Brown Falls In OT at Penn

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Scott Cordischi, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

The odds were stacked against the Brown Bears as they headed into the Palestra Saturday night. Off to an (0-3) start in the Ivy League, the Bears visited Penn without their leading scorer Peter Sullivan. That didn’t seem to faze Brown who battled the Quakers for 40 minutes of regulation time plus 5 minutes of overtime before falling 80-78.

Brown lead most of the way building a 47-40 halftime lead thanks to a sizzling display of shooting from senior guard Adrian Williams. Williams scored 19 of his team-high 22 points in the first half nailing 5 of 6 from three point range in front of his father – former Washington Redskins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Doug Williams who was in attendance.

That 7 point lead grew to as many as 10 in the second half for Brown which led 73-67 with 2:01 to play. But the Quakers battled back thanks to Jack Eggleston who scored 19 of his game-high 25 points in the second half for Penn.

Eggleston’s second three of the half made it 73-70 Brown with 1:38 to play in regulation. An old fashion 3-point play by Connor Turley tied the game with :46 seconds left.

On the Bears ensuing possession, they had trouble inbounding the ball from the side with :40 seconds to play. On their second attempt, they were whistled for a quick 5 second violation turning the ball over to Penn.

The Quakers set up a play for Zack Rosen to create and he found an open Miles Cartwright who missed a three with :06 left. Tyler Bernardini missed a jumper with no time left as the two teams headed to overtime.

Eggleston scored the first 5 points of overtime for Penn putting them up 78-73 with 2:54 to play. Adrian Williams sixth three of the night brought the Bears to within two at 78-76.

After a Connor Turley dunk put Penn up 80-76, Andre McCarthy hit two clutch free throws to pull Brown back to within two at 80-78 with :46 left in overtime.

Eggleston and Williams then exchanged missed threes. Brown’s Garrett Leffelman got the offensive rebound on Williams’ miss and the Bears called timeout with :04 left. Brown was unable to get off a shot and ended up falling to (7-11) on the season and (0-4) in Ivy League play.

Williams 6 three-pointers is tied for 8th best in a single game in Brown basketball history. Freshman point guard Sean McGonagill was outstanding registering a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists. Fellow freshman Dockery Walker was one basket shy of his own double-double with 8 points and 10 rebounds in just 20 minutes of action.

Senior Garrett Leffelman (9 pts, 5 reb) did a solid job defensively on Penn’s talented point guard Zack Rosen (13 pts, 4-13 FG). Sophomore Tucker Halpern finished with 11 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds while fellow sophomore Andrew McCarthy had three big baskets late in the second half finishing with 8 points and 5 rebounds.

The win lifted Penn to (8-8) overall and (2-0) in the Ivy League.

The Bears return home to host Columbia Friday night at the Pizzatola Sports Center and Cornell on Saturday night.