City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Sam Brown has taken in no shortage of games at the Palestra over the last four years. The Lower Merion product made the easy trip down to West Philly regularly during his time in high school, the mutual interest between him and the Quakers’ staff growing rapidly, resulting in his commitment the spring of his junior year.

He began his freshman year at Penn about as familiar with his future college program as could be, ready to make an instant impact for the Quakers after standout for years with the Aces. A sprained ankle just before the season began delayed that, but only for a couple weeks. 

Brown finally made his regular-season debut on the Palestra court on Friday, and he made it count. The freshman guard put together his second straight strong game to begin his college career, contributing 12 points as Penn came from behind to beat Lafayette 74-72. 

The 6-foot-3 left-hander played 25 minutes, the most of any Penn reserve, shooting 4-of-6 overall (3-of-5 3PT, 1-2 FT) and contributing a rebound and assist without turning it over. His 3-pointers showed off the impressive depth he’d displayed during his years with Lower Merion, though against defenders with a little more length and athleticism than he typically saw in the Central League. 

“I think I’m put in really good spots to succeed and I try to let the game come to me as much as I can,” he said, “try to take advantage of opportunities you get.”

Doing it in a gym where he’d spent so much time watching from the stands, with as much history as any in the country, was something he’d been waiting years for.

“It felt unbelievable,” he said. “I have family and friends coming to watch me play and that’s always a good feeling, to have people come support you and watch you progress throughout the years.”

Friday’s outing was a nice follow-up on his season debut, when he scored 17 points at Maryland-Eastern Shore on Saturday, nearly helping Penn pull off a wild comeback in an overtime loss. That gives him 29 points in 53 minutes, going 7-of-11 from downtown, with only one turnover even while doing a fair bit of ball-handling and passing.

How did Brown think he’d been playing through his first couple games? 

He didn’t even get to answer — Clark Slajchert spoke up first.

“Pretty well,” the senior guard said with a smile. He continued: “Sam is definitely more than a shooter, he’s really good at handling the ball and he’s really smart out there, he always makes the right play. That brings a lot to us.”

Watching happily from the stands was LM coach Gregg Downer, who had yet to send a player to Penn in his three-plus decades coaching at the successful, affluent Main Line public school best known for producing Kobe Bryant. Downer noted that Brown gave him at least one player who’s gone on to each of the Big 5 schools, joining Ryan Brooks (Temple), Garrett Willliamson (St. Joe’s), Darryl Reynolds (Villanova) and B.J. Johnson (La Salle).

Brown (above) feeds the post in the first half of Friday's win. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“He was very steady tonight and made some big shots,” said Downer, who brought the whole Aces program to the game. “(He had) a very good game against Maryland-Eastern Shore and another good one tonight. He looked good, I’m very proud of him.”

Slajchert led the way for Penn with 18 points in the win, the 6-0 guard adding five assists in 37 minutes. Freshman Tyler Perkins added 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range on a high degree of difficulty. 

The game was part of the Cathedral Classic, a three-day, round-robin affair that also includes Monmouth and Belmont, who met in the first half of Friday’s doubleheader. Penn plays Belmont on Saturday and Monmouth on Sunday.

Trailing for most of the second half, Penn rallied late. A 7-0 run, capped by a Slajchert bucket, got the Quakers within two points with under five to play. They tied it on another Slajchert make with 2:14 left, the first tie in over 16 minutes. George Smith hit an enormous 3-pointer, putting Penn up 71-69 with 30 seconds left after Slajchert rescued a ball in the backcourt. 

Senior forward Nick Spinoso had two huge blocks down the stretch. His first denied a Lafayette drive with an emphatic swat to preserve the tie with a minute to play. His second, with under 30 seconds left, preserved a two-point lead. Cam Thrower hit a pair of foul shots to make it a four-point gap; Lafayette answered with a 3-pointer, and Brown added one final foul shot with 2.8 seconds left. 

A three-quarter-court heave by Lafayette at the buzzer was well off.

“I feel great that we pulled it out, I really do,” Penn coach Steve Donahue said. “I thought Lafayette played terrific and the big kid was amazing. I give our guys credit, we figured out a way, not a game we typically win when we’re just struggling and not going well on offense, we figured out a way to get stops down the stretch and made buckets when we needed them.”

The Quakers struggled inside the arc all afternoon against a Leopards program with a lot of length, led by 7-footer Justin Vander Baan in the middle. The Lafayette senior center, with at least a three-inch advantage on whoever Penn put on him, went for a career-high 28 points (plus seven rebounds) on 13-of-22 shooting with six rebounds. He also impacted the game defensively, as Penn went just 12-of-32 (37.5%) on two-point attempts, Vander Baan a presence around the rim; a 10-for-23 day from deep kept them in it.

That sharpshooting performance put a damper on the day of Lafayette first-year head coach Mike McGarvey, a Philadelphia native and Penn Charter alum who like Donahue starred at Ursinus College before getting into coaching. 

“It was really cool to get lost in the game, and to coach against Steve,” McGarvey said. “Two Ursinus guys in the Palestra. I’ve played in it, but I’ve never played in a formal game, so for me it was pretty neat to be on the sidelines and be with a team and compete in the Palestra.”

McGarvey’s Leopards include a good helping of Philadelphia talent: Mark Butler (Penn Charter) is in the starting lineup, Josh Wyche (Cristo Rey) and Luke Rasmussen (Haverford School) come off the bench. 

Butler put together a strong floor game with two points, seven assists and no turnovers with two steals in 27 minutes; the 6-7 Rasmussen added four points and good defense in 23 minutes; Wyche played almost eight minutes off the bench, with three rebounds and two assists.

“The Philly kids that are on our team, to have a chance to come here and play at a high level was really cool,” McGarvey said. “Mark and Luke played really well, Josh gave good minutes.”