ITHACA, N.Y. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team had a highly entertaining game with Cornell on Sunday afternoon, and the Quakers were able to escape Newman Arena with a 79-73 win.
 
Penn earned the weekend sweep and has now won five in a row, improving to 12-7 overall and 4-2 in Ivy League play. The Quakers remain a game out of first place, tied with Brown in third behind Yale and Princeton (an 81-74 winner at Columbia on Sunday). Cornell fell to 5-14 and is now 2-4 in Ivy play.
 
Notes
*Penn played Sunday's game without senior Ryan Betley, who was injured in the second half of yesterday's game at Columbia and returned to Philadelphia from New York City.
 
*Penn improved to 9-0 this season when leading at halftime and 10-0 when shooting a better field-goal percentage than its opponent (Penn 53.6 percent, Cornell 45.9)
 
*Penn shot 52.7 percent from the field on the weekend, going 29-56 on Saturday and 30-56 on Sunday.
 
*Penn had 16 assists against just seven turnovers; for the weekend the Quakers' assist/turnover ratio was 2.13 (34/16).

*Penn's seven turnovers were tied for a season low, originally set January 4 vs. Princeton, and Cornell had just three steals which was an opponent low for this season.
 
*Senior Devon Goodman led the Penn scoring parade with 18 points—his fifth straight game in double figures—and he also grabbed five rebounds, two assist and two steals.
 
*Freshman Max Martz had his second double-figure scoring game in as many days with 17 points, giving him 28 for the weekend; he also set a season/career high with seven rebounds.
 
*Freshman Jordan Dingle also had 17 points, knocking down a trio of three-point shots on the day.
 
*Senior AJ Brodeur nearly had the first triple-double in program history with 10 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. He also had two blocked shots.
 
*Junior Eddie Scott had eight points and four rebounds for the second time in as many days; he entered the weekend having scored just 20 points across a nine-game stretch.
 
How It Happened
It was a back-and-forth first half that saw six lead changes and two ties. At 20-20, Penn went on an 8-0 run as Jarrod Simmons and Jordan Dingle sandwiched three-point baskets around a Max Martz bucket in the paint. The Quakers' lead was still seven inside the final two minutes of halftime, but Cornell scored the final four points of the period and were within three at the break, 38-35.
 
Cornell's Josh Warren tied things up with the first bucket of the second half, a trey, and that was the start of a 9-2 run as the Big Red went in front, 44-40. Devon Goodman and Dingle quickly got them back, Dingle's coming on a fast break as AJ Brodeur fed him ahead of the pack. Then Eddie Scott got open underneath and Brodeur found him for the dunk and a 46-44 lead.
 
That was the start of another back-and-forth period, one that saw six lead changes and nine ties. Brodeur figured in six straight points, scoring four of them and assisting the other basket, as Penn turned a 57-55 deficit into a 61-57 lead midway through the half. Cornell again drew level, only for Scott to score four in a row to make it 65-61.
 
It was 67-67 with less than five minutes left when Goodman got into the lane for a layup and then Dingle exploded for another fast-break layup, leading to a Cornell timeout. After that, another defensive stop and Brodeur in the lane for a 73-67 lead with 3:06 to play.
 
Cornell missed a 1-and-1 attempt, but Goodman rushed a layup and then Cornell converted at the other end for a 73-69 score with 2:24 to play. Looking to get within a possession, the Big Red couldn't get a shot off as Brodeur blocked Terrance McBride's shot just before the buzzer and then Scott got a hand on the inbound to run the clock out. At the other end, Brodeur found Scott for an alley-oop dunk and Penn's lead was 75-69 with 1:10 left.
 
Cornell scored, and then—after a small kerfuffle that tagged technical fouls on Goodman and Warren—Goodman once more had a little too much speed getting to the rim and his layup fell off. With Cornell looking to get within a possession, Brodeur again provided the defense as he blocked Warren's trey attempt and Goodman came up with the loose ball. He got it to Dingle, who was fouled and hit both sides of a 1-and-1. Martz sealed it with two more free throws.