With less than 20 seconds left in the game, Penn freshman guard David Whitehurst drove to his left, and then surprised the Bears defense with a no-look pass to senior Nameir Majette.
The seldom-used Quakers center, left wide open next to the basket, knew what to do.
He leaped and threw down a thunderous dunk. The Penn bench watched closely as the ball ricocheted off the rim, and sailed a few feet above the hoop. The entire team erupted when the ball fell back into the basket.
The play was insignificant for Penn, already leading by more than 20 points. But on a night when everything seemed to go right, it was a fitting final basket for the Quakers, who beat Brown,83-60.
Indeed, Penn (9-7, 2-0 Ivy) closed out the first half in similar fashion, as junior Friedrich Ebede tipped in a missed shot just as the buzzer sounded.
"We're playing at a pretty goodlevel right now," Penn coach FranDunphy said.
After scoring a career-best 16 points against Yale on Friday night,sophomore Steve Danley drained each of his seven first-half shots against Brown, scoring 17 of his new career-high 22 points in the first stanza alone. He finished with game-highs in points, assists (five) and blocks (two).
As a team, the Quakers shot and eye-popping 76 percent for the first 20 minutes, and nearly 64 percent for the game.
"The nature of the way Brown plays is that they push the ball, and they get some easy shots, and you get some easy shots," Danley said. "We made that a focus pre-game and we came out and took advantage of it."
Penn spread the ball effectively and stomped over a Bears team that soundly defeated the preseason Ivy League favorite, Princeton, a night earlier.
In that game, Forte scored 17 and Ruscoe added 16 in Brown's 57-52 victory.
But on Saturday the Quakers shut down the Bears' main offensive weapons.
Penn's most impressive statistic in the first half may not have been its 76 percent field goal percentage. Instead, it was reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Jason Forte's zero points on 0-for-6 shooting in 19 minutes of play. In last year's loss to Brown at the Palestra, Forte scored 16 of his game-high 29 points in the first half.
"It was a matter of a team playing much harder than us," Brown coach Glen Miller said. "They really played terrific basketball, [but] beyond their execution, they really played a lot harder than us in the first half."
"Penn's pressure and extending the defense ... we weren't ready for that and we were stagnant," he added. "The sole credit goes to Penn."
The Quakers backcourt tandem of Eric Osmundson and Ibby Jaaber played effective deny-defense against Forte, and Penn's big men provided good help when Brown's star managed to get into the lane. Forte finished the game with 15 points.
"Our defense has become pretty solid," Dunphy said. "We did a good job of communicating and helping one another."
Penn's most spectacular defensive play came in the final two minutes of the first half. Forte managed to dribble past his defender, and appeared to be open for a lay-up. Then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Jaaber leaped into the air and blocked Forte's shot. The ball bounced off of Forte and out of bounds, and Jaaber proceeded to swish a three-pointer on Penn's ensuing possession.
Jaaber and Osmundson also contributed on the offensive end, scoring 16 and 18 points, respectively.
"I give great credit to Ibby," Dunphy said. "With Oz and [guard Tim Begley] getting into foul trouble, Ibby did a great job settling everything down."
The Quakers played a solid team game, with 10 players getting on the board. Midway through the second half, as Brown made a run and trimmed the lead to 48-35, Osmundson nailed a three-pointer, and Penn never looked back.
With the victory over Brown, the Quakers now sit atop the Ivy League at 2-0.
"Obviously we want to win as many games as we can," Dunphy said. "There's no conference tournament in our league, we need to win each and every time out."
