Brown (42 points) Leads The Way as Men's Basketball Holds Off Columbia, 92-87
The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team saw history made by senior Nick Spinoso and a historic performance from sophomore Sam Brown in taking a 92-87 decision over Columbia Saturday night at the Lions' Levien Gym.
Spinoso became the 44th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career, knocking down a layup to start the second half which got him to the milestone. The senior finished the night stuffing the stat sheet with 16 points—putting him at 1,002 for his career—seven rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots, going an efficient 7-of-10 from the field.
Congratulations to @nick_spinoso, just the 44th player in program history to reach 1?0?0?0? career points! He's putting together a fantastic finish to his career.#Whanau | #FightOnPenn ?????? pic.twitter.com/7HRGbaEe7s
— Penn Men's Basketball (@PennMBB) March 2, 2025
Brown, meanwhile, had a performance for the ages. The sophomore scored 42 points on Saturday night, the fourth-most in a game in program history and most since Hassan Duncombe dropped 44 on Navy on December 8, 1989. Brown—who also had three boards and four assists—was 14-20 from the field overall, knocking down four of his six three-point shots, and was 10-11 down the stretch at the foul line on a night when the Quakers needed all of them.
— Penn Men's Basketball (@PennMBB) March 2, 2025Sam's 42-point night...
*Most by a Penn player since 12/8/1989 (Duncombe 44 at Navy)
*Fourth most in program history (Beck 47, Beck 45, Duncombe 44)
*Most by an Ivy player in a league game since 2019 (Bryce Aiken, Harvard, 44).
WHAT. A. NIGHT!#Whanau | #FightOnPenn ?????? pic.twitter.com/vewOJTeFd3
Penn improved to 8-18 overall and 4-9 in Ivy League play, while Columbia—which celebrated its Senior Night prior to the contest—fell to 12-14 overall and 1-12 in Ivy play.
*Penn's 92-point night was its second-highest this season, topped only by the 93 the Quakers scored in the first meeting with the Lions this season, and the 49-point first half also was a season high (previously 44 in the first meeting with Columbia).
*Penn shot 55.2 percent from the field (32-58) which is a season high.
*Penn knocked down 11 three-point baskets, shooting 44 percent from beyond the arc.
*Penn also shot 89.5 percent from the foul line (17-19), its second-best performance at the charity stripe this season (11-12, .917 at Penn State on December 29).
*Penn dished out 21 assists, a season high.
*Penn used its second different starting lineup of the weeke and its 15th different starting lineup of the season on Saturday night; only the University of San Diego has used more this season (16), with Wyoming also using 15.
*Brown finished this season with 72 points in two games against Columbia.
*Junior Ethan Roberts kept his streak of double-figure scoring games alive at 19, with 13 points, and added five rebounds, four assists and two steals. He knocked down a trio of treys on Saturday night.
*Junior Dylan Williams made his first start since December 7 and finished the game with nine points and four assists.
*Senior George Smith finished with seven points, five boards, two assists and two steals.
*Columbia got 21 points from Kenny Noland and a double-double from Blair Thompson (18 points, 12 rebounds). Geronimo Rubio de la Rosa was the Lions' other double-figure scorer, with 13 points.
After three straight games with slow starts, Penn came charging out of the gate on Saturday night. Spinoso sandwiched a pair of buckets around a Roberts three-pointer, and then Brown and Roberts took over as the Quakers blew out to a 20-4 lead before the game was six minutes old.
Columbia responded with 15 of the game's next 19 points, getting as close as five points at 24-19, and then a three-pointer by Gerard O'Keefe got the Lions as close as three, at 26-23. It was still 31-28 when Spinoso recorded a pair of three-point possessions—one the old-fashioned way, one from distance—to push Penn back out by nine. The margin hovered in that range the rest of the half, and when Williams used a backdoor cut to finish a gorgeous alley-oop pass from Smith to close out the period Penn's lead was 10, at 49-39.
— Penn Men's Basketball (@PennMBB) March 1, 2025
Spinoso's 1,000th point opened the second-half scoring for the Quakers. It came off a nice offensive set that ended with Brown whipping a pass into the post where a cutting Spinoso was wide open for the easy layin.
— Penn Men's Basketball (@PennMBB) March 2, 20252H (15:07) | Penn 57, Columbia 47
NICK HITS THE CENTURY MARK! He scores his 1,000 career point with 18:40 left in the second! Great feed leads to an easy layup! U16 media.#Whanau | #FightOnPenn ?????? pic.twitter.com/mBDPZrZz3k
Penn kept Columbia at bay much of the second half, allowing the Lions to get as close as six on several occasions but no closer. The Quakers' lead was 12 with a little less than five minutes left following a Williams trey, at 77-65, but they went cold after that and the hosts took advantage with a seven-point run that got them within five with 2:20 still to play.
It was shortly after that point that Columbia began fouling, and Penn had the moxie to make their shots in pressure situations. The Quakers made eight in a row, all four times pushing the margin to three possessions, Brown closing the run with two shots that made the score 85-78.
Columbia was playing up-tempo and scoring quickly, and the Lions did so again to make the score 85-80. Another foul sent Smith to the line for the Quakers, and he made one of two to get the margin to six with 48 seconds left.
Columbia again quickly scored, Thompson scoring on a third-chance tip, and then Rubio de la Rosa played defensive back and intercepted a long pass that looked like it would spring a wide-open Smith. Instead, the Lions' senior coolly drained a lengthy trey, and this was a one-point game at 86-85.
Penn kept its poise. More specifically, Brown kept his poise. The ball ended up in his hands three times in the final 30 seconds, and each time he was fouled. The sophomore hit all six of his foul shots. At the other end, Columbia had a chance to tie when Rubio de la Rosa went up for a trey with the score 90-87, but he was off the mark and Brown corralled the rebound. He was fouled and made both shots, getting the margin to two possessions and allowing Penn fans to finally breathe easy.
Penn closes out the 2024-25 season next Saturday at Princeton, tipping off with the Tigers at 2 p.m.
For the latest on Penn men's basketball, follow @PennMBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
| #FightOnPenn
