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Bernardini's hot shooting carries Penn past Marist

Penn took a 12-day break for exams, but it didn't look like the layoff had any effect on Tyler Bernardini.

Penn took a 12-day break for exams, but it didn't look like the layoff had any effect on Tyler Bernardini.

The 6-foot-6 senior guard followed up his career-best, 29-point outing against UCLA in Penn's last game, on Dec. 10, by setting a new career high with 30 points Friday night to lead the Quakers to an 84-71 victory over Marist at the Palestra.

Zack Rosen added 13 points and 12 assists for the Quakers (6-6), who placed five players in double figures.

Bernardini shot 10 for 16 (62.5 percent) from the field and 8 for 11 (72.7 percent) from the three-point line to help Penn win for just the third time in eight games.

Combining the last two games, the sharpshooting Bernardini is 20 for 31 (64.5 percent) from the field and 16 for 23 (70.0 percent) from three-point range.

"When you play with a point guard like Zack, he makes the game so easy," Bernardini said. "The first few games of the season, I really wasn't doing my job. He was having to carry us. Now I feel like I'm giving him the help he needs."

Bernardini's two free throws capped a 10-0 Penn run to start the second half that gave the Quakers a 48-36 lead with 16 minutes, 26 seconds left. Marist, which is coached by former Drexel assistant Chuck Martin, never got within double-digits after that.

The Quakers set season highs for points, field goals (29), and field-goal percentage (54.7 percent) and tied their three-point percentage mark by going 11 for 22 from long range in their best offensive performance of the season.

"I just remember two possessions where we made the extra pass and we didn't score," Penn coach Jerome Allen said. "It's a sign of guys playing for one another and not really caring who gets the shot. If we continue to have that attitude, we have a number of guys who can score points for us."

Bernardini, of course, is one of them. Allen prefers to focus on aspects other than offense, but he admitted the Quakers are better with Bernardini's recent play.

"He's really stroking the ball," Allen said. "When he's shooting the ball like that, obviously we're a much better team offensively. . . . We all know he can really shoot the ball. It's the other things I try to focus on with him because I know he's going to make shots."

Bernardini credited his teammates for his recent spurt.

"I'm feeling comfortable, confident, whatever you want to call it," he said. "I'm really just doing the easy part out there. The screens that are being set . . . they're all setting really good screens. It's just easy playing with them right now."

Both teams were good in the opening 20 minutes. They combined to shoot 23 for 48 (47.9 percent) from the field and 13 for 27 (48.1 percent) from three-point range in a well-played first half that ended with Penn ahead by 38-36.

"At halftime we talked about getting stops," Allen said. "I didn't think scoring the ball was an issue for us in the first half, but we gave up 36 points. We can't expect to win too many ball games by giving up that many points. We said let's get stops, and the offense will take care of itself."