PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team picked up where it left off in Monday's season-opening win over John Jay, scoring 53 first-half points and never trailing in defeating Bucknell Wednesday night at The Palestra, 80-61.
 
The Quakers improved to 2-0 on the young season heading into the next two games, a pair of matchups with their Big 5 pod-mates Saint Joseph's (Friday) and Villanova (Monday at The Palestra). Bucknell fell to 0-2 with the loss.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*For the second straight game, Penn never trailed in the contest. The Quakers scored the first bucket 41 seconds in—a Tyler Perkins three-pointer and-1—and never looked back.
 
*Penn shot 31-of-63 from the field (51.4 percent) and is now 68-of-132 (51.5 pct) through two games.
 
*Penn outrebounded Bucknell by an astounding 52-22, and almost matched the Bison's rebound total just on offensive boards alone (20); it's the Quakers' widest margin against a DivisionI opponent since February 2, 1974 when they had a +37 margin against Columbia (65-28).
 
*The freshman Perkins continues to impress. He led all players with 24 points and 14 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double and added five assists and two steals.
 
*Senior Clark Slajchert was Penn's only other double-figure scorer, with 11 points, and he had five boards and three assists in a team-leading 36:33 of game time.
 
*Sophomore Cam Thrower added nine points—adding six rebounds and four assists—while senior Andrew Laczkowski and sophomore Johnnie Walter added eight apiece and Eddie Holland III scored seven.
 
*Bucknell got 11 points each from Jack Forrest and Elvin Edmonds IV and 10 from Josh Bascoe.
 
How It Happened
Penn's first possession ended up being a harbinger for how the game would go—the Quakers rebounded two missed shots, and converted on the third try as Slajchert fed Perkins who drained a trey and was fouled. From there, Penn ran away from the Bison, taking a 16-5 lead out of the first media timeout. Bucknell got back to within 16-10 but an 8-2 Penn run made it 24-12 as senior Andrew Laczkowski had a putback and a fast-break layup on back-to-back possessions.
 
Penn continued to double up Bucknell throughout the half after that, the largest lead of the period coming when Laczkowski slipped in for an offensive rebound and putback to make the score 46-24 with 3:50 still left in the period. It was a 20-point game at the half, Penn's lead 53-33.
 
Bucknell started with the ball in the second half and came right out with five points, forcing Penn head coach Steve Donahue to call timeout. Another Bison bucket made it 53-40, then they hit a trey and a foul shot after a Nick Spinoso layin to quickly claw within 11, at 55-44.
 
Penn settled down and was able to push the lead back up to 16 at 63-47 on a Walter layup from George Smith with 12:09 left. However, Bucknell again refused to buckle, scoring the next seven points. When Edmonds drove for a layup and was fouled by Slajchert, he hit the and-1 free throw and with 8:40 still to play the margin was single digits, at 63-54.
 
Walter hit a layup just before the under-8 timeout, and the Quakers restored order on the other side of that stoppage. It was 65-55 when Thrower hit a stepback J in the lane, then scored off a Perkins feed. The next time down the floor, Perkins juked into the lane and fed Holland for an easy layin to make it 71-55 and force a Bucknell timeout. The lead eventually got back to 20, at 76-56, on an Augustus Gerhart offensive board and kickout to Thrower for a trey.
 
Up Next
Penn gets into Big 5 play on Friday, making the short trip to City Ave. to face Saint Joseph's. The Quakers and Hawks will tip off at Hagan Arena at 6:30 p.m.