Brown tops Penn, 71-55

Although Tony Hicks is Penn's veteran leader and its most-feared backcourt threat, the Quakers, surprisingly, have been less successful as his field-goal attempts per game increase.

Entering Saturday's Ivy League matchup with Brown at the Palestra, Penn was 5-4 in games when Hicks took less than 20 percent of the team's shots from the field, and 2-9 in games when he took 20 percent or more.

That trend continued against the Bears (11-14, 2-6 Ivy). Hicks took 21 percent of Penn's shots - despite playing just 23 minutes - and the Quakers lost, 71-55.

Just one of Hicks' 12 shots from the floor found the net. Matt Howard paced Penn's offense with 19 points.

As coach Jerome Allen reflected on another bleak performance, he praised Howard for having "the right type of demeanor, the right type of energy."

After the Quakers took a 30-29 lead into the locker room at halftime, Brown mounted a 15-4 run in the first 5 minutes, 52 seconds of the second half.

The Bears kept the Quakers (7-14, 2-5) at bay from there with clutch shooting by Steven Spieth, brother of PGA Tour golfer Jordan Spieth. He finished the game with 19 points, and Brown's J.R. Hobbie led all scorers with 21 points.

Hicks' night went from bad to worse with 6:22 to play, when he drew a technical foul for mouthing off to an official. Allen sat Hicks on the bench for the rest of the night.

Allen said it was "a sign of where we are as a team in terms of our overall maturity," and put the onus on himself "for managing the emotional aspect of the team."

While Allen watched his team slump to yet another defeat, Brown coach Mike Martin got to savor his third career win at the Palestra as a player or coach for his alma mater.

Martin was also an assistant coach at Penn from 2006 to 2012, initially under Glen Miller and then under Allen. In Martin's first season with the Quakers, they won what still stands as the program's most recent Ivy League championship.

On Saturday, Martin's current team gave an emotionless Palestra crowd yet more evidence that Penn is a long way from ending its title drought.