NEW YORK, N.Y. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team used an 18-0 run to erase a late deficit and defeat Columbia University Friday night at the Lions' Levien Gym.
 
With the win, Penn remained tied with Harvard atop the Ivy League standings as both the Quakers and Crimson are 8-1. The Red and Blue improved to 18-7 overall. Columbia fell to 7-15 overall, 3-6 in Ivy play.
 
Notes
*Penn snapped a five-game losing streak at Levien Gym; the Quakers had lost seven of their last eight games here.
 
*Penn tied a team season high with 11 steals; the Quakers also did it against Cornell (Jan. 12) and La Salle (Nov. 13).
 
*Penn finished with just nine turnovers, the eighth time the Quakers have had a single digit in that column but the first time since Cornell on January 12.
 
*On the other hand, Penn had 19 assists on its 26 baskets, a 73.1 ratio.
 
*For the fourth time this season, and the first time since Delaware State on December 27, Penn's bench players combined for more points than the starters (starters 34, bench 40).
 
*Penn improved to 10-0 when making more foul shots than its opponent (Penn 13, Columbia 12), and 12-0 when taking more foul shots than its opponent (Penn 21, Columbia 13).
 
*Penn is now 10-2 in its blue uniforms this year and 16-1 when shooting a better field-goal percentage (Penn 43.3, Columbia 41.8).
 
*Columbia set an opponent high for the season at the foul line, going 12-of-13 (.923).
 
*The revelation on Friday night was sophomore Devon Goodman. He had played just two minutes in Penn's last six games—at Princeton on February 6—and entered the contest with 35 points on the season. He scored 23, surpassing his season high by 13 and his career best by nine.
 
*Goodman had 18 points at halftime. In that period he went 6-of-8 from the field including a perfect 4-of-4 on three-point shots. The rest of the team went 5-of-24 on field goals including 1-of-12 on treys.
 
*Goodman's five treys were a career high, and he also set season bests in rebounds (5) and assists (5).
 
*Senior Caleb Wood added 16 points off the bench, knocking down three treys. It was Wood's tenth game in double digits, and sixth in the last eight contests.
 
*Sophomore AJ Brodeur was the other Penn player to score in double figures, as he had 14 points on a 7-of-10 shooting performance. Ten of his points came in a 14-minute span of the second half.

*Junior Jake Silpe played a season-high 19 minutes and set a new season best with four assists (without a turnover).
 
*Another spark from the bench came from senior captain Matt MacDonald. In his 10 minutes of action he set season highs in rebounds (5) and steals (3).
 
*Penn won despite its leading scorer, Ryan Betley, scoring just two points—the last two the Quakers scored in the game, coincidentally. That was a season low for Betley, and it snapped his 11-game streak of double-figure scoring games.
 
How It Happened
Penn was led by an unfamiliar face in the first half. Devon Goodman, who had played a grand total of two minutes in the Quakers' last six games, came on early and was the major offensive spark. He had 18 points by halftime—his previous career high for an entire game was 14—and it was only fitting that he scored the last five points of the period. Thanks to Goodman, the Quakers were able to whittle what had been as much as an 11-point Columbia lead (17-6) down to three by the break (34-31).
 
Penn scored the first four points of the second half to go up 35-34, but Columbia responded with seven of the next nine to go back in front by four. The Lions never extended that advantage beyond four points, but held it for several minutes before the Quakers' decisive run.
 
It was Goodman who started things, scoring all of his five points in the half on consecutive possessions that turned a 54-50 deficit into a 55-54 lead. After empty possessions on both sides, Caleb Wood drained a trey to make it 58-54, and then Antonio Woods hit a pair of foul shots after another defensive stop. AJ Brodeur scored the game's next six points, the first four on a pair of baby hooks and last two when he blocked a three-point attempt up top and took it the other way for an uncontested dunk. By that time it was 66-54. Darnell Foreman capped the run with a bucket to make it 68-54.
 
Columbia, which hadn't scored in 5:30 of game action, finally got on the board with a Kyle Castlin layup but it was pretty much done by then. The Lions resorted to fouling, and the Quakers hit enough of their free throws to make the game academic.
 
Up Next
Penn concludes this five-game Ivy League road trip on Saturday night at Cornell; the Quakers and Big Red--who made up a 22-point second-half deficit to defeat Princeton 107-101 in triple overtime--will tip off at 6:30 on the Ivy League Network.
 

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