PHILADELPHIA – Sophomore Ryan Betley scored 19 first-half points, junior Max Rothschild scored all of his 10 points after the break, and three other players scored in double figures as the University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team held off Princeton, 76-70, Saturday afternoon at The Palestra.

The win snapped the Quakers' eight-game losing streak to the Tigers as they improved to 10-5 overall. Princeton fell to 7-8. The game was the Ivy League opener for both teams.

AJ Brodeur had 12 points and eight rebounds, with 10 of his points coming after halftime as Princeton dedicated itself to containing Betley. In his first Ivy League game since the 2014-15 season, Antonio Woods scored 13 points and grabbed four boards, while Darnell Foreman finished the game with 11 points. In addition to his scoring, Rothschild had six rebounds and tied a season/career high with five assists.
 
Notes
*Penn won its Ivy League opener for the first time since the 2013-14 season.
 
*This marked the fourth time this season Penn put five players into double figures in the same game—also La Salle, UMKC and Delaware State—but just the second time all five starters did it (also La Salle).
 
*Penn improved to 9-1 this season when leading at the half; the Quakers are 26-4 in such games in the Steve Donahue coaching era.
 
*Penn is 5-0 in its white uniforms so far this season; the Quakers have lost twice at home, but both came when the team wore their grey uniforms.
 
*Penn is 4-1 this season in games decided by six points or fewer.
 
*Penn shot better than 50 percent from the field for the third time in four games and the fifth time this season, going 28-of-54 (.519).
 
*Penn had just nine turnovers, the third-straight game the Quakers have finished in single digits in that category (and sixth time this season).
 
*Penn has outrebounded its opponent, or matched them, 11 times in the last 13 games after outboarding Princeton 32-28 on Saturday.
 
*Betley's 21-point performance marked his second-straight game over 20 points and his fifth such game this season. He has a team-high 12 double-figure scoring contests so far in 2017-18, and in Penn's other three games he went for nine points (once) and eight points (twice).
 
*Betley was a perfect 3-3 on three-point shots on Saturday. He has hit three or more treys in six of Penn's last eight games after doing it just twice in the first seven.
 
*In his first Ivy League game since the 2014-15 season, Woods reached double figures in the scoring column for the third time in four games.
 
*Rothschild has gone for double digits in scoring in each of the last three games and seven times overall this season.
 
*Brodeur had his first double-digit scoring game in four outings, but his eighth such game this season. His eight rebounds were a high since he had 10 at Howard on December 4.
 
*Foreman had his third double-digit scoring game in the last four, and his ninth this season.
 
How It Happened
Princeton scored the first five points of the game, but Penn got back to 11-11 and then went on a 10-0 run that was powered by five points from Betley and punctuated by a three-pointer from Devon Goodman. Thanks mostly to the hot hand of Betley (19 first-half points), the Quakers were still up nine at the break, 36-27.
 
Princeton quickly got within five to start the second half, but Penn pushed it back up with 11 with a Foreman layup four minutes into the period. The lead was still double digits three minutes later when the Quakers stagnated on offense and Princeton took advantage with a 7-0 run to get within 54-51 exactly midway through the half. Betley ended a scoring drought of 4:07 with an acrobatic layup, and then Woods answered a Cannady bucket with an and-1 play. That was followed by an and-1 three-point play from Brodeur, pushing the Red and Blue's lead back up to nine.
 
Princeton kept hanging around, however, and it was a one-possession game with two minutes left after Amir Bell hit a foul shot to make the score 68-65. Woods then took a nice feed from Rothschild in the lane and scooped home a lefty layup to make it 70-65, before the Tigers' Sebastian Much got a hoop-and-harm layup and foul shot to make the score 70-68 with 1:37 still to play.
 
Penn got an open look for Foreman in front of the Penn bench. The shot missed, but the long rebound was corralled by Rothschild and Foreman was fouled with exactly a minute to go. He hit both foul shots to make it 72-68, but Cannady drove for a layup to again make it a two-point affair. On Penn's possession, Brodeur was able to hit a baby hook on the block, and Princeton was unable to counter in the game's final seconds.
 
Up Next
Penn returns to Ivy League action next weekend, hosting Cornell on Friday and Columbia on Saturday. Both games will be the back end of a doubleheader, following the Penn women.