LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team saw a 13-point halftime lead evaporate late, in a hail of Allen Powell three-pointers, but the Quakers recovered in overtime and pulled out a 77-73 victory over the Broncs Saturday at Alumni Gymnasium (aka "the Broncs Zoo").
Penn won for the first time in four OT games this season and improved to 8-5 overall, while Rider—the preseason favorite in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC)—fell to 3-9.
Quaker Notemeal
*Saturday's win was Penn's first in overtime this season and snapped a six-game losing streak in such games dating back to last season. Overall, the Quakers are 7-14 in OT games under head coach
Steve Donahue.
*This is the second straight season and the seventh in program history in which Penn has played four overtime games. The record for OT games in a season is six, set in 1983-84, while the 2010-11 and 2018-19 teams both played five such games.
*Penn shot 9-19 from three-point land in the first half, then was just 1-7 from beyond the arc after that. The lone trey was a shot-clock buzzer-beater that was banked in by
Tyler Perkins.
*Penn outrebounded its tenth opponent this season, outboarding the Broncs 46-43.
*Junior
Nick Spinoso had his second double-double of the season, with 19 points and 11 rebounds, and he also tied for game-high honors with four assists.
*Freshman
Sam Brown scored 14 points, 12 of them coming in the first half when he knocked down four three-pointers, and set a season/career high with eight rebounds.
*Senior
Clark Slajchert suffered through a tough shooting day (5-19 overall, 2-9 on threes) but still finished with 14 points; he has been held to single digits just once this season. He also had season highs in rebounds (6) and steals (a game-high 3).
*Senior
Andrew Laczkowski scored nine points—a season high he has now reached three times this season—and added five rebounds (two on the offensive glass).
*The freshman Perkins also had nine points on Saturday, and he added three assists.
*Sophomore
Cam Thrower knocked down a pair of treys to score his six points.
*Rider got a double-double from Mervin James; the MAAC's Preseason Player of the Year had 20 points and a game-high 12 rebounds as well as four assists, two steals and two blocked shots. Powell ended the game with a game-high 21, 13 of them coming in the final 3:37 of the second half.
How It Happened
Penn started a bit sluggishly, but when Slajchert hit a trey to put the Quakers in front 7-6 he started a barrage. Five of the Red and Blue's next six baskets after that came from distance, and when Perkins was fouled on a trey attempt at the under-8 timeout he came out of the break and hit two of the free throws to make the lead a double-digit margin (26-16). Back-to-back treys by Slajchert and Brown pushed the lead to 16, at 39-23, and it was still a 13-point margin at the half, 41-28.
It looked like that lead would hold up, as the advantage was still 13 (55-42) at the under-8 media timeout thanks to a Spinoso bucket with 8:10 left, Unfortunately, Penn went exactly four minutes without a point after that and Rider took advantage, scoring nine in a row to get within 55-51.
George Smith ended the drought, gaining a steal at one end and feeding Laczkowski in transition for a layup at the other end. Penn's lead was 57-51 at the under-4 media timeout.
Powell's trey at the end of the shot clock got the Broncs within 57-54, but Perkins made both ends of a 1-and-1 and then Smith took his man to the hole for the layup. That pushed Penn's lead to 61-54. Powell hit his second trey in a row with 2:27 left to make it 61-57, but Brown was fouled as he dished off a pass with 2:05 left and he made both of his 1-and-1 shots.
After a Powell foul shot, Penn broke Rider's press and Slajchert converted an open layup for a 65-58 lead with just 1:35 left. However, James put back a quick miss and was fouled, making the foul shot to get the Broncs back within 65-61 with 1:28 left.
Penn ran clock and Slajchert was fouled as he drove to the hoop, making both to up the lead back to six at 67-61. However, Powell again drained a triple and it was a one-possession game with 50.9 seconds left. Rider called a timeout after Powell's make, then forced a Penn turnover with its press, Powell then capped his sensational streak with another trey that tied things at 67-67. Penn got the ball in Slajchert's hands to try and end the game in regulation, but the senior's contested floater came off the front rim at the buzzer.
A Spinoso putback opened the OT scoring, then Smith fed Laczkowski underneath for a bucket to make it 71-67 at the period's midway point. Rider's Tariq Ingraham got two of the points back with two minutes left, but then Perkins banked home his prayer three to make it 74-69 with 1:29 left.
Powell knocked down yet another trey with just over a minute left, making the score 74-72, but Penn ran clock and Slajchert found Spinoso underneath. He was fouled hard going up, made his first foul shot but missed the second—keeping it at a one-possession game, 75-72—and Laczkowski was whistled for a foul on the rebound. Rider's Anthony McCall missed his first foul shot but made the second, making it 75-73.
Penn turned it over near midcourt, giving Rider a chance to tie or win with the final possession. There was confusion when DJ Dudley missed a shot near the end of the shot clock and a jump ball was whistled on the ensuing rebound which gave the ball back to the Broncs. Following a review, the ball stayed with Rider, the clock was set to 5.3 seconds, and the shot clock was set at three seconds.
Rider inbounded to the hot hand, Powell, and he heaved up a fallaway three from deep in the right corner that was long. James was called for a foul on the rebound, and Laczkowski sank both of his free throws—sandwiching them around a Penn timeout—to make it a two-possession game with 3.1 seconds left. Perkins officially shut the door when he stole Rider's inbounds and ran out the final few seconds.
Up Next
Penn is back in action a week from today, traveling to the University of Houston to face the third-ranked Cougars. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Houston (7 p.m. Eastern).
For the latest on Penn men's basketball, follow @PennMBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
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