PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team kept coming back on Columbia Saturday night at The Palestra, but the Lions made a critical run late in the game and the Quakers couldn't respond in taking a 73-69 loss.
 
Penn fell to 5-11 overall and is now 2-1 in Ivy League play. Columbia improved to 4-10 overall and is 1-1 in Ivy play.
 
Notes
*Penn lost for the first time this season when shooting a better field-goal percentage than its opponent (Penn 42.9, Columbia 41.7); previously the Quakers were 4-0 in such games.

*Columbia shot 50 percent from three-point land on Saturday (6-12), an opponent high for this season, and had 48 rebounds which was one shy of the opponent high set by Florida State in the season opener.

*Sophomore Max Martz and freshman George Smith tied for team-high scoring honors, with 14 points each.
 
*Martz tied his season high with the 14 points, matching his total from Temple on December 4.
 
*Smith hit double figures for the third time in four games; he is averaging 11.5 points per game across that stretch.
 
*Sophomore Clark Slajchert scored 11 points, giving him 30 for the weekend; it was his sixth double-figure scoring game this season.
 
*Junior Jonah Charles, who had been out due to COVID protocols, knocked down a trio of first-half treys for his nine points on the night.
 
*Sophomore Jordan Dingle was held to nine points, tied for his low this season; it ended a 10-game streak of double-figure scoring games.
 
*Junior co-captain Lucas Monroe led Penn with six rebounds, giving him 15 for the weekend.
 
*Columbia was led by Ike Nweke (21 points, 15 rebounds) and a monster night on the boards from Patrick Harding (21 rebounds, 10 on the offensive glass). Those two alone outrebounded Penn's entire team, 36-31.
 
Cameron Shockley-Okeke also had a big scoring night for the Lions, with 19 points.
 
How It Happened
Let's get this out of the way quickly: Penn never led on Saturday night.
 
That said, the Quakers made up an 11-point first-half deficit to tie the game three times early in the second half. The first tie came at 44-44, when Martz knocked down a three-point shot and the second just 40 seconds later when Dingle drove into the lane for a layup and a 46-46 score.
 
Both of those baskets were quickly matched by Columbia's Nweke to give the Lions back the lead, and the score stagnated at 48-46 for nearly three minutes before Slajchert made a jump shot that tied things at 48-48.
 
Columbia again had an answer, Eddie Turner III scoring quickly to put the Lions up 50-48. The visitors then scored on their next two possessions for a 54-48 lead, and after Smith hit a step-back jumper they scored seven more unanswered for a 61-50 advantage. In all, it was a 13-2 run as Penn scored just four points over a span of more than eight minutes.
 
To their credit, the Quakers kept at it. They chipped away at the lead, getting within three (67-64) when Slajchert slid inside for a layup with 30.9 seconds left. After a timeout, Penn looked like it might force a 10-second call, but with the shot clock at 21 the hosts were called for a foul and Columbia's Liam Murphy made both shots for a 69-64 lead.
 
Dingle quickly drove the lane, was fouled and made both shots for 69-66 with 18.7 seconds left, and once again Penn tried to force a 10-second count. The Lions broke the press this time, forcing a foul, and Shockley-Okeke made both for 71-66. Martz hit an improbable three with 3.8 seconds left to make it 71-69, but after a timeout Penn fouled Murphy and he made both shots to set the final score.
 
Up Next
Penn finishes this four-game Ivy League homestand next Saturday when the Quakers host Dartmouth. Penn and the Big Green are scheduled to tip off at 2 p.m. Penn will then be at Ivy rival Princeton on Monday, Jan. 17 (MLK Day), squaring off with the Tigers at 4 p.m.