ESTERO, Fla. -- The Northern Illinois University men's basketball team found itself in a 25-6 hole early and was never able to recover as the Huskies fell to the University of Pennsylvania, 93-80, on Monday evening in the opening round of the Gulf Coast Showcase at Germain Arena. 

Sophomore Eugene German (Gary, Ind./21st Century Charter) scored a team-high 17 points, juniors Dante Thorpe (Washington, D.C./Triton College) and Levi Bradley (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) each added 14 while junior Anastasios Demogerontas (Orland Park, Ill./Moraine Valley CC) chipped in 13 points. 

Penn (3-2) shot 56.5 percent (35-of-62) from the field in the contest, including 54.2 percent (13-of-24) from behind the three-point line. The Quakers also outrebounded the Huskies, 40-32. 

"It was unfortunate that we got off to a very, very slow start," said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. "We just didn't have any patience offensively, (Penn) got the ball in the paint, we got the ball at 12 to 15-feet, you can't do that. We didn't defend and we didn't rebound (in the first half), it was very disappointing."

Penn jumped out to a 17-3 lead early in the contest as the Quakers made eight of their first 11 shots.  Freshman Gairges Daow (Melbourne, Australia/Victory Rock Academy) slowed the Quaker momentum with a triple from the corner but Penn answered with the next eight as the Quakers took a 25-6 lead with 13:41 to play in the half. 

NIU (2-1) scored six of the next eight, capped by an old-fashioned three-point play from Bradley with 12 minutes to play in the half, trimming the Penn lead to 27-12. 

The Quakers lead grew to as much as 22 with three minutes to play before the intermission but the Huskies finished the half with an 8-3 burst as Penn took a 49-32 lead into the half. 

A.J. Brodeur led all scorers with 16 points in the opening half, Caleb Wood added 13 for the Quakers who shot 54.5 percent (18-of-33) in the half. German led NIU with eight points, Bradley added seven. 

NIU and Penn traded the first 14 point of the second half, but a six-point burst from the Huskies, the last four of which came from Thorpe, trimmed the Penn lead to 58-45 and forced a Quaker timeout with 15:42 to play. 

A bucket by junior Lacey James (Grand Rapids, Mich./Rider) and an old-fashioned three-point play from German brought the Huskies within 11, 70-59, but Penn answered right back with a triple from Antonio Woods as the Quaker lead grew back to 14 with 8:31 left. 

Brodeur led all scorers with 25 points for Penn, Max Rothschild added 22 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Caleb Wood chipped in 16 points and Antonio Woods had 14, including 4-of-5 from three-point range. 

NIU will return to action on Tuesday, Nov. 21, in the consolation round of the Gulf Coast Showcase. The Huskies will face Florida Atlantic, who fell to Towson on Monday, 76-52, game time is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. CT.