PHILADELPHIA – A contest that started as a defensive rock fight turned into a dominant second-half performance by visiting Princeton. The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team couldn't match the Tigers and fell, 72-60, Monday evening at the Palestra.
 
Penn struggled in all aspects of its offense on Monday night, shooting just 33.3 percent from the field and missing all 11 of its three-point shots in taking its second loss in three days. Princeton wasn't much better, shooting just 40.4 percent from the field and making just four treys (on 25 attempts), but it was enough.
 
With the loss, the Quakers fell to 9-10 overall and 2-3 in Ivy League play. The Tigers remain tied atop the Ivy standings at 4-1 and are 13-5 overall.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn lost despite committing just eight turnovers on Monday night.
 
*Penn was held without a three-point basket in a game for the first time since November 24, 2009 against Drexel.
 
*Junior Jordan Dingle led Penn with 21 points, extending his streak of double-figure scoring games to 26 which is the seventh-longest streak in program history.
 
*Sophomore Nick Spinoso scored 12 points, his second straight game in double digits and sixth this season.
 
*Dingle and Spinoso also tied for the team lead with six rebounds each.
 
*Senior Lucas Monroe scored eight points, his best offensive performance since he had 10 against Temple on December 10.
 
*Princeton was led by the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year, Tosan Evbuomwan; the senior had 26 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Caden Pierce had a double-double (12 points/10 rebounds) while Ryan Langborg scored 13 points and Matt Allocco added 10.
 
How It Happened
Penn scored first on a patented Dingle floater, going up 2-0, but Princeton quickly answered back with three Evbuomwan layups to lead 9-7 at the first media timeout of the half. While the Quakers managed just one bucket over the next five minutes, the defense was stout and held the Tigers without a point for 4:28 as the score remain tied at 9-9 at the under-12 media timeout.
 
Penn and Princeton continued to trade baskets as the half went on, neither team able to get further away than a single point for over three minutes. Dingle's driving layup put the Quakers in front at 17-16 and a Spinoso free throw extended the lead to 18-16 before Evbuomwan tied the game back up at 18 with 7:49 remaining.
 
The Quakers scored just four more points up until the final media timeout of the half, held scoreless for two minutes, leading 22-20 with 3:44 to go.
 
After its first made three-pointer in nearly eight minutes of action, Princeton's 5-2 push put the Tigers up 25-24 with 1:04 to go in the half. Dingle sunk a pair of foul shots with under a minute to play as the Quakers entered the break clinging to a 26-25 edge.
 
Besides the back-and-forth nature of the contest, the story of the first half was the defense—specifically on the perimeter—as both teams shot a combined 2-for-21 from the beyond-the-arc.
 
Dingle and Spinoso combined on 16 of Penn's 26 first-half points while Monroe added six with a pair of rebounds.
 
Princeton struck first in the second half on Evbuowman's first trey of the night, getting back into the lead at 28-26. As it turned out, that was the last lead change of the night as the Tigers never gave it up.
 
A 6-2 run, Princeton's largest of the game to that point, pushed the Tigers up by four at 34-30 at the first media timeout of the second period.
 
After Andrew Laczkowski brought Penn back within a couple at the 11-minute mark, Langborg's pull-up triple followed by two Pierce foul shots upped the Princeton advantage to seven points, 45-38, with 10:38 remaining. A 7-4 run let the Tigers move the margin to double digits, 52-42, with 7:47 to play in regulation.
 
The run ballooned to 17-7 and a 62-49 Princeton lead with under three minutes to play in the game. Dingle cut the deficit to 11 points following a layup and a trip to the line, but the Tigers regained a 12-point cushion after Xaivian Lee converted on one of two from the stripe. Princeton took care of business from there, keeping the Quakers at bay and holding on for a 72-60 victory.
 
Up Next
Penn is back on the road next weekend for a pair of games in Connecticut. The Quakers face Yale in an important Ivy League matchup Saturday at 6 p.m. in New Haven, then will stay in the Nutmeg State to face the University of Hartford on Monday night at 7 p.m.