PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team was threatened throughout the second half on Saturday at The Palestra, but the Quakers were able to hold off Yale and hand the Bulldogs their first Ivy League loss of the season, 76-68.
 
Penn improved to 7-12 overall and is now 4-2 in the Ivy League. Yale fell to 8-9 overall and 2-1 in Ivy play.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn improved to 6-0 this season when leading at halftime and 6-0 when holding its opponent below 70 points.
 
*Penn tied a team low in the Steve Donahue coaching era with just six turnovers.
 
*Penn shot just 19.2 percent on three-pointers (5-26), a season low, but Yale shot just 15.8 percent from beyond the arc (3-19) which is an opponent low this season.
 
*Yale scored 23 points in the first half, an opponent low for this season.
 
*Sophomore Jordan Dingle was a monster on Saturday, tying a season/career high with 31 points. That included 18 second-half points and seven in a row over a 2:09 span late as Penn extended a four-point lead to nine.

*Dingle, who also had 31 points against Utah State back on November 18, became the first Penn player with two separate 30-point games in the same season since Ibrahim Jaaber scored 31 in wins over Navy and Harvard during the Quakers' 2005-06 Ivy League championship season.
 
*Dingle also tied a season high with six rebounds.
 
*Dingle went 13-of-24 from the field; the 24 field-goal attempts were the most by a Penn player in the Donahue era.
 
*Sophomore Clark Slajchert hit double figures in the scoring column for the fifth game in a row, with 13 points (11 in the second half).
 
*Sophomore Max Martz struggled with foul trouble all game and ended up playing less than 18 minutes on Saturday, but he still finished with 11 points (eight in the second half).
 
*Junior Michael Moshkovitz had just four points on Saturday but set a season/career high with a team-high nine rebounds and also dished out four assists.
 
*Freshman George Smith had seven points, seven rebounds and tied a season/career best with two steals.

*Junior Jonah Charles scored eight points on Saturday and grabbed six rebounds, one shy of his season/career high.
 
*Yale was led by Jalen Gabbidon, who had 21 points. Matt Knowling had 13 points while Azar Swain, who entered the weekend as the league's leading scorer, had 12. Isaiah Kelly had a game-high 11 rebounds.
 
How It Happened
After a slow start on Monday at Princeton, the Quakers wasted little time getting Dingle involved on Saturday as the sophomore guard scored Penn's first four points of the contest.
 
The pace was quick at both ends over the first few minutes of action with both teams shooting better than 50 percent from the field. The two Ancient Eight foes entered the first media timeout tied at nine following a three-pointer from Martz and a driving basket by Yale's Gabbidon.
 
Penn got strong minutes off the bench midway through the frame as Charles knocked down a trey from the wing on a possession that saw the Red and Blue grab three offensive rebounds. After a defensive stop, Slajchert drove the lane and pulled up to stretch the Quaker advantage to five at 16-11. The lead would remain at five heading into the under-12 media timeout as Nick Spinoso drew a Yale offensive foul on the block.
 
The Quakers defense bore down as Yale converted just one of its last nine shots from the field over the final seven minutes of the opening half. During that span, Penn extended its lead to double figures with Smith and Dingle combining for 13 points. It was 35-23 at the half, Yale shooting just 29 percent from the field (8-of-27).
 
However, Yale quickly cut the Penn lead to five in the second half, Bez Mbeng's driving bucket making the score 39-34. On the ensuing possession, Martz hit a three-pointer after Charles pulled down an offensive rebound to make it a three-possession game heading into the under-16 media.
 
The Bulldogs scored the game's next five points to make it a three-point game, before Slajchert calmed the Yale swell with a basket on the block. Dingle then ended a two-minute scoreless drought for the Red and Blue midway through the period to give the Quakers a three-point edge at 52-49.
 
The Bulldogs continued to chip away and cut the Penn lead to just one at 52-51 with less than seven minutes to go before an old-fashioned three-point play from Dingle on the next possession gave the Red and Blue a little breathing room.
 
The Penn lead would stay at there until Martz scored a basket through contact in the post, his free throw making it 64-58 with three and a half minutes remaining. The Bulldogs would miss a pair of free throws on the following possession, and Dingle extended the Penn lead to eight with a floater in the lane.

Dingle's monster game continued as he knocked down a contested three from the wing to stretch the Penn advantage to 69-62 with just over 90 seconds left in regulation, then followed it up by banking home a drive into the lane to close out his scoring account for the day.
 
Penn held Yale at bay from there, and the Quakers knocked down their free throws down the stretch to pick up their fourth Ivy League win of the season. The Quakers went 17-of-20 from the foul line on Saturday.
 
Up Next
Penn is on the road for its next three Ivy League games, starting next Friday when the Quakers are at Harvard. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. and the game will be televised live on ESPNU.