PHILADELPHIA – Five players scored in double figures as the University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team erased a four-point halftime deficit en route to a 78-68, come-from-behind victory against Dartmouth on Saturday afternoon at The Palestra.
The Quakers improved to 6-11 overall and 3-1 in Ivy League play, while the Big Green dropped their seventh straight road contest to fall to 4-10 on the year and 1-2 in Ancient Eight action.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn has won six of its last seven games against Dartmouth. The Red and Blue have also taken each of the last four meetings with the Big Green at The Palestra.
*The Quakers tied a season high with five players hitting double figures in the scoring column, while junior
Lucas Monroe nearly got there with eight points (all of them coming after halftime).
*Penn won for the first time this season when trailing at halftime (38-34); previously the Quakers were 0-10 in such games.
*Penn is 5-0 this season when holding its opponent below 70 points.
*Penn shot 51.9 percent from the field, just the third time the Quakers were over 50 percent this season but the second time in three games.
*Penn made 18 foul shots and made 10 steals, both season highs.
*Senior
Jelani Williams and sophomore
Max Martz tied for team-high honors with 13 points each; it was Martz' sixth double-figure game and Williams' fourth.
*Freshman
George Smith scored 12 points, set a season/career high with a game-high five assists, and was one rebound shy of his season/career best with four.
*Sophomore
Clark Slajchert, who faced off against his older brother Wes on Saturday, scored 11 points overall with eight of them coming after halftime. He also had three assists.
*Sophomore
Jordan Dingle also had 11 points on Saturday, his team-leading 14th double-figure scoring game this season (in 16 appearances).
*Sophomore
Andrew Laczkowski got some quality minutes down the stretch and finished the day with a point, a rebound and an assist in nearly 11 minutes of action.
How It Happened
The opening minutes saw little action at the offensive end for both teams with Martz knocking down the lone field goal for the Red and Blue over the first four minutes of action. A pair of free throws from both Dingle and Smith gave the Quakers a 6-4 edge heading into the first media timeout.
After Slajchert knocked down a contested three-pointer from the wing to give Penn a 9-6 lead, the Big Green answered with an 8-0 run over an 81-second span to hold a 14-9 advantage with 13:50 left in the first half. That run stretched to 12-2 before Williams knocked down a trey to pull Penn within four at 18-14 with 11:25 to go before halftime.
The Big Green answered with another strong push to take a double-digit lead at 28-18 with just under eight minutes left in the first half. The Quakers answered with a bucket in transition from Dingle off a crisp bounce pass from Slajchert to cut the deficit to eight. Martz then knocked down three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to bring Penn to within four at 34-30 with three minutes remaining in the opening frame.
Smith scored on back-to-back possessions to close out the first 20 minutes as Dartmouth took a 38-34 advantage into the break. The Big Green used 19 points from players off the bench during the opening half and the guests shot better than 53 percent from the field.
Penn opened the second half with bucket
Michael Moshkovitz, Williams and Dingle on its first three possessions to take its first lead since 9-6 at 40-38. The edge was short-lived, though, as the Big Green responded with four unanswered points to take back the lead.
The exchange of runs continued with a five-point Quaker surge that was capped by a trey from
Jonah Charles, giving the hosts a 45-42 lead with 15 minutes left.
Four minutes and change later, Monroe converted a nice up-and-under in traffic on the block to tie the game at 50.
The Quakers used a 6-0 spurt courtesy of an old-fashioned three-point play from Dingle and a third trey by Martz to take a 58-54 edge heading into the under-eight media timeout. The four-point lead was the biggest for the Quakers to that point.
Monroe's strong second half continued as he converted another three-point play for the Quakers and hit two more free throws before Slajchert knocked down a floater to stretch Penn's advantage to five at 65-60 with 5:47 left in the game.
The Quakers put the clamps on defensively, meanwhile, holding Dartmouth scoreless for 2:20 of game time. Slajcherts's steal-and-layup off an Dartmouth inbounds stretched the Penn lead to seven at 67-60 with under four minutes remaining.
Williams knocked down a pair of free throws with 82 seconds left in the game to give the Quakers a 10-point lead at 75-65 and Penn coasted from there.
Up Next
Penn makes its first Ivy League road trip on Monday, making the short trip North to face travel partner and archrival Princeton. Opening tip is slated for 4 p.m. at Jadwin Gym.
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