PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team did its part on Friday night, pulling away from Cornell in the second half for a 78-64 win over the Big Red at The Palestra.
 
There is still business to take care of, though, as Brown defeated Harvard in Cambridge by a score of 64-55. That leaves the Quakers and Bears tied for fourth place in the Ivy League standings, both at 7-6. However, if Penn defeats Columbia tomorrow night at The Palestra the Quakers will advance to #IvyMadness by virtue of having a better record against Ivy champion Yale (1-1) than Brown (0-2). Penn can even advance with a loss to the Lions, but only if Brown also loses on Saturday at Dartmouth.
 
A reminder that the men's basketball program will honor its Class of 2020 prior to Saturday's tipoff. The Senior Ceremony will take place at approximately 5:40 p.m. as the Quakers honor student manager Garrett Colvin as well as players Ryan Betley, AJ Brodeur, Devon Goodman, Ray Jerome and Kuba Mijakowski.
 
Notes
*Penn won despite Cornell shooting 60 percent from three-point land (9-15) which is an opponent high this season.
 
*Cornell took just two foul shots and made one; the two attempts are an opponent low in the Donahue coaching era at Penn, and the one make ties an opponent low (also Lafayette on November 13, 2018).
 
*Penn hit 11 three-pointers on Friday, the fifth time in the last six games and 12th time this season the Quakers have reached double figures in that category.
 
*Senior AJ Brodeur had his 11th double-double of the season with 22 points and 10 rebounds; the last Penn player with 11 double-doubles in the same season was Tony Price in 1978-79.
 
*This was Brodeur's 95th double-figure scoring game at Penn and his 11th game this season with at least 20 points.
 
*Brodeur now needs 16 points to tie Ernie Beck's career record at Penn, 17 to break it.
 
*Brodeur also had seven assists for the third straight game, and he did not have a turnover; in Penn's last two games the senior has 14 assists and one turnover.
 
*Brodeur played in his 118th game at Penn, tying the program record for appearances with Miles Cartwright, David Klatsky and Ugonna Onyekwe. He is expected to break the mark tomorrow night vs. Columbia.
 
*Freshman Jordan Dingle scored 12 points, all of them coming from beyond the arc where he went 4-of-6.
 
*Freshman Max Martz also had 12 points, the seventh time in Penn's last eight games that he has reached double figures in that category.
 
*Both Dingle and Martz scored nine of their 12 points in the decisive second half as Penn outscored Cornell 43-32.
 
*Senior Ryan Betley had 11 points, his 14th double-figure scoring game this season but his first since he had 17 points against Harvard on January 31.
 
*Senior Devon Goodman had nine points on Friday night, seven of them coming in the second half; he needs 19 to reach 1,000 for his Penn career.
 
*Junior Jarrod Simmons had five points on Friday, one shy of his season high.
 
How It Happened
The first half was a fairly back-and-forth affair, the teams swapping the lead seven times and tying each other four other times. Penn used a five-point spurt by junior Jarrod Simmons to spur a 6-0 mini-run that turned a 16-14 deficit into a 20-16 lead, but Cornell came back on the strength of Terrance McBride (15 first-half points) and tied things at 25 and again at 32. However, Ryan Betley knocked down a late triple and the Quakers took a 35-32 lead into the locker room.
 
Cornell quickly tied things up in the second half, McBride knotting it with another bucket on his way to 22 points for the night. At that point, though, Penn stepped on the gas, AJ Brodeur knocking down a three-pointer which set the Quakers off on a 12-3 run. Cornell got back within five, but Betley and Jordan Dingle hit back-to-back treys which made Penn's lead a double-digit margin at 55-44 with 12:13 left.
 
Cornell never really threatened again after that. Jimmy Boeheim and Dean Noll (11 points, along with Kobe Dickson) scored consecutive baskets to get the Big Red within seven points at 55-48, but Dingle drained another three-pointer to get the margin back to 10. The lead went back into single digits just three more times after that, but a six-point run pushed Penn's lead to 68-54 with 6:38 left. The lead stayed in double digits the rest of the way.