PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team kept pushing Saint Joseph's on Wednesday night at the Hawks' Hagan Arena but couldn't come all the way back, falling 78-71 in its first appearance on Hawk Hill since 1995.
 
The Quakers fell to 3-9 overall and are now 0-3 in Big 5 play. Saint Joseph's improved to 5-4 overall and are now 1-1 in the city series.
 
Notes
*Penn hit just six three-point shots, a season low, and shot a season-worst 25.0 percent from beyond the arc.
 
*At the other end, Saint Joseph's matched an opponent high for the season with 12 treys (also done by George Mason on November 12).
 
*Sophomore Jordan Dingle scored 26 points, his fourth straight game surpassing 20 points and his eighth such game already this season. Dingle has led Penn in scoring in 10 of the 11 games in which he has played.
 
*Sophomore Max Martz had 12 points, giving him 38 in three Big 5 games this season.
 
*Junior Lucas Monroe also had 12 points, his second double-figure scoring game this season, and led the Quakers with a season-high seven rebounds.
 
*Senior Michael Wang got the start at center, scoring eight points and dishing out four assists which ties his career high.
 
*Freshman George Smith set season/career highs with six points and three assists.
 
*Saint Joseph's was led by Jordan Hall, who knocked down 8-of-11 three-point shots and scored 33 points while also dishing off seven assists.
 
*SJU's Ejike Obinna had 20 points and nine rebounds, while Erik Reynolds II scored 10 points. Penn held the Hawks' leading scorer, Taylor Funk, to just six points but he had nine rebounds.
 
How It Happened
Penn led, 10-8, but the hosts scored seven points over three possessions and would never trail again. The Saint Joseph's first-half lead peaked at 10, 37-27, before a Martz triple and a Wang layin at the buzzer had the Quakers within five as the teams went to the locker room for the halftime break.
 
Martz then opened the second-half scoring with another three-pointer, making the score 37-35, and then the teams traded buckets to 42-40. At that point Hall knocked down one of his long-distance efforts, setting SJU off on a 10-3 run that ended with Funk drilling a three to give the Hawks a nine-point lead at 52-43.
 
Monroe hit a pair of free throws out of the first media timeout, the impetus for a modest 7-3 run that got Penn within five, at 55-50. Things really got serious after an Obinna putback dunk, as Dingle drained a three-pointer and then pulled up for a second-chance bucket. That made the score 57-55 with a little less than 12 minutes to play. Penn then got another defensive stop, and when Monroe went up with a wide-open look from beyond the arc he was looking to give the Quakers their first lead since 10-8.
 
His shot rimmed out, though, and Martz fouled on the rebound which sent the teams to the under-12 timeout. Out of the break, Hall hit another three, and then after a Penn turnover Funk drilled his second trey. Suddenly the hosts' lead was back up to eight, at 63-55.
 
The Hawks kept Penn at bay for several minutes after that, the lead peaking at 11 (74-63) with 3:06 left before the Quakers made one last charge. Martz started it with a hook in the lane, and then his steal late in the shot clock led to Jonah Charles hitting an open three in transition. Penn took a timeout and Saint Joseph's turned it over again out of the break, leading to a Dingle layin, and as the clock went inside a minute Penn was back within four at 74-70.
 
However, Hall (who else?) pulled up in the paint for his final bucket on the night, shutting the door on the Red and Blue's comeback hopes.
 
Up Next
Penn closes out this modest three-game Big 5 "road trip" by traveling to La Salle on Saturday. The Quakers and Explorers will tip off at 2 p.m. in a game that will air live on ESPN+.