PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team continued its up-and-down early campaign with another big up on Saturday, as the Quakers went into the Dunkin' Donuts Center and knocked off Providence College, 81-75.
 
Senior Ryan Betley scored a season-high 22 points and added eight rebounds to lead the Quakers. Freshman Jordan Dingle exploded for 16 second-half points and finished the night with 19. AJ Brodeur recorded a double-double for the third straight game and the fourth time in five games this season, with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Notes
*Penn snapped a four-game Providence win streak in this series, and was the Quakers' first win over the Friars since January 25, 1975. Providence now leads this overall series, 6-4.

*Providence entered Saturday's game with a 64-4 record in the Dunkin' Donuts Center against non-conference opponents under ninth-year head coach Ed Cooley.

*Penn shot a season-high 52.6 percent (30-57) from the field and a season-best 50.0 percent (11-22) from three-point land.
 
*Penn hit 11 three-pointers for the second straight game; unlike Tuesday night at Lafayette, when the Quakers needed 33 attempts to get there, on Saturday they needed just 22 attempts.
 
*For the second straight game, Penn had more assists (17) than turnovers (14); the Quakers had that trend reversed in the first three contests.
 
*Betley's 22-point game was his 11th time reaching the 20-point mark at Penn but his first since he had 30 at Brown his sophomore year.
 
*Betley also set a season high with five three-pointers and tied his season bests in rebounds (8), assists (2) and steals (2).
 
*Dingle not only scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half; 14 of those 16 came in the game's final 9:14.
 
*Brodeur's double-figure scoring streak is now at 30 games after he had 17 on Saturday.
 
*The last Penn player to have double-doubles in three straight games? That would be Darien Nelson-Henry, who had three in a row from February 6-13, 2016.
 
*Brodeur moved ahead of Tony Price into 10th place on Penn's all-time rebounding list (739), and past Bruce Lefkowitz into 11th place on the all-time scoring list (1,455); he is just one point behind Tyler Bernardini to join the Top 10 in scoring.
 
*Senior Devon Goodman scored nine points, grabbed four rebounds, and set a season high with four assists.
 
*Freshman Lucas Monroe had six points—including his first collegiate three-pointer—three rebounds, two assists and a steal in 23 minutes.
 
How It Happened
Penn used an 8-0 run to turn a 9-8 lead into a 17-8 advantage as Brodeur made good on a layup and then Brodeur and Max Martz hit back-to-back three-pointers. Providence drew back within four points on two separate occasions, but Betley hit treys on consecutive possessions—he hit his first four attempts from beyond the arc on Saturday—which made it 30-20. As it turned out, that was the start of a 14-3 run that had the Quakers in front, 38-23. By halftime, the lead had swelled to 17 points (47-30).
 
Penn was efficient on offense in the first half, shooting 57.6 percent from the field, knocking down half of its 14 three-point attempts, and dishing off 13 assists on its 19 baskets.
 
The good times continued early in the period, and the Quakers' lead was still 51-33 when things started to speed up. Providence went on a 7-0 run, taking advantage of some Penn turnovers and crashing the offensive glass hard. That got the crowd into the game. While Penn continued to struggle offensively, Providence also had a hard time putting points on the board, so the Friars' 10-0 run took nearly four minutes before Betley ended the skid after a Devon Goodman steal and dish.
 
Offense continued to come slowly for both sides for several minutes after that, and Penn's lead was still a tenuous 58-52 with eight minutes to go. However, Dingle drained a three-pointer and then Betley followed up with his fifth trey of the night which pushed the Quakers back in front by 12.
 
That seemed to settle Penn down, and Dingle extended the lead to 13 on consecutive possessions with two more treys, making it 70-57 with less than five minutes to play. Providence would not get within single digits of the Quakers again until there was less than a minute to play, and the final score was the closest the Friars got in the second half.