Brown University plays in Pennsylvania in their first Ivy League men’s basketball game

PHILADELPHIA – George Smith had a season-high 23 points to help Pennsylvania fend off Brown, 77-73, in their Ivy League opener on Sunday.

Smith shot 9 for 10 from the free throw line for Penn (4-10), hitting a pair of shots with 8 seconds remaining to make it a two-possession lead. Jordan Dingle added 20 points to the Quakers, who had a six-game slippage.

Michael Moshkovitz scored with 16 points and five assists.

Tamenang Choh tied a career-high 26 points and 13 rebounds for the Bears (8-8), who have lost four straight games. Kino Lilly Jr. added 14 points, while Nana Owusu-Anane scored 10. Paxson Wojcik had nine points, while Jaylan Gainey had eight, six rebounds and two blocks.

Brown trailed by 10 at halftime, but managed to reduce the deficit to two late in the game. The Bears used a 9-2 run, which fell from the 2:15 mark of the second half to just 12 seconds remaining, to reduce Penn’s lead to 75-73. Wojcik suffered a foul on his successful layup attempt and sank the free throw to bring Brown down to under two.

The Bears tried to trap the Quakers in their subsequent possession, but Smith was fouled and made both free throw attempts.

With 26 points, Choh’s career tally climbs to 1,111, overtaking Mark McAndrew ’08 for the 24th all-time in program history. He is just 22 points behind 23rd place, currently held by Russ Tyler ’71 with 1,133.

Brown will look for his first Ivy League victory of the season on Friday at 7 p.m. at Harvard.