Brown sits after hitting teammate

Coach Fran Dunphy benched senior Frank Brown for striking Dan Solomito during practice. Senior swingman Frank Brown was benched for the Penn men's basketball team's loss at La Salle on Tuesday night after an altercation with sophomore forward Dan Solomito at the end of Monday's practice. Solomito spent the game at Tom Gola Arena on the Penn bench in street clothes with a bandage on his head. At the end of practice on Monday afternoon, the Quakers were scrimmaging. Away from the ball, Solomito, who is known to be aggressive and in-your-face in practice, cut to the inside, where he encountered Brown. Apparently, Brown struck Solomito, who fell to the hardwood bleeding from the head. Solomito required stitches, which will be removed this weekend in Birmingham, Ala., where the Quakers will play against No. 8 Auburn. Penn coach Fran Dunphy said yesterday that the incident was the reason Brown did not play on Tuesday night. He also said Brown will play on Saturday against the Tigers. "Dan made a cut, Frank blocked his cut with his forearm." Dunphy said of the incident. Solomito lay on the floor for a few minutes where he was tended to by the Penn trainers. "[Solomito] received a number of stitches," Dunphy said. "They will be removed down there, in Birmingham." As the trainers tended to Solomito, Brown and the rest of the Quakers waited quietly at courtside. Despite the situation, Brown remained especially calm, as Quakers guard Lamar Plummer helped to keep him relaxed with some humor on the sideline. Dunphy, who had seemed upset with his team's performance in the practice before the incident, yelled at the Quakers to get into the locker room. There, the Penn coach gave his squad a speech that was plainly audible on the court despite the locker room's closed doors. Brown declined to comment yesterday and Solomito did not return a request for comment. This is not the first time that Brown has been benched for a physical incident. Last season at Columbia, Brown shoved one of the Lions after being elbowed in the head, picking up a technical foul. He then did not play against Dartmouth the following week in Penn's victory over the Big Green at the Palestra. After starting the first game of this season and playing 18 minutes against then-No. 13 Kentucky, Brown has not seen as much playing time. Despite his reputation as a sharpshooter, Brown has only managed a season high of four points in a game, which he achieved against Penn State. Playing time has also been an issue for Brown in the past. Last year, after leading the Quakers with 17 points in 26 minutes of action in a season-opening 61-56 loss to Kansas, Brown saw his time fluctuate throughout the season. He played as few as three minutes at Yale on February 13 and as many as 28 minutes two games later at Villanova. Brown petitioned for and was granted a fifth year of eligibility this season after only playing 13 games in 1997-98 and a mere 13 minutes in 1996-97 due to injuries. In his time at Penn, Solomito has been used quite sparingly. Last year, as a freshman, Solomito saw playing time in only 11 games with a season-high of six minutes against Columbia on February 26. Solomito has seen only 1:43 of action this season. He scored two points in the Quakers' 71-56 victory over Army a week ago.