PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team needed overtime but escaped with an 82-79 win over Dartmouth on Friday night on Macquarie Court at The Palestra.
 
The Quakers got a career-high 36 points and 11 rebounds from junior AJ Brodeur, while senior Antonio Woods also had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Devon Goodman scored 12 points.
 
The Red and Blue improved to 15-8 overall and is now 3-4 in Ivy League action. Dartmouth, which got 25 points from Chris Knight and 16 from Ian Sistare, fell to 11-12 overall and 2-5 in Ivy play.
 
Notes
*Penn improved to 1-2 in overtime games this season and 3-6 in OT games under head coach Steve Donahue.
 
*Penn shot 58.2 percent from the field and has shot 52.5 percent in its 15 wins this season (as opposed to 35.4 in its eight losses).
 
*Penn overcame an 11-point second-half deficit to win on Friday, tied for the largest deficit overcome this season (also two weeks ago at Columbia).
 
*Penn overcame a five-point halftime deficit to win, tied for the largest halftime deficit overcome this season (also Northern Iowa on November 16).
 
*Friday's game had 22 lead changes, most in a Penn game this season; the previous high was 14 at Princeton and again at Columbia.
 
*Dartmouth had 12 steals, an opponent high in the Donahue era, and the Big Green's 32 field goals are an opponent high for this season.
 
*Brodeur's 36-point game was the most by a Penn player since Matt Maloney scored 36 at Brown on February 4, 1995.
 
*Brodeur went 15-of-23 from the field, both player highs in the Steve Donahue coaching era; the last time a Penn player hit 15 field goals in a game was January 20, 1990 (Hassan Duncombe against Colgate).
 
*This was Brodeur's seventh double-double this season and his 16th at Penn.
 
*Brodeur now has 1,202 career points which puts him 26th on Penn's all-time scoring list.
 
*Senior Antonio Woods had his second double-double this season and his third at Penn.
 
*Woods also had five assists, one shy of his season high.
 
*Junior Devon Goodman scored 12 points, his fifth straight game in double digits, 17th this season, and 23rd at Penn.
 
*Junior Ray Jerome hit a pair of three-point shots 1:28 apart in the first half. Jerome had two three-pointers for his career prior to that.
 
*Senior Jake Silpe had five rebounds, one shy of his season high.
 
How It Happened
Penn hopped out to an early 5-0 lead when Bryce Washington drilled a three in transition after AJ Brodeur initially put the Quakers on the board with an early bucket. From there, however, Penn suffered a four-minute scoring drought before Brodeur banked home a left-handed layup. The Quakers jumped back out in front when Jake Silpe picked up a loose ball and pushed it to Antonio Woods who found Devon Goodman for an acrobatic layup.
 
Penn and Dartmouth traded the lead seven times in the first 10 minutes, but with the Quakers trailing 15-13, Ray Jerome came off the bench and drilled a three and then followed a Big Green long ball with another of his own giving Penn a 19-18 lead with 10:28 left.
 
The Red and Blue took the lead again with 7:32 left when Silpe darted backdoor and took a pass from Brodeur for a bucket, and then again when Brodeur bounced home a transition score for two of his 14 first-half points. The big man began feasting on the block, scoring twice more before the five-minute mark of the first half. The Big Green held strong, though, and matched Penn at 29-29 with 4:58 to play. Silpe again cut behind a ball-watching defender for another score and then Bryce Washington bullied his way to the basket for a hoop and the harm. He converted the old-fashioned three-point play to propel Penn to a 34-29 lead, its largest of the game until that point.
 
Dartmouth answered with a bucket and then the teams traded treys before Dartmouth drew even yet again at 37-37 with 2:02 to play after a three-point play. The Big Green finished the half on an 11-0 run to take a 42-37 lead into the break, despite the Quakers shooting 65 percent from the field. The crucial difference was Penn's nine turnovers to Dartmouth's one.
 
Brodeur played bully ball for the first points of the half, but the Big Green immediately answered with eight consecutive points. The 19-2 run bridging from the first half put the visitors out to an 11-point lead, 50-39, with 18:03 to play. Penn head coach Steve Donahue called a timeout.
 
The break worked. Goodman flared off a screen and knocked down a crucial three, then Brodeur swatted a shot on the other end and scored to pull within six. Another defensive stop led to a Max Rothschild tip-in to close the gap to 50-46 with 15:37 to play. Brodeur would add two more buckets, then Silpe worked his way open in the corner to hit a three to take the lead at 53-52 before Brodeur hit another layup, capping a 14-0 run to rip the lead back.
 
Woods muscled his way to the basket to push the Penn's lead to 59-56, but the Big Green answered yet again. With a one-point advantage, Goodman bolted in front of a pass for an easy fast-break layup, but the Quakers couldn't quite give themselves enough breathing room. A Brodeur score and a Goodman free throw gave Penn a four-point lead, its largest of the second half at that point, but five consecutive Dartmouth points erased that. With 3:10 to go, the junior big man came through once again. Brodeur backed his way under the basket and muscled home two more points, his 27th and 28th of the night to put Penn back ahead at 66-65.
 
As it went all evening at The Palestra, the Big Green had an answer. A three-point play pushed Dartmouth back ahead at 68-66. A Brodeur free throw halved that deficit with just over two minutes left then Woods eradicated it completely when his scoop shot rolled around and in, but a Dartmouth jumper at the one-minute mark put the Quakers down again at 70-69.
 
Out of a Penn timeout, Brodeur picked and slipped to the basket to draw a foul. The junior missed the first but tied the game with the second, but neither team managed a bucket in their final possessions forcing an extra five minutes.
 
On Penn's first possession of overtime, Brodeur ripped down a pair of rebounds and then Woods underhanded a pass to Washington for a three from the wing. Then, with a one-point lead and the shot clock dwindling, Woods jabbed then stepped back beyond the three-point arc and drilled a rainbow to expand the lead to four. Dartmouth cut it in half, Brodeur calmly knocked down a pair at the line and the Big Green's James Foye made all three of his free throws to move it to 80-79 with 1:03 left.
 
With a one-point lead, Penn turned the Big Green away on their final possession and then Brodeur made two more at the line to secure the 82-79 victory.
 
Up Next
Penn is back in action tomorrow night, hosting Harvard at 7 p.m. The Crimson are 5-2 in Ivy League play after earning a 78-69 win at Princeton on Friday night.