ANAHEIM, Calif. – On this Thanksgiving Day, the University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team was thankful that UCF guard Darin Green Jr. wore big enough shoes.
 
With Penn holding a three-point lead and just two seconds left, the Knights had the ball under their offensive basket after a Penn inbounds went out of bounds, was ruled to be Quakers ball, but then was overturned after a video review. The ball found its way to Green. Devon Goodman provided solid defense, but Green took a step in, went up, and drained a tough shot as the final buzzer sounded.
 
As the UCF bench erupted, the officials signaled the goal good but immediately ruled it a two-pointer. A video review confirmed the call, and only then could the Quakers breathe a sigh of relief. Final score: 68-67.
 
Up Next
Penn will play Arizona on Friday night at 8:30 p.m. (11:30 p.m. EST) on ESPN2. The Wildcats needed a last-second shot to defeat Pepperdine in Thursday's final game, 93-91.
 
Penn is guaranteed to play either Long Beach State or Wake Forest on Sunday, time for that game will not be determined until the completion of tomorrow's games.
 
Notes
*Penn won a game in which it committed 22 turnovers, gave up 22 offensive rebounds, allowed its opponent to take 27 more shots, and took barely half the foul shots that UCF took (UCF 21, Penn 11).
 
*How? Penn was efficient from the field (24-47, 51.5 percent) and was a season-best 9-of-11 from the foul line.
 
*Penn hit 11 three-pointers for the third game in a row, going 11-24 from the field; the Quakers are 22-46 from beyond the arc the last two games.
 
*Penn had 17 assists on 24 baskets against UCF (70.8 percent); the Quakers have had 17 assists in each of their last three games.
 
*Senior AJ Brodeur extended his streak of double-figure scoring games to 31, scoring a game-high 23 points on the night as he went 9-of-12 from the field.
 
*Brodeur knocked down three three-pointers, just the fourth time in his career he has done that. The last two times came his sophomore season (3 vs. Northern Illinois, 6 vs. Columbia), and he also hit three his freshman year at La Salle.
 
*Senior Ryan Betley had his first double-double of the season and the fourth of his career with 14 points and a season-high 10 rebounds.
 
*Betley—who missed all of last year due to a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee—is averaging 16.3 points and 8.0 rebounds per game over Penn's last four contests.
 
*Senior Devon Goodman scored 19 points on Thursday, giving him 64 over Penn's last four games (16.0 ppg).
 
*Goodman and freshman Jordan Dingle both set season highs with five assists.
 
*Freshman Lucas Monroe was another solid presence off the bench with four points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots in nearly 21 minutes.
 
How It Happened
The first half was choppy, as UCF shot just 14-of-42 from the field and Penn turned it over 13 times. The Knights held an 11-10 lead when the Quakers embarked on a 10-0 run that eventually swelled to 13-2, Jordan Dingle's three-pointer pushing the Red and Blue in front, 23-13. UCF scored five quick points, forcing a Penn timeout, before AJ Brodeur hit treys on consecutive possessions around a Knights basket to make the score 29-20. The teams traded baskets—Brodeur feeding Ryan Betley for an easy layup—before UCF ended the half with the final eight points. Penn's lead at the break was just 31-30.
 
UCF led early in the second half, 37-36, but Betley hit a three-pointer and then Devon Goodman took a nice feed from Brodeur for a layup to make it 41-37. The Knights responded with nine of the game's next 11 points, taking a 46-43 lead, but Lucas Monroe scored the game's next four points to push the Quakers in front, 47-46, with 8:40 left.
 
The game was tied by an Avery Diggs free throw for UCF, but Dingle fed Brodeur for a dunk and then Goodman hit a triple in transition. That forced Knights coach Johnny Dawkins to call timeout with 7:10 to play.
 
Penn had a parry for every UCF thrust after that. Dingle matched Collin Smith's free throws with a short jumper along the right baseline. Brodeur hit a pair of free throws to match a Dre Fuller, Jr. bucket. Goodman scored to match another Fuller basket. With just under three minutes left, Betley hit a trey that pushed the Quakers in front by six, 64-58.
 
It would be nearly two minutes before Penn scored again, but UCF could only make up three of the points before that so when Brodeur went up-and-under for a layin he made the score 66-61 with 1:25 left. Green quickly hit a three-pointer, though, and then a Penn turnover—the Quakers' 22nd of the night—gave UCF a chance to tie or take the lead. Fuller was fouled with 34.3 seconds left, and he hit the first of two but missed the tying free throw.
 
Goodman was fouled on the ensuing inbounds, and with 26.8 seconds left he hit both sides of a critical 1-and-1 to make Penn's lead 68-65. UCF brought the ball down and got three-point shots from Dazon Ingram…and then Green…and then Fuller. All of them missed. Finally, a tie-up was called on the rebound after Fuller's miss, the possession arrow in Penn's favor. However, after a timeout the Quakers were unable to get it in, the ball going to Brodeur but getting knocked out of his hand. After a review, the refs reversed the call, giving the ball to UCF after initially ruling it to the Red and Blue.
 
That set the stage for Green's final shot.