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Penn outlasts Panthers in Paradise Jam opener

ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands — There’s not much that bothers Penn’s men’s basketball team — and certainly not something like a missed flight.

The Quakers quickly shook off the team’s travel woes to beat Northern Iowa 78-71.

Devon Goodman scored a career-high 27 points and three other players finished in double figures as Penn (4-0) rallied in the second half to advance into Sunday’s semifinal games at the University of the Virgin Islands’ Sports and Fitness Center.

“It’s just not that big a deal, it’s overrated,” said Quakers coach Steve Donahue. “The only way it bothers you is if you let it.

“I’m glad everyone got here safely, but there’s a lot of other things that I need to worry about as a coach. We just came out excited to play basketball.”

Penn’s travel adventure began at 4 a.m. Thursday, when the team boarded a bus to Philadelphia International Airport for a 6 a.m. American Airlines flight to Miami.

However, only two members of the traveling party — Donahue and one of the team’s radio broadcast crew — made the flight after the rest of the team encountered problems at the ticket counter.

The Quakers’ starters and key reserves were rebooked onto American flights going through Miami and Charlotte, North Carolina, and on to St. Thomas. Those players arrived Thursday afternoon in time for a walkthrough practice.

The rest of the Penn’s traveling crew — walk-on reserves, managers, assistant coaches and other personnel — were booked on a JetBlue flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with connections (after long layovers) to San Juan and, finally, St. Thomas.

That group didn’t arrive on St. Thomas until 8 a.m. Friday — 28 hours after boarding that bus to the Philly airport.

“And we went straight to practice,” said guard Ray Jerome, one of the 16 in the final group. “I couldn’t feel my legs. We just stayed positive the whole time. We knew we were going to get there; the question was when.”

Down 41-34 with 18:49 left, Penn fought back to tie the score twice before pulling ahead for good at 58-56 on Bryce Washington’s 3-pointer with 8:56 remaining. The Quakers would go on to extend their lead to seven points three times in the final 2 minutes.

Washington and Antonio Woods finished with 12 points each, and AJ Brodeur had 11 points for Penn.

AJ Green scored 21 points, and Wyatt Lohaus and Luke McDonnell added 11 points each for the Panthers (1-2), who will face Eastern Kentucky in the consolation round Saturday.

Penn 78, Northern Iowa 71

At St. Thomas, Virgin Islands

N. IOWA (1-2) — McDonnell 5-9 1-1 11, Brown 2-3 5-5 9, Lohaus 5-10 1-1 11, Berhow 3-5 0-1 6, Green 8-16 3-4 21, Goldman 0-3 0-0 0, Phyfe 4-6 1-3 9, Haldeman 0-5 0-0 0, Pickford 1-2 2-2 4. TOTALS 28-59 13-17 71.

PENN (4-0) — Rothschild 1-3 0-0 2, Brodeur 5-10 1-3 11, Silpe 2-4 1-2 6, Woods 5-13 0-0 12, Goodman 10-15 2-3 27, Wang 2-4 4-7 8, Simmons 0-0 0-0 0, Scott 0-0 0-0 0, Hamilton 0-0 0-0 0, Donahue 0-2 0-0 0, Washington 4-4 0-0 12, Jerome 0-2 0-0 0. TOTALS 29-57 8-15 78.

Halftime–UNI 39-34. 3-Point Goals–UNI 2-16 (Green 2-8, Brown 0-1, Lohaus 0-1, Berhow 0-1, Haldeman 0-2, Goldman 0-3), Penn 12-28 (Goodman 5-8, Washington 4-4, Woods 2-7, Silpe 1-2, Rothschild 0-1, Brodeur 0-1, Jerome 0-1, Wang 0-2, Donahue 0-2). Fouled Out–Rothschild, Brown. Rebounds–UNI 37 (Berhow 10), Penn 18 (Woods, Goodman 4). Assists–UNI 6 (Brown, Green 2), Penn 13 (Brodeur, Woods, Goodman 3). Total Fouls–UNI 18, Penn 21. Technicals–Rothschild.

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