Penn basketball pounds UMBC, 71-59

Miles Cartwright waited until his final high school game before he recorded his first dunk. But just six games into his burgeoning college career, the 6-foot-3 freshman threw down a convincing jam for two of his game-high 19 points.

Boosted by another edition of the Miles Cartwright show — coming to a Palestra near you — the Quakers took down Maryland-Baltimore Country 71-59, Tuesday at home before a midweek crowd of 1,555.

Cartwright, the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Week, shot 7-for-9 from the floor, showing of his touch from behind the arc, drive in the lane and flat out hustle on defense.

And it all came together six minutes into the second half when Cartwright grabbed a quick steal at half court and took it uncontested to the hoop for the one-handed jam, showing the Penn crowd something new from the versatile freshman.

“It’s weird that I dunked it,” Cartwright said. “I just went up and I had the energy to do it, and it felt good.”

But good doesn’t begin to describe the contributions the rookie has made in his first six games, where he’s averaged almost 30 minutes per game.

“He has surpassed my expectations,” coach Jerome Allen said, “not so much in his ability to score the ball, but in his composure, in his understanding of when to go, when to defer, when to be part of the puzzle, when to be a team leader, when to cheer.”

And though he led the Quakers in scoring, Cartwright was just a part of the puzzle that stifled the Retrievers defense, forcing fouls and making shots.

Penn fell behind early in the first half, but with 10 minutes remaining, the Quakers took a precarious lead and held on for the remainder. They finished the half up 32-26.

The second stanza opened to two quick layups from senior co-captain Conor Turley, who finished with 11 points, and Penn never looked back.

As a whole, the Quakers shot 19-for-36 from the floor, with co-captains Jack Eggleston and Zack Rosen scoring 19 and 12, respectively.

Also puzzling statistically were guards Rob Belcore and Tyler Bernardini, who combined to go 1-for-7 in field goals. But with players like Cartwright picking up the slack offensively, Allen sees the two upperclassmen fitting right in on defense.

“What he contributes to this team may not show up in the stat sheet,” the coach said of Belcore. “It’s a team sport. You need some guys that can put the ball in the basket, and more importantly, you need guys that want to defend.”

In the man-to-man defense, Belcore held UMBC’s second leading scorer, Chris De La Rosa — who had averaged 15 points per game — to just nine points, six of which came from the charity stripe.

And, after spending much of last season searching for a rare win, the Quakers are now fighting to be a .500 team, a modest fight that they are so far winning.

Penn improved to 3-3, while UMBC dropped to 0-6 on the season.

The Quakers go on to play Army Saturday at the Meadowlands in the prelude to Duke vs. Butler, a rematch of last year’s NCAA title game. If Penn can win this weekend, they’ll be riding a two-game winning streak — and above .500 for the first time since the season opener — when they take on Big Five rival, No. 12 Villanova at home next Wednesday.

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