Penn needed to get back in the win column in a big way. To do that, they turned to a surging star who started to look like the player he could be a couple of years ago, then their leader came up big late in their win at Brown. For good measure, they took the positive energy to New Haven and came away with a road sweep as they pulled off a last-second win at Yale a night later.
Penn entered the weekend with a four-game losing streak, with three of those losses coming in overtime. The Quakers had also not won on the road in nearly two months, dating back to a December 22 road win at Delaware. Two losses came by one and three points, and one of the overtime losses was by 11, meaning they were in it but didn’t play well in the extra session.
“It wasn’t just on the road, it was getting back on track in terms of the win column,” said senior Tyler Bernardini. “We had four losses, and they were tough ones, too, including overtime. It was nice to get a win, especially not going to overtime.”
In each of the last four games prior to this weekend, Penn was tied or trailed at halftime. On Friday night, they had a 28-21 lead over the Bears at the break, and made it grow to 14 by scoring the first seven of the second half. Although the Bears came right back with a 13-2 run, and later took the lead, they may have run out of gas while the short-handed Quakers had a late 15-3 run in them to pull out the win. Having the lead made a big difference this time around.
“Especially on weekends where you play back-to-back games, you can’t put yourself in a position where you have to exert a ton of energy to come back in the second half,” said junior forward Jack Eggleston. “That’s no way to be successful.”
Eggleston had a tough time scoring, going 1-8 from the field on the night, but he had eight rebounds to lead a 35-28 edge on the glass. The star on the night was Bernardini, who just a few years ago looked like a burgeoning star before being ravaged by injuries. Bernardini was a big reason they had the halftime lead, scoring 15 of his game-high 26 points on 6-9 shooting in the opening frame. He was 10-17 on the night and looked like the player he was a couple of years ago.
Bernardini suffered a season-ending injury last season in the Quakers’ second game of the season. This season, it looked like there was certainly some rust, as he scored just 59 points in the team’s first nine games. Since that time, he has steadily played better, and he was one off a career high on Friday night.
“I think that was just a matter of him putting a little too much pressure on himself and getting frustrated that things didn’t come back right away,” Eggleston said of the slow start. “Once he’s been able to relax and play his game, he’s been very effective for us.”
Besides Eggleston having to tough it out on a night the shots weren’t going, Mike Howlett needed to give them some minutes as well. Starting forward Conor Turley and reserve Cameron Gunter did not make the trip due to illness, so Howlett, a highly-touted prospect out of high school who has battled injuries in his career, played 21 minutes. He scored 10 points on 4-5 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds, setting season highs in points, rebounds and minutes.
“For him to be idle for such a long period of time and step right in and give us some rebounds, some points and a defensive presence, I was happy for him,” said head coach Jerome Allen. “I just think he’s been through so much and had a mindset to come out and give his team whatever they need, and it shows you the type of kid he is.”
When the chips were down late, though, the Quakers counted on their best player. Junior point guard Zack Rosen was relatively quiet in the first half as Bernardini had the hot hand. But in the last 10 minutes, there was no better player on the floor than Rosen, as he came up big at both ends of the floor with 11 points, three assists and a key steal, much of it coming in the decisive run. He finished with 19 points and six assists, and was 8-8 from the foul line.
“He’s our leader, and we count on him to make those plays and seal the game off,” said Bernardini. “No one in our locker room is surprised by anything he’ll do.”
In keeping with that theme, Rosen hit a pull-up jumper with 2.3 seconds left on Saturday night to win the game at Yale. That came on a night when he didn’t score much, but handed out seven assists as Bernardini had another good night and Howlett set new season highs in points (11) and minutes (28).
All in all, the Quakers needed a weekend like this. They needed a win, and got two, and both came on the road. Bernardini had two good games to continue to play well, Rosen played like a big-time player when it counted, Eggleston battled as he struggled to make shots all weekend (he had 10 rebounds on Saturday) and Howlett had his best games of the season. The math isn’t in the Quakers’ favor as far as winning the league this year, but they got just the weekend they needed at a good time.
