BOX SCORE
ANAHEIM, Ca.In his first collegiate game in his home state, Tyler Bernardini did everything he could to help spur Penn to an upset win over UCLA.
It just wasnt enough.
Despite a career-high 29 points from Bernardinione of Penns three southern California nativesthe Quakers dropped a 77-73 decision to the host Bruins on Saturday at the Honda Center.
Afterwards, Penn head coach Jerome Allen downplayed talk of Bernardinis California homecoming and instead lamented a missed opportunity against a struggling UCLA squad.
You call it a homecoming and I call it a road game for us, Allen said. We tried not to necessarily get involved in emotional side of it because we all have responsibility to prepare our guys not only to win but to appreciate every game we have on the floor.
Ultimately, he scored 29 points. But we lost the basketball game.
Maybe so, but without Bernardinis huge night, the result would have been even less palatable for the Quakers (5-6).
Simply put, the Quakers fifth-year senior was on fire, shooting 10 for 15 from the field and 8 for 12 from three-point range. The eight treys were the most for a Quaker since Tim Begley had eight in 2004.
Ive put in a lot of work, Bernardini said. My teammates were able to find me a lot of times, and I just did the easy part, which is just believe those shots are going to go in and keep taking them.
Bernardinis eighth and final three may have been his biggest. After falling behind by 12 points with 5:50 left in the game, the Quakers reeled off a 12-3 run over the next three minutes, capped by a trey from Bernardini.
But with Penn down five in the final minute, Penns sharpshooting senior had a rare miss from distance, and the Bruins were able to hold off the Quakers charge from there.
When you give him an inch, hell make it, UCLA senior guard Lazeric Jones said. When you know someone is hot like that, youve got to find him. We need to make sure that in games to come, that doesnt happen.
Jones led UCLA (3-5) with 21 points but it was the Bruins big men trio of Travis Wear (12 points), David Wear (11 points) and 300-pound manchild Joshua Smith (12 points) that made the biggest difference against the smaller Quakers.
A rare off-shooting night from Penn senior standout Zack Rosen didnt help, either.
Rosen came into Saturdays game ranked fourth in the nation in three-point field goal percentage but missed all seven of his attempts from long-range vs. the Bruins, finishing with a season-low eight points.
Hes been carrying us. Hes our leader. We really on him so much, Penn sophomore guard Miles Cartwright said. Im not going to say he was due for a bad shooting night, but weve got to prepare every night as if hes not going to knock them down. I thought Tyler did a great job picking him up as much as he could. I wish I was there a lot earlier.
Cartwright, another one of Penns California natives, indeed struggled for much of Saturdays game, finishing with eight points on 3 for 10 shooting and 1 for 6 shooting from behind the arc. But to his credit, the sophomore did score six of those points in the final five-and-a-half minutes.
As a team, Penn attempted 31 three-pointers, in large part because UCLA played zone for much of the night. But besides from Bernardini and Rob Belcorewho made all three of his long-balls and finished with 13 pointsthe Quakers connected on just one of 16 attempts from behind the arc.
The Quakers also werent at their best defensively as the Bruinswho just lost top player Reeves Nelson to suspension but still boast a talented roster that includes three former McDonalds All-Americansshot 50 percent from the field and outrebounded Penn by a 38-31 margin.
Even still, the Quakers hung right with one of the most storied programs in the country, on the road, throughout the evening.
I thought we were going to win the whole way, Cartwright said. As bad as we were playing early defensively, I thought we kept it close enough were we were gonna pull it out. If a couple of balls go our way late, we pull out a win on the road.
Its a tough loss but well try to get better from this.
Email Dave Zeitlin at djzeitlin@gmail.com.