PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team was in control for much of Tuesday night's game with the University of Miami, allowed the Hurricanes to draw within four points late in the second half, but responded with 12 of the game's final 14 points to pull out an 89-75 victory on Macquarie Court at The Palestra.
 
With the win, Penn improved to 7-2 overall which is the best start since the 1994-95 team was 8-1 through nine games. Miami fell to 5-4 with the loss.
 
Notes
*The win was Penn's first over Miami since December 28, 1953. The Hurricanes, who lead the overall series 6-4, had beaten the Quakers four times since then.

*The win was Penn's first over an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) program since November 19, 2001 (79-74 over Georgia Tech). The Quakers had lost 13 straight to ACC opponents since then.
 
*The win was Penn's first over a "Power 5" program (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC) since a 99-61 at the Pac-12's Southern Cal on January 11, 2003.
 
*As a team, Penn set season highs in field-goal percentage (.596) and three-point FG percentage (.565), and the Quakers scored 50 first-half points which were a high this season against a Division 1 opponent.
 
*Penn committed just nine turnovers, tying a season low for this season.
 
*Penn dished out 23 assists on its 34 baskets on Tuesday night.
 
*Penn's 2.56 assist/turnover ratio on Tuesday night  (23/9) gives the Quakers a 2.20 ratio over the last three games (66 assists/30 turnovers).
 
*Penn had 13 three-point baskets, 11 of them coming in the first half. The Quakers now have 41 treys in the last three games (15 vs. Stockton, 13 at Delaware State, 13 vs. Miami).
 
*Penn improved to 5-0 this season and 41-6 under head coach Steve Donahue when leading at halftime.
 
*Freshman Michael Wang scored 23 points, a season/career high; he became the third player to reach 20 points this season, and the eighth different player on the roster to have a 20-point game during his Penn career.
 
*Wang went 5-of-6 on three-point shots, matching the best percentage by a Penn player in the Donahue coaching era set originally last year by Sam Jones at Dayton.
 
*Wang's five treys were a season/career high and tied for most by a Penn player this season; Devon Goodman hit five treys against Northern Iowa on November 16.
 
*Junior AJ Brodeur scored 18 points, his third-straight double-figure scoring game, and also stuffed the stat sheet with game highs in rebounds (8) and assists (6) as well as two steals.
 
*Brodeur's assist total was a season high and one shy of his career best.
 
*Junior Devon Goodman scored 16 points, giving him double figures in the scoring column in seven of the last eight games; he had eight points at Delaware State last Tuesday.
 
*Goodman and senior Antonio Woods both had four assists, matching their season highs in that category.
 
*Senior Jake Silpe scored 10 points, his second double-digit game this year, grabbed a season-high six rebounds, and was one assist shy of his season best with five.
 
How It Happened
Penn was down 4-0 early but scored the next nine points to go ahead 9-4. It was the start of an incredible first half that saw the Quakers score 50 points, drain 11 three-point baskets (on 18 attempts), and dish out 15 assists on 19 baskets while committing just four turnovers. The result was a 50-36 lead at the break.
 
That double-digit margin held up through much of the second half and ballooned as high as 19 on a pair of occasions, the second coming on a Wang floater in the paint to make the score 73-54 with 9:50 to play.
 
Down 77-60 with just over six minutes left, Miami made a charge. Chris Lykes (16 points) scored eight straight points for the Canes, the last of those coming with 4:45 left and getting the margin down to nine points, the first time it had been in single digits since 3:15 was left in the first half. An Anthony Lawrence free throw made it 77-69, and then Zach Johnson (team-high 17 points) scored four points over consecutive possessions and Penn's lead was just four, at 77-73, with 3:23 to play.
 
Penn, which hadn't scored since the 8:01 mark, broke that skid in spectacular fashion. A nice offensive possession ended with Max Rothschild feeding Goodman underneath, and the junior laid it up and in while being fouled. He hit the free throw to make the score 80-73, and then after an empty Miami possession Goodman again came up big with a lollipop floater in the lane that fell near the end of the shot clock and pushed the lead back to nine.
 
Back to chasing the game, Miami came up empty time and again the rest of the way while Penn converted its free throws to put the Hurricanes away for good.
 
Up Next
Penn is at La Salle Saturday at 4 p.m., the first of two consecutive Big 5 games as the Quakers host Villanova next Tuesday at 7 p.m.