PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Good evening from the Pizzitola Sports Center at Brown. The Bears(16-9, 8-3) are going for a season sweep of the Quakers (11-16, 6-4) tonight. Penn is coming off a 70-63 win over Yale, and Brown beat Princeton 64-57 last night. Refresh this page for live updates.

FINAL: Brown 75, Penn 43

The Quakers avoided getting doubled up, but this loss was a sign of how far they still have to go if they want to compete for the title again next year. For the second time in a row, Penn couldn’t follow up a Friday win the next night.

Good evening from The Buzz.

2:40, Second half: Brown 73, Penn 34

Warm up the bus, the scrubs are in. As they exit the court, Huffman and McAndrew throw themselves a mini-celebration at midcourt. This is their last home game ever, I understand, but do they really have to show up the other team while the game is still going on?

15:30, Second half: Brown 53, Penn 19

The Bears are doing what they’ve been doing — whipping the heck out of Penn. Huffman’s last three-pointer makes him Brown’s all-time leader in that category. The Quakers are trying ever more desperate means to get shots off, and, predictably, that’s not working. True, the Bears are scoring virtually at will, but most of the credit for this win should go to their defense. Penn’s season-low output of 30 points seems in jeopardy as the year’s worst.

Scratch that. The stats are too depressing to post. Instead, stop what you are doing and read this story, which reports on a trend that sportswriters in the Ivy League had heard rumblings about but that I never thought would actually hit the papers.

Halftime: Brown 44, Penn 14

How does a team with an offense as slow, deliberate and measured as this possibly score 44 points in a half? Your guess is as good as mine. Halftime stats coming shortly. I need a break from this.
1:46, First half: Brown 42, Penn 10

Sullivan hit two free throws, Friske banked in a shot-clock-beating three — the second time that’s happened tonight — and Skrelja cleaned up a miss in transition for the Bears. Not really much more to say. Danny Monckton is in for Penn.

3:50, First half: Brown 34, Penn 8

It keeps getting worse. Peter Sullivan has gotten two more open backdoor cuts, and Huffman hit a three-pointer. Bernardini committed offensive fouls on two straight possessions — one legit, one phantom in my opinion — to take away an chance at momentum. Grandieri took a page out of his opponents’ book with a backdoor layup of his own, but it’s small consolation at this point. A very, very poor showing from the Quakers tonight, especially given how well they played in the first half last night.

7:36, First half: Brown 23, Penn 5

Penn is finally playing some marginally better defense, but now they’re giving up offensive rebounds at an alarming rate. Brown is taking more and more three-pointers and getting every long rebound. The Quakers need to push the pace and get some quick baskets. The half-court game is clearly favoring Brown by a huge margin.
9:40, First half: Brown 21, Penn 5

Can anything go wrong for Brown? McAndrew actually managed to bank in a three-pointer.

11:42, First half: Brown 16, Penn 4

There will be no FGCU repeat. Jack Eggleston managed a dunk and Andreas Schreiber cleaned up an Egee miss. Penn is going with a four-guard rotation; Schreiber is the only frontcourt player in right now. Aron Cohen makes an appearance after Gaines picked up his second foul.

13:51, First half: Brown 14, Penn 0

This is quickly getting out of hand. Brown got four more from McAndrew, who broke loose for a patented Princeton-offense-style backdoor cut, then stripped Grandieri and took it coast-to-coast for a layup. Glen Miller calls timeout. I wouldn’t want to be in that huddle.

15:35, First half: Brown 10, Penn 0

If anyone forgot why Brown was able to win at the Palestra earlier this year, one word: Defense. The Bears are playing a tenacious 2-3 zone, and Penn has done little to work it so far outside of moving the ball around the perimeter. Only one of Penn’s jumpers so far has been uncontested.

16:34, First half: Brown 8, Penn 0

Kevin Egee didn’t seem to have it today. He got pulled after two possessions of indecisive play, and Harrison Gaines is in. He missed an open three, Penn’s best scoring chance so far.

It’s not hard to see why Peter Sullivan is a favorite for Ivy rookie of the year. Tyler Bernardini is having an awfully tough time staying with him. McAndrew also scored in transition, and Brown has raced out to a good lead. Justin Reilly is in for Brennan Votel.

Brown’s Matt Mullery, a sophomore center who leads the Ivy League in blocks, will be out tonight with the lingering effects of a concussion. For Penn, senior Michael Kach did not make the trip this weekend, probably due to the back problems that have given him trouble this year.

Here are your starting lineups:

Penn
Fr. G Tyler Bernardini
Fr. F Jack Eggleston
Jr. F Brennan Votel
Jr. G Kevin Egee
Sr. G Brian Grandieri

Brown
Jr. F Scott Friske
Jr. F Chris Skrelja
Fr. F Peter Sullivan
Sr. G Mark McAndrew
Sr. G Damon Huffman

Tags: Game Updates

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 1st, 2008 at 6:57 pm and is filed under Men's Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.