Brown’s Basketball’s Must-Win Gets Away - Falls to Penn

Brown’s Basketball’s Must-Win Gets Away - Falls to Penn

Saturday night’s battle was a must-win — a win would give Brown a clear path to their first appearance in the Ivy League playoffs.

But, the Penn Quakers defeated the Bears, 73-68, to split the season series behind AJ Brodeur's 20 points at the Pizzitola Sports Center. 

The game was critical as Penn now owns the tie-breaker as Penn split with first-place Yale and Brown lost twice.

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Moreover, Brown goes on the road for the final weekend to play at Harvard Friday and Dartmouth on Saturday — a tough road trip.

Penn hosts Cornell and Columbia — the two bottom-ranked teams in the Ivy.

Brown (13-12 overall) and Penn (14-11 overall) are now tied for fourth place in the Ivy League standings at 6-6 with two games remaining next weekend.  Brown has now lost three games in a row.

"This was a really good college basketball game," said Brown head coach Mike Martin. "Our locker room is hurting. These guys played really hard and I'm proud of the effort." 

Neither team shot well from beyond the 3-point arc with Penn connecting on 7-of-23 treys (30-percent) and Brown converting 8-of-29 treys (27-percent).  The Quakers out-rebounded the Bears by a 43-39 margin.

Brown senior guard Zach Hunsaker scored 16 of his game-high 21 points in the second half, matching his season-high, on 7-of-16 shooting from the field.

Junior Tamenang Choh turned in a strong game for the Bears, posting his eighth double-double of the season with 20 points and 12 rebounds, handing out a team-high six assists. Bears' senior Brandon Anderson scored 14 points.

Brodeur was a force in the middle for the Quakers with 20 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field, while grabbing eight rebounds and handing out a game-high seven assists. Jordan Dingle had 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field, and Max Martz scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Brown led by as many as eight points in the first half, 25-17, following a trey by Choh with 5:17 left. The Quakers battled back to cut Brown's lead to one point at the half, 29-28 when Dingle connected on a late trey.