PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team held off a game Drexel squad, 64-59, Tuesday night at the Dragons' Daskalakis Athletics Center (DAC).
Penn held as much as a 15-point lead in the second half, but Drexel got as close as two points with just under two minutes to play. However, junior
Clark Slajchert knocked down a stone-cold three-pointer to put the Quakers in front by five and they held on from there.
It was Penn's first win of the young season as the Quakers improved to 1-3. Drexel fell to 1-1.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn improved to 17-10 in its all-time series with Drexel and won for the first time at the DAC; the Quakers were previously 0-2 at the venue, the two losses coming by a combined three points.
*Penn had a season-high 17 assists on its 23 baskets Tuesday night and also committed a season-low 12 turnovers.
*Penn shot 13-of-14 at the foul line, making the Quakers 33-of-35 (94.3 percent) over their last three games.
*Junior
Jordan Dingle once again led Penn in scoring, with 21 points, giving him 45 over the last two contests. He has now scored in double figures in 13 straight games dating to last season.
*Dingle has now scored 959 career points through 55 games.
*Junior
Clark Slajchert had another strong game offensively, going for 16 points and hitting three of his four three-point shots. After going 1-of-10 beyond the arc in Penn's first two games, he is 8-of-11 over the last two contests.
*After playing less than three minutes against Towson on Sunday, senior
Lucas Monroe played 33:48 on Tuesday night (just two seconds fewer than Dingle for team-high honors) and led all players with 11 rebounds. He also scored six points after going for just two across Penn's first three games.
*Senior
Max Lorca-Lloyd was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field en route to his eight points.
*Sophomore
Nick Spinoso tied his season/career high with four assists—originally set Sunday vs. Towson—and grabbed four rebounds, one shy of his season best.
*Senior
Michael Moshkovitz led all players with five assists, a season high and one shy of his career best.
*Drexel was led by Amari Williams (20 points/7 rebounds) while Justin Moore, Luke House and Jamie Bergens all scored nine points.
How It Happened
Penn opened the game with a running jumper from Dingle, and the Quakers never stopped. A Martz backdoor layup made it 8-3 early, before Drexel scored five of the next seven points to get within two. The teams traded points for several minutes after that, a Williams hook making it 16-14 Penn just past the first half's midpoint.
Penn took off from there. While the Dragons went more than five minutes without a point and nearly six minutes without a field goal, the Quakers rattled off 11 straight points to go in front by 13. Williams ended Drexel's skid with the game's next three points, and the Dragons got as close as seven when a Coletrane Washington three-pointer made it 29-22. However, Slajchert hit a runner, and then at the end of the half a Smith steal ended with Slajchert feeding Monroe for a slam in the first half's final second. That allowed Penn to take a 33-22 lead into the locker room.
The lead was 15 at the first media timeout of the second half, 44-29, but out of the break Drexel's Luke House hit long treys on back-to-back possessions and that brought the DAC student section to life. Slajchert briefly quieted them with a nice and-1 in the lane, but Drexel ripped off the game's next seven points to get within five just before the half's midpoint. Overall, it was a 13-3 run and the DAC was stirring.
Things settled down after that, both teams struggling to score until Slajchert hit three-pointers on either side of a timeout to push the Quakers' lead back up to 11 at 55-44.
It was 57-48 with just under four minutes left when Drexel made a final push. Bergens hit a jumper, and then Moore hit a free throw after a Penn shot missed. Penn's next possession ended with a bad pass that Williams stole in the open court and slammed home. Thae DAC was rocking, Penn's lead was only four (57-53), and there were still two minutes left.
Penn got the ball over half-court and called a timeout. Out of the break, Slajchert curled off a screen, got open at the top of the key, and nailed his third triple of the half to push the Quakers back up by five.
The teams traded empty possessions as the clock went under a minute, then Williams hit one of two foul shots as Lorca-Lloyd fouled out with 31 seconds left. Spinoso rebounded the second shot, a miss, and was immediately fouled, hitting both of his shots to make it a six-point margin. Drexel couldn't score again until there were less than four seconds left, on another long trey from House, but a pair of Dingle foul shots closed it out from there.
Up Next
Penn is at West Virginia on Friday night, tipping off with the Mountaineers at 7 p.m.
#Whãnau
#FightOnPenn
