CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team gave Harvard all it could handle on Saturday night at the Crimson's Lavietes Pavilion, but the hosts survived a late chance by Jordan Dingle to tie things up en route to a 69-65 win.
 
Penn (13-10) ends the weekend still in fifth place in the Ivy League, 5-5 in conference play. Harvard (18-7) moved two games in front of the Quakers and are tied with Princeton for second in the standings at 7-3. The Quakers did get some help tonight, Brown losing at Cornell which keeps the Bears just one game in front of the Red and Blue heading into the final two weekends. Penn and Brown will meet in Providence next Saturday night.
 
Notes
*Penn was swept on this trip for just the tenth time in 64 tries, and the first time since 2017.
 
*For the first time this season, Penn lost a game in which it shot a better field-goal percentage than its opponent (Penn 46.4, Harvard 45.0); prior to Saturday, the Quakers were 11-0 in such games.
 
*For just the second time this season—and the second time in as many weekends—Penn lost a game it led at halftime; the Quakers are now 9-2 in such games this season.
 
*Penn hit 10 three-point baskets for the third straight game and the tenth time this season.
 
*Penn took just six foul shots, Jordan Dingle and Devon Goodman taking three each; for the weekend, the Quakers took just 11 free throws.
 
*Dingle led Penn in scoring with 16 points, knocking down four three-pointers along the way.
 
*Goodman had 15 points, his third straight game in double digits.
 
*Senior AJ Brodeur finished the night with 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
 
*Brodeur tied Zack Rosen (2009-12) atop Penn's all-time list in career starts, both are now at 115.
 
*Freshman Max Martz scored 10 points, reaching double figures for the fifth time in the last six games.
 
*Junior Eddie Scott had six points for the second straight night; he has 53 points across Penn's last seven games after scoring 49 in the Quakers' first 16 contests.
 
*Freshman Lucas Monroe recorded four points and four rebounds, and set a season/career high with three steals.
 
How It Happened
The first half was a back-and-forth, choppy affair as both teams played chess with matchups and struggled to find their footing offensively. With the score tied at 21-21, freshman Jordan Dingle—who had 12 points in the opening period—banked home a three-pointer and was fouled on the shot, converting the free throw. That pushed the Quakers out to a 26-22 lead, and it grew as large as eight before settling on 33-27 at halftime.
 
Penn's lead was 40-34 when Harvard went on a 9-0 run over a 1:58 span, Justin Bassey's trey pushing the Crimson in front. Eddie Scott tied it up with a three-pointer, and then a quick 5-0 run after a Harvard bucket pushed the Quakers ahead 48-45.
 
A Goodman hoop-and-harm made the score 51-47, but then Harvard's engine started running. The Crimson scored 10 straight points over a 2:31 span, the Lavietes Pavilion crowd getting louder with every passing bucket, before Penn head coach Steve Donahue took a timeout with 8:18 left. Out of the break, Goodman hit a second-chance three as the shot clock expired to make Harvard's lead 57-54 at the under-8 media timeout.
 
Lewis hit a layup over AJ Brodeur to make it 59-54 after the break, but Goodman hit another trey on a kickout from Brodeur. Harvard's Idan Tretout and Dingle went 2-for-1 on free throws, leaving the Crimson ahead 61-58, before Kirkwood scored backdoor and then Mason Forbes tipped home a miss. After a Forbes free throw, the Crimson's lead was 66-58 with less than five minutes to play.
 
Brodeur quickly got two of those points back, reaching double figures in the process, but a pair of empty possessions were critical when Kirkwood went baseline for a layup to make it 68-60. Max Martz hit a three to make it a five-point game, and then after a defensive stop Brodeur scored again on the block to make it a one-possession game as the clock went inside the final minute.
 
Penn then got a defensive stop, a loose ball ending up in Lucas Monroe's hands, but Dingle's look to tie was off the mark and Bassey secured the rebound for the Crimson. He was fouled with 19.2 seconds left, and in a 1-and-1 situation he hit the first but missed the second.
 
Harvard had fouls to give and gave them, leaving 6.4 seconds on the clock. Penn inbounded to Brodeur, whose contested layup missed. Dingle got the rebound and put up a three-pointer that fell short at the buzzer.