Penn Beats Brown In Controversial Finish
Saturday, March 09, 2013
Junior Miles Cartwright scored 25 points, including two free throws with 0.7 remaining, rallying Penn to a controversial 66-64 Ivy League win over Brown at the Pizzitola Sports Center, snapping a three-game Bears’ winning streak.
The loss drops Brown to 12-15 overall, 6-7 in the Ivy League, while Penn goes to 8-20 overall, 6-6 in league play.
A trey from the corner by senior Matt Sullivan gave the Bears to a 64-58 advantage with two minutes left in the game. Six straight points by Cartwright tied the game, 64-64, with 42 seconds remaining.
Sullivan missed a trey for the Bears with seven seconds remaining, and Penn headed down court. With two fouls to give, Brown junior guard Sean McGonagill gave a foul with two seconds left on the clock. On the inbound pass, Brown slapped the ball out of bounds with 1.1 seconds remaining.
On the throw in, Brown still had a foul to give and seemingly fouled Cartwright immediately with his back to the basket, 40 feet from the hoop. Cartwright then turned and threw the ball toward the basket and Brown, inexplicably, was whistled for a shooting foul with 0.7 seconds left on the clock. Cartwright made the first two and intentionally missed the third to give Penn the win.
“Disappointing night and a disappointing result,” said Brown head coach Mike Martin. “The game doesn’t come down to one shot or one play. It’s a 40-minute game and we have to play for the full amount of time.”
Brown had four players in double figures, led by McGonagill, who netted 15 points. Bears’ sophomore forward Rafael Maia registered a double-double, scoring 12 points and a game high 14 rebounds. Senior guard Stephen Albrecht scored 13 points, on 4-of-5 shooting from the field, while Sullivan added 13 points for the Bears.
Cartwright scored 17 of his 25 points in the first half and shot 8-of-12 from the field, including a perfect 4-of-4 from behind the three-point arc. Patrick Lucas-Perry chipped in with 15 points for the Quakers.
Penn led by as many as eight points in the first half, 31-23, following a trey by Cartwright with 3:12 left in the opening 20 minutes. The Bears clawed back and cut the Quakers’ lead to five points at the half, 33-28, on a Maia lay-up with 1:20 left.
Brown came roaring back to tie the game, 46-46, on a four-point play by McGonagill at the 12:21 mark. The Bears took their first lead, 51-48, with 11:30 remaining on a trey by senior Stephen Albrecht.
Sullivan gave Brown its biggest lead, 60-53, on a trey with 6:08 left in the game. The Quakers came back and cut the Brown lead to just two points, 60-58.
Brown wraps-up its season Saturday evening, hosting first-place Princeton at the Pizzitola Sports Center, starting at 6 p.m.
NOTES:
-The controversial call came at the end of regulation with the game tied 64-64. Penn was to inbound the ball from near midcourt with 1.1 second remaining but the Bears had a foul to give having committed just 5 team fouls in the second half. The Quakers got the ball in to Miles Cartwright with his back to the basket outside the top of the key. Brown's Stephen Albrecht immediately fouled him by wrapping his arms around him. Cartwright then turned to his right in an attempt to shoot a three. Rhode Island native and Ivy League official Gary Pucino blew his whistle and caled Albrecht for a foul and claimed that Cartwright was in the act of shooting awarding him three free throws.
Replay clearly shows that Albrecht had committed the fould while Cartwright still had his back turned to the basket and before he attempted to shoot. The call should have been a foul on the floor giving Penn an attempt to in-bound the ball with 0.7 seconds left. Instead, Cartwight made his first two free throws and intentionally missed the third to give the Quakers the win.
With 5 minutes of overtime seemingly inevitable, it's unusual for an official to make such a critical call. Normally, the feeling would be to let the players decide the game in overtime.
On most nights, the Ivy League has a supervisor reviewing officials at the game but there was no one present at the Pizzitola Center Friday night. However, if the league's supervisor of officials Reggie Greenwood wanted to review the call or the game, he could contact MyRITV which televised the game live Friday night.
-The loss dropped Brown from 3rd to 5th place in the league. Harvard beat Columbia while Princeton lost at Yale meaning the Crimson now move back into first place at (10-3) while the Tigers fall to second at (9-3). Yale is in third at (7-6) while Penn moves into 4th at (6-6). Brown is in 5th at (6-7).
Comments:
Bobby Townsend
9:24am on Saturday, March 09, 2013
If Harvard wins tonight and Brown knocks off Princeton, Harvard clinches the title... Didn't see the play but yes, what could he do with his back to the basket with so little time?
My other question is why did Cartwright catch the ball with his back to the basket in the first place?
Scott Cordischi
1:25pm on Sunday, March 10, 2013
Bobby:
The ball was thrown in from the side near mid court. He came low-to-high to get the ball and his back was facing the basket when he caught it. He was fouled immediately! Once he felt the foul, he turned to attempt a shot. The official (Pucino) really indicted himself when he put 0.7 back on the clock because there is no way that Cartwright could catch, turn and shoot in 0.4 seconds. Bad call. Unfortunate. But Brown also did not do a good job of taking care of the ball in the first half and for the game. Too many turnovers. Also, no guarantee that they win in OT. However, game should have gone to OT to be decided.