PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team was able to hold off Brown Saturday at The Palestra, defeating the Bears by an 81-73 decision.
Penn improved to 1-1 in Ivy League play and 8-7 overall, while Bruno fell to 0-2 in Ivy play and 6-9 overall.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn won for just the second time this season when shooting a worse field-goal percentage than its opponent—Brown shot 48.3 percent on Saturday while the Quakers were 46.4 percent. Prior to Saturday, the Red and Blue was 1-6 in such games.
*Penn outrebounded Brown, 35-30, and had 15 assists with just nine turnovers which was one above the Quakers' season best.
*Penn entered the game 15th nationally in three-point field-goal percentage (39.1), and the Quakers improved upon it by shooting 7-16 (43.8 pct) from beyond the arc Saturday.
*Senior
Ethan Roberts led the scoring charge on Saturday with 28 points, three short of his season high. He split them almost evenly, with 13 coming in the first half and 15 coming after the break.
*Roberts also had four rebounds, tied for team-high honors with five assists, and was 12-14 at the foul line which matched his season/career best (also 12-14 against Saint Joseph's on November 17).
*
Michael Zanoni ended the day with 20 points, 14 of them coming after halftime. He was an efficient 6-9 from the field (3-5 on 3FG) and 5-6 at the foul line.
*Junior
Augustus Gerhart led Penn with six rebounds—four of them coming on the offensive glass—and added eight points.
*Sophomore
AJ Levine also had five assists in just under 19 minutes of action.
*Senior
Cam Thrower scored seven points off the bench on Saturday.
*Brown was led by N'famara Dabo (17 points, game-high seven rebounds) and Jeremiah Jenkins (15 points, game-high six assists). Adrian Uchidiuno also had 15 points for the Bears.
How It Happened
Penn was up early, 9-6, but Brown used a 12-1 run to go up by a much as eight at 18-10. It was still 25-17 Brown at the under-12 media timeout, but the Quakers scored the only points in the next "mini-game" and were within two at the under-8 timeout, 25-23. Brown extended the lead back to five late in the half, but Penn scored the next six to take a brief lead at 37-36. The teams were tied at halftime, 42-42.
Brown opened the second-half scoring but Zanoni powered a 10-2 Penn run—scoring eight of the points—which left the Quakers up 52-46. The lead was still 55-50 at the first media timeout and got to seven on a few occasions, before treys from Jenkins and David Rochester got the visitors within one at the under-12 media timeout, 61-60.
That set the stage for a dramatic final 12 minutes; while Penn led the rest of the way, the Quakers were never up by more than five until the very end of the contest.
Penn's lead was 74-69 with 3:11 to play when a Uchidiuno triple got the Bears within one possession, at 74-72. The Quakers followed with a shot-clock violation, giving Brown the ball out of bounds after the media timeout with 2:19 left. The Bears went deep into the shot clock and turned it over on an inbounds play when Thrower swiped a long pass away and Gerhart saved it from going out of bounds to Power.
Penn went deep into its clock and Roberts was fouled as he drove to the hole with 1:33 left. The senior made both free throws to make it 76-72. Brown had two shots on its next possession but both missed, Gerhart grabbing the board off the second miss and Roberts again getting fouled. He made the first to make it 77-72 but missed the second with 38.6 seconds left.
Brown got one back when Jenkins was fouled driving to the hoop. He made the first but missed the second—but the Bears' Isaiah Langham drew a foul on the rebound and had a 1-and-1. He missed the front end, however, and this time Gerhart was fouled on the rebound. He missed the first but made the second, getting the margin back to five, and then Jenkins committed a massive error when he stepped out of bounds turning to push the ball up the floor along the right sideline.
Penn inbounded to Gerhart, who was fouled immediately, and the junior again went 1-2 at the stripe to get the margin to six with 25.9 left. Brown's last gasp was a Malcolm Wrisby-Jefferson shot in the paint that missed and was rebounded by Thrower. He got it to Roberts, who was fouled and hit both freebies with 12.9 seconds left. That set the final score.
Up Next
Penn makes the long trip North next weekend to face Dartmouth and Harvard. The Quakers are in Hanover to face the Big Green on Saturday at 3 p.m., then head to Cambridge for an MLK Day matchup with the Crimson on Monday at 2 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.
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