Gamecenter: Brown 64, Penn 67

1st 2nd Final
Brown (11-18, 6-8 Ivy) 32 32 64
Penn (21-8, 12-1 Ivy) 30 37 67
The Palestra – Philadelphia, PA Boxscore
 
Postgame audio
Brown: Craig Robinson
Penn: Glen Miller & Ibby Jaaber
 
Keys to the Game
Key sequence Penn put together a big 7-2 run after falling behind by a bucket on a pair of free throws by Chris Skrelja inside of three minutes remaining. After Brian Grandieri split a pair of free throws, Ibby Jaaber got a fastbreak pass from Steve Danley and layed it in to put Penn up. Skrelja turned it over on the next possession, and Kevin Egee drove the lane for a reverse lay-in and a three-point Penn advantage. Scott Friske brought Brown within one with two free throws at the 1:34 mark, and the Bears had a chance to take the lead in the final minute, but Damon Huffman was called for an offensive foul for a hook on a post move, giving the ball back to Penn with only 45 ticks on the clock.
Key sign it was over With his team clinging to a one-point lead, Grandieri drew a foul with 24 seconds left, draining both free throws to give Penn a three-point lead. Brown ran clock, and nearly turned it over, but Huffman made a nice play to save the ball, calling a timeout just before falling out of bounds with 8.6 seconds to play. On the inbounds play, Brown ran a nice set to free up Huffman for a 22-foot three-pointer in front of the Brown bench, but it wouldn’t fall. Friske grabbed the rebound and tried passing back out for a three, but Egee stole the ball and dribbled downcourt as the clock expired.
Key performance Jaaber. A night after Mark Zoller made his case for Ivy Player of the Year, Jaaber made his. The senior hit 8-of-16 shots for 22 points — including 16 in the second half, most of it played without Zoller — and also had seven rebounds and six assists.
Key statistic Mike Kach’s first-half three was the only triple for Penn on the night, but the Quakers shot 23 of 37 (62.1 percent) on two-point shots, outscoring their opponent in the paint by a wide margin (38-20) for the second straight night. Penn scored 20 of its 22 second-half points from the field two-point attempts.
Notes

– Huffman airballed his first two attempts on the night, but recovered in a big way, hitting his next four three-pointers and a layup in a personal 14-4 run that put the Bears in front at halftime, 32-30. However, Huffman missed all five of his second-half attempts, finishing with 16 points, all in the first half.

– Zoller played only 18 minutes due to foul trouble, fouling out at the 5:30 mark with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting.

– Brown leading scorer Mark McAndrew nearly was invisible with just five points on 2-for-10 shooting, failing to reach double figures for the first time since November 25 — a span of 22 games.

– Brown came into the game tops in the country in free throw rate, but Penn had a huge 28-13 edge in free throw attempts and outscored the Bears 18-11 from the line. The game featured 43 personal fouls, with 27 of them — and 29 combined free throw attempts — coming in the final 20 minutes.

– Both teams rank among the national leaders in assist rate, but Brown recorded assists on just 9 of 22 buckets (40.9 percent), while Penn did so on 15 of its 24 field goals (62.5 percent).

– The Bears’ trapping defense did cause some issues for the Quakers offensively, generating 16 turnovers and keeping Penn from getting comfortable in the halfcourt.

– Adam Franklin got his first career start for Penn on Senior Night, playing five minutes and missing his only shot in the game — a three-pointer.

– Brown finished alone in fifth place a 6-8 in Ivy play, while Penn finishes up its regular season at Princeton (11-15, 2-11 Ivy) on Tuesday, March 5 at 7:30 pm.

Daniel McQuade

Daniel McQuade wrote 21 posts

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