Although Penn lost Saturday’s college basketball game on the road at Brown, the Quakers were presented with an extremely rare opportunity for an eight-point play. They could only convert on seven.
The sequence stemmed from a vicious bodycheck on a rebound at the foul line, the second of the game.
Penn, down by eight points with approximately 12 minutes remaining, knocked down a triple to cut the deficit to five. Senior forward Nick Spinoso tried to get in position for a rebound in case the shot did not go in. He got absolutely crushed by Bears forward N’famara Dabo just inside the paint.
The 6-foot-8, 225-pound sophomore was called for a Flagrant 1 foul. Spinoso went to the charity stripe for two shots and made one of two. His team also got the ball right back because of the foul.
The Quakers made yet another three-point on the next offensive possession, which capped the unusual college basketball play and tightened the gap to just one point. Brown led 56-55 after the seven-point sequence swung momentum in favor of the visitors.
If that was not weird enough, Bears head coach Mike Martin got T’d up on the very next possession. His team extended its lead back to three with a layup but he was not happy with a lack of foul call and picked up a technical for his behavior.
Brown ultimately went on to pull away and won by 10 but it got dicey there for a moment after the seven-point play! Its big man was playing possessed.
Although Dabo was properly penalized for his reckless behavior, it was a recurring theme throughout the game. He also destroyed a Penn player while jostling for a rebound during the first half.
Fortunately, Dabo’s ferocity didn’t impact the outcome. It did result in a college basketball rarity!