Penn wins overtime battle with Brown, 80-78

After a stellar defensive performance by Penn on Friday against Yale put the Quakers on the road to victory, they went out Saturday night and faced a severe challenge from Brown in another Ivy League contest at the Palestra.

This time, Penn needed overtime to prevail.

With forward Jack Eggleston scoring the first five points of the extra session, the Quakers seized the lead and never relinquished it on their way to an 80-78 victory that was Penn's third in a row.

Eggleston, who dropped in a three-point jumper from the right wing to begin the five-minute period and then threw down a dunk off a nice feed from guard Zack Rosen, tied his career-high with 25 points to go with 12 rebounds.

"We came together as a group and got it done," the 6-foot-8 senior said.

"This was huge for us. We knew we could get stops and execute, and be in the right spots. And we pulled it out. To have this experience is invaluable."

Now 8-8 overall and 2-0 in the Ancient Eight, Penn went into the last two-plus minutes down by four points, and had a tie game with 45.8 seconds remaining in regulation after a three-point play by forward Conor Turley.

After Brown was hit with a five-second call on an inbounds pass with 40 seconds left in the second half, Penn had the last shot and heard the buzzer sound after swingman Tyler Bernardini missed a jumper from just above the free-throw line.

"It was a good look, and I'm sure everybody on our team would have liked that look," said Bernardini, who finished with 17 points.

Brown, which fell to 7-11 overall and 0-4 in the Ivies, received a 19-point first half by guard Adrian Williams as the Bears took a seven-point lead into their locker room. The 6-1 Williams finished with 22 points while backcourt mate Sean McGonagill had 12 points and 10 assists.

Rosen, who scored all 13 of his points during the first 20 minutes to counter Williams' onslaught, had five assists while freshman guard Miles Cartwright dished out eight.

Penn trailed by 59-53 with 10 minutes, 34 seconds remaining in the game. And the Quakers' deficit was 65-59 with 7:18 showing on the clock.

But when Bernardini went the length of the court for a layup with 5:21 to go, Penn pulled even at 65. Regulation ended tied at 73.

"Both teams deserved to win tonight, but they made a couple of big plays and big shots," Brown coach Jesse Agel said.

Williams, a senior guard who had a scoring average of 5.4 points, made 5 of 6 three-point attempts in the first half.

Over the last 25 minutes of the game, Penn gave up 31 points.

 Both coaching staffs wore sneakers to show solidarity with the American Cancer Society and Coaches vs. Cancer.