PHILADELPHIA – On an historic night at The Palestra, the University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team was able to get back into the Ivy League Tournament race with a 69-61 win over Ivy leader Yale.
 
Penn's win moved the Quakers to 13-8 overall, and the Red and Blue are now 5-3 in Ivy play which has them tied with Brown and Harvard for third place. Yale (18-6 overall) and Princeton are one game ahead of the trio, both teams at 6-2 with three weekends of conference play left.
 
The score was tied, 58-58, when senior AJ Brodeur knocked down a three-pointer with 2:49 left. Penn never trailed after that. Brodeur's trey broke more than the tie, though; the senior's 705th career field goal—just his 56th all-time from beyond the arc—also broke Ernie Beck's 67-year-old record of 704.
 
Notes
*One night after losing a game it led at halftime for the first time this season (previously 9-0), Penn won a game it was trailing at halftime for the first time this season (previously 0-7).
 
*Penn shot 42.4 percent from the field and improved to 11-0 this season when shooting a better field-goal percentage than its opponent (Yale shot 36.1 percent).
 
*Penn knocked down 10 three-pointers, the eighth time reaching double digits in that category this season but the first time since December 30 at Howard.
 
*Penn committed just six turnovers, tied for a team low in the Steve Donahue coaching era (also six vs. Toledo on 12/29/17 and Dartmouth on 3/3/17).
 
*Senior AJ Brodeur led Penn with 19 points and added eight rebounds and five assists.
 
*Brodeur also tied a season/career high in steals (4) and tied a season high in blocked shots (3).
 
*Junior Eddie Scott scored 18 points, three shy of his career high which was set his freshman year at Monmouth; 16 of Scott's points on Saturday came in the game's final 14:41.
 
*Freshman Max Martz scored 12 points, his fourth straight game reaching double figures; he knocked down three three-pointers.
 
*Senior Devon Goodman scored 10 points and came up with three steals.
 
*Junior Jarrod Simmons made his second start of the season and grabbed a season-high five rebounds.
 
How It Happened
Penn used a quick start on Saturday night, getting buckets from four different players on consecutive possessions for an 8-0 lead less than three minutes in. A fifth player, Jarrod Simmons, then drained a three-pointer, and when AJ Brodeur converted in the lane the Quakers' lead was 13-3 and the Palestra crowd was alive.
 
Yale came into Saturday's game alone in first place, and the Bulldogs were not about to be cowed by the situation. They got back to within 15-12 by the 8:30 mark of the first half, then held Penn scoreless for more than four minutes in turning a 19-14 deficit into a 22-19 lead. Brodeur ended the drought with a three-pointer to tie things back up at 22-22, the first of three ties before the half ended with a Paul Atkinson jumper in the lane giving Yale a 29-27 lead at the break.
 
It was 33-28 when Max Martz hit a triple and Goodman got into the lane for a layup, tying things back up. Yale went back in front, 43-39, but Brodeur hit his second three-pointer and Goodman put Penn up with another conversion. Jalen Gabbidon scored the game's next three points, putting Yale in front, before Eddie Scott and Azar Swain (13 points) traded triples to make the score 49-47.
 
Brodeur hit a foul shot, while Paul Atkinson (20 points/10 rebounds) made two for a 51-48 Yale lead, which Martz erased with a three-pointer from up top. Atkinson and Goodman then traded hoops, but Swain hit a contested three and, after a stop, Atkinson used his left hand to scoop under Brodeur and push Yale's lead to 58-53 with 4:46 to play.
 
Penn made its move. Brodeur fed Scott along the baseline for a dunk, then a steal led to a breakout and Brodeur was fouled. He made one of the shots to get the Quakers within a possession, and after a defensive stop Scott was fouled as he drove and hit both foul shots to tie things up with 3:25 left.
 
Swain missed a jumper, and the rebound was tipped around until Jordan Dingle came up with the loose ball. That set the stage for Brodeur's record- and tiebreaking trey. At the other end Brodeur blocked Atkinson on the block and picked up the loose ball, then on offense he got the ball in the lane and kicked to Scott in front of the bench for a corner three that rattled in. Penn's run was 11-0 covering 2:21 of game time, the Quakers' lead was 64-58 with two minutes to play, and the Palestra was officially bananas.
 
Both teams missed shots as the clock closed in on a minute, then turned it over to each other as the clock went inside the final minute. Finally, with 35.4 seconds left, Jordan Bruner (6 points/7 rebounds) hit a second-chance three-pointer to get Yale within a possession and bubbled up some nerves in the crowd. It was unwarranted. Martz was fouled and made one of two free throws for a 65-61 lead, then Yale turned it over and Goodman picked up the loose ball before being fouled with 25.0 seconds left. He made one. A missed three by Swain was rebounded by Scott, who was fouled and hit both shots, and then a final layup at the buzzer set the final score.