M. Hoops | Penn avenges 32-point loss with win at Brown

PROVIDENCE, R.I., Feb. 13- Maybe just for a week, Penn men's basketball coach Glen Miller wished he had never left Providence, R.I., for the big, bad streets of West Philadelphia.

"Penn's not an easy place to coach if you're losing," Miller said. "I think that's an understatement."

Miller, who left Brown to take the job at Penn before the 2006-07 season, led his team into the Bears' Pizzitola Center Friday night with more than one monkey on his back.

The Quakers were coming off an Ivy home sweep for the first time in 41 years. On top of that, they were fighting the nightmare of the last time they traveled to Providence, when they were on the losing end of a 75-43 whupping - the worst Ivy loss in program history.

Thankfully for Miller, Penn made the statement this time, demolishing the Bears, 73-52.

It was obvious from their defensive energy at the get-go that the Quakers (7-13, 3-3 Ivy) were playing with extra incentive.

"Nobody was happy," sophomore forward Jack Eggleston said of his team's attitude after last weekend's losses.

"We know we didn't give our best effort . and that was really motivation for this weekend on top of the [32-point] blowout last year here and getting swept at home for the first time in 41 years. Everyone kind of came together and said, 'look, this can't happen again.'"

The Quakers held the Bears (7-15, 1-7) to a sparse 34 percent shooting Friday. But that number doesn't tell the whole story.

Aside from Brown sophomore guard Adrian Williams' team-high 15 points on 4-for-6 shooting - 3-for-4 from three-point land - the Bears couldn't muster much offense.

Center Matt Mullery, who Miller called "the best low post scorer in our league and a heck of a player," was limited to just 12 points on 4-for-10 shooting.

"That's the first time all year anyone said 'that's a testament to [our] defense.' I don't know if you've been drinking ." Miller said when complimented on Penn's defensive output.

"Yeah, we did play good defense tonight. I thought we were helped out a little bit in the first half. Mullery missed a few shots that he usually makes."

And for the first time in a while, sophomore Tyler Bernardini looked like his old self. He seemed to get his groove back with two threes on back-to-back possessions just three minutes into the game.

"He's been shooting at a low percentage this year," Miller said. "For him to be able to step up and knock a few down really helped us."

Bernardini scored 13 of his 16 points in the first half when the Quakers needed it most. The Bears led twice in the half, but Penn took a 10-point lead into halftime before breaking the game open in the second frame.

Sophomore guard Harrison Gaines continued to establish himself as a major offensive threat. His 20-point performance against Cornell, according to Miller, earned him the start over freshman forward Rob Belcore - who had started the previous 11 games.

And Gaines made his coach look smart, scoring 12 points - 10 of which came in the first half. His ability to drive the ball in the paint gave the Quakers better looks outside, allowing Bernardini and company to shoot 53.3 percent from behind the arc, a drastic improvement from their 19 percent three-point shooting last Saturday against Cornell.

"His vision is not as good as Zack Rosen's," Miller said of Gaines, "but his ability to score is greater."

Cam Lewis, who got the start at center for Penn provided the cherry on top with three dunks.

Perhaps the performances were inspired. Or maybe the Quakers were just angry.

"We got beat twice at home - we haven't had that done in [41] years, so that kind of lit a fire under our butts," Bernardini said. "We realized we gotta get this going. Teams have won the league at 11-3, so we feel like if we can win out then there's a chance that we can maybe force a tiebreaker or something."

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