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Junior guard Miles Cartwright went 8-for-12 from the field and 4-for-4 from beyond the arc to score 25 points and lead Penn to a 66-64 squeaker over Brown.

Credit: Amanda Suarez

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — All Penn basketball was looking for Friday night in Providence was a little consistency.

Coming off an Ivy weekend in which they inexplicably trumped Harvard after falling to lowly Dartmouth, the Quakers were looking to repeat their first performance against Brown earlier this season. Penn’s 71-48 romp over the Bears last month was a season highlight, and Miles Cartwright’s career-high 28 points made the win that much sweeter.

And in its second matchup with Brown, the Quakers got the consistency they were looking for. Penn bested Brown, 66-64, on the strength of another stellar showing from Cartwright, who notched 25 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the field.

“[Miles] did a good job in the first half of taking what was there and trying to get these guys to understand how to share the basketball and play for one another,” Penn coach Jerome Allen said. “And in the second half, Patrick Lucas-Perry had it going for us.”

While 17 of Cartwright’s 25 points came in the first half, Lucas-Perry notched 13 of his 15 points in the second for Penn (9-20, 6-6 Ivy).

“It’s just me being aggressive and looking for my shot,” Lucas-Perry said.

The first half had promised déjà vu from last month’s matchup due to Brown’s offensive struggles as well, with the Bears (12-15, 6-7) amassing 18 turnovers in the first stanza alone.

“We’re understanding that we need to get in people’s face and deny the ball, that’s what we’re coming to,” Lucas-Perry said.

“If we play defense like we did in the first half of this game and late in the second half tomorrow night, I think we’ll be fine,” Cartwright said.

But even with Cartwright’s stellar play and Brown’s turnover woes, the Quakers could only manage a narrow 33-28 halftime lead, which disappeared after a four-point play by junior guard Sean McGonagill at the 12:21 mark of the second half tied the game at 46 apiece.

The Bears took control at that point with an 11-5 run before Penn clawed back within two on a dunk by freshman center Darien Nelson-Henry, who finished the game with just four points on 2-for-3 shooting from the field. Senior guard Matt Sullivan’s three-pointer with 1:52 remaining gave Brown a 64-58 advantage.

A Cartwright three tied the game at 64 with 42 seconds left, setting up a controversial ending.

With 0.7 seconds left off of an inbounds play on Penn’s offensive end, Cartwright was fouled by McGonagill in the act of shooting a three. The referees consulted the monitor to review the play and confirmed that Cartwright was fouled during regulation. The captain then promptly drilled two of his three free throws, securing the victory for Penn.

“That’s enough time for me,” Cartwright said. “That’s enough time to turn, maybe get a quick dribble in if I’m facing the basket, but in that situation I knew I had enough time to turn and get a good look.”

McGonagill led the way for the Bears in scoring with 15 points, while sophomore guard Patrick Lucas-Perry added 15 for Penn.

“We got a fairly young team,” Allen said. Some days they’re gonna look good, other days they’re gonna make you scratch your head. To our guys’ credit, [Brown] went up six late in the game and our guys stayed with it one possession at a time. That’s a sign of growth and maturity, despite what the end result was.”

The Quakers return to game action tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in New Haven, Conn., for their final Ivy road game of the season against Yale.

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