PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team led by as much as 13 in the second half, allowed Drexel to get as close as two, but made the plays down the stretch to hold off the Dragons, 75-67. The win in the "Battle of 33rd Street" helped the Quakers improve to 5-5 overall, while Drexel fell to 6-7.

*Two freshmen made their first collegiate starts today, Ryan Betley and Devon Goodman. Betley -- who had been injured to this point -- finished with eight points and a team-high seven rebounds in 26 minutes.

*Another freshman, AJ Brodeur, scored 19 points to lead the Quakers and added six boards.

*Junior Darnell Foreman came off the bench and matched his season high with 12 points; he also had four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

*Senior Matt Howard was saddled with foul trouble early, but came back to finish with 10 points.

Drexel held just one lead in the game, at 2-0 after Austin Williams dunked a Kurk Lee pass. Penn responded with the next seven points -- layups by AJ Brodeur and Matt Howard, and a three-pointer from Matt MacDonald -- and never trailed again after that. A pair of Caleb Wood treys put the Quakers up, 22-14, and Betley's first collegiate basket was a three-pointer that made the score 27-18. 

Drexel was able to get back into the game, however, and got as close as two points before Penn took a 37-33 lead into the locker room at the break.

Drexel got as close as a point twice in the early stages of the second half, at 42-41 and again at 44-43, before Penn went on a 16-4 run over a span of five minutes to take a 60-47 lead with just under 10 minutes to play. Max Rothschild punctuated the run with a pair of buckets.

The lead hovered near double digits for a few minutes, before Drexel went on a 9-0 run to get within 64-62 with just over five minutes remaining. However, in what might have been the most critical play of the game, Rodney Williams stole a Penn pass and drove the floor for a potential game-tying layup. He was harassed on the shot and missed, however, and Howard grabbed the board, went the length of the floor, and scored in traffic to make it 66-62. 

Penn's lead was still only 69-67 with less than two minutes left, and Drexel had the ball and a chance to tie or take the lead as the game went inside a minute. However, Miles Overton (19 points) missed a trey. At the other end,Jake Silpe's shot was blocked by Rodney Williams, but the ball went out of bounds to Penn. Brodeur converted a layup to give the Quakers a four-point cushion, and then Williams was stripped and MacDonald was fouled to start a final free-throw parade.

Penn hosts Fairfield on Friday at 4 p.m.