PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Zach Gordon heaved an airball, Dan Monckton tipped it in and the buzzer sounded — but not necessarily in that order.
Despite controversy surrounding referee Kevin Quirk’s decision to count the bucket, the Quakers left the Pizzitola Sports Center Saturday night with a thrilling 55-54 victory over Brown.
The Quakers (2-14, 1-1 Ivy) appeared on the verge of being swept to start the Ivy season. The team led for just 38 seconds — an early 4-2 advantage — until the score went final.
Trailing by as many as 13 in the first half and nine in the second, Penn cut the deficit to one on a pair of free throws by sophomore point guard Zack Rosen with 4:41 remaining.
The Bears (7-14, 1-3) extended their lead back to five with 45 seconds left. Forward Tucker Halpern tossed a Hail Mary to guard Adrian Williams, who was wide open behind the defense for an easy layup.
Rosen responded right away, taking the ball straight to the hoop for a hard-nosed layup to make it a one-possession game, until Halpern came right back and hit two free throws to take a 54-49 lead with 33 seconds left.
That’s when things went awry for Brown. Rosen stayed aggressive on the next possession, pump faking from the corner and passing his defender for another tough layup.
“I was just trying to go to the rim, get twos and get us into our press,” Rosen said.
The tactic proved effective, as Penn forced a turnover by trapping Halpern and the Quakers had a chance to tie the game with 16 seconds left. Rosen was fouled to prevent a game-tying three-point attempt but missed the front-end of a crucial 1-and-1.
Then Brown forward Peter Sullivan strategically missed his own 1-and-1 to force Penn to spend precious seconds on a rebound, but Rosen sunk two free throws — his sixth straight points in the final minute — to set up the final play.
After a missed free throw by Halpern with 5.3 seconds left, sophomore Rob Belcore pulled down the rebound and threw the outlet to Rosen, who looked ahead to Gordon for an open look from two steps behind the arc.
The shot fell short, leaving Monckton to catch the ball mid-air and redirect the game-winning bucket.
The arena fell silent, waiting for Quirk to make his call. The referee hesitated for a moment before signaling the Penn win.
“Once I saw the ref I was pretty excited,” Monckton said. “I know we’ve been struggling a little bit, and we needed this win. I was just full of joy.”
Brown coach Jesse Agel, who was not available for comment, rushed in a fury to confront Quirk after the play. The game was not televised, and there was no TV replay available.
“It’s all part of the game. Sometimes it goes in your favor, sometimes it doesn’t,” Penn interim coach Jerome Allen said. “Every possession matters. You don’t want to have to let it come down to the last possession to decide who’s going to win.”
Both Monckton and Rosen believed the final shot was released before time expired.
“I couldn’t see the red buzzer,” Monckton said, “so I thought it counted. … I was just going with what the refs said, because I couldn’t see it.”
Rosen was a bit more confident about the result.
“It was good — definitely good,” the co-captain said. “It’s a monkey off our back. …It gives us the confidence that we can win, no matter how ugly it was.”
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