Saturday.
 
*Belmont was led by Malik Dia (27 points/8 rebounds) and Cade Tyson (26 points). Ja'Kobi Gillespie scored 16 points and added five rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.
  
How It Happened
Penn scored the first six points of the game, on its first three possessions, but the prosperity was short-lived. Instead, Belmont scored the game's next 13 points over a five-minute span and extended the margin to double digits when Cade Tyson scored in the paint to make it 22-11.
 
The Quakers got within six on a Slajchert bucket and a Smith triple, and later turned a 32-20 deficit into a seven-point deficit when Spinoso left two defenders behind for an easy dunk. However, Belmont's lead was 10 at the half, 37-27.
 
Penn cut the lead in half by the first media timeout—Perkins scoring seven of the 13 points in that first mini-game—and got within four when Perkins was fouled on a putback and made one of his two free throws out of the stoppage.
 
Belmont's lead was still 59-54 when Perkins hit two free throws, then a steal at the other end ended with Laczkowski feeding the ball ahead to Perkins, who dunked it down to get Penn within one at 59-58.
 
Tyson hit a sweet turnaround in the lane to make it 61-58 at the under-8 timeout, but out of the stoppage the Bruins lost the ball inside at one end then left Slajchert wide open in the right corner at the other end. He drained the open three to tie the game at 61-61. Belmont got a bucket, but Slajchert answered with another trey—this time from left corner—for a 64-63 lead, Penn's first since 6-5.
 
Gillespie came right back with his own triple, putting Belmont back in front. Perkins hit a lefty baby hook to tie it 66-66, but Tyson nailed another three-pointer from the left corner and Belmont was up again, 69-66..
 
Slajchert hit both ends of a 1-and-1 to make it 69-68, and it stayed that way for a few possessions on both sides. In the final minute, the Bruins took a timeout with 45.6 seconds left in the game and just six on the shot clock. Out of the stoppage, Gillespie drove and kicked it to Dia, and the big man drained a trey from left wing to make Belmont's lead, 72-68.
 
Penn quickly came down, Slajchert hitting a mid-range J from left baseline to make it a one-possession game. Penn then fouled and Belmont's Keishawn Davidson missed front end of his 1-and-1. Slajchert then scored again to tie things up at 72-72.
 
Belmont had one final chance to win it in regulation after Penn fouled Isaiah Walker with 3.3 seconds left, but the Bruins guard missed both of his foul shots and the game went to overtime.
 
Dia scored two quick baskets to start the extra period and Penn was swimming upstream the rest of the way. Penn was scoreless for the first two minutes before Spinoso got the Quakers within two, but Tyson scored on a drive to make difference four again and then knocked down two freebies after Slajchert missed a contested floater.
 
Penn got within one possession one more time when Perkins converted all three points in an and-1 layup to get it to 82-79 in the final minute, then had a chance to tie it after Tyson missed a trey. However, after a timeout the Quakers' play was blown up and they were called for a backcourt violation. Penn was forced to foul and Belmont got the ball to right guy, Tyson making both of his shots to set the final score.
 
Up Next
Penn will close out Cathedral of College Basketball Classic action on Sunday, tipping off with Monmouth at 2:30 p.m. The Hawks are 2-0 on the weekend so far, defeating Belmont (93-84) on Friday and Lafayette (63-53) in Saturday's first game at The Palestra.
 
For the latest on Penn men's basketball, follow @PennMBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.