NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team was undone by 11 second-half turnovers, most of them during a critical stretch, and that allowed Yale to pull away for a 70-63 victory Saturday night at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.
 
Penn took a 54-53 lead with just under six minutes to play when George Smith hit his second three-pointer of the game, but Yale's August Mahoney quickly put the host Bulldogs back in front and they never gave up the advantage. A five-point run in the final two minutes created some separation that the Quakers could not overcome.
 
Penn fell to 2-4 in the Ivy League and 9-11 overall. Yale improved to 13-6 overall and joins a logjam with three other teams at 3-3 in Ivy play..
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn committed just two turnovers in the opening half but 11 in the second half, including seven straight possessions when the score was 49-49.
 
*Yale tied an opponent low for the season with five turnovers.
 
*Junior Jordan Dingle scored 27 points, his second straight game above 20 points and 15th in his last 16 contests.
 
*Dingle's double-figure scoring streak is now at 27 games, the sixth-longest in program history.
 
*Dingle hit six three-point shots, one shy of his season high, on 11 attempts; he also led Penn with seven rebounds, two shy of his season best.
 
*Sophomore Nick Spinoso scored 11 points, his third straight game in double figures and his seventh such game this season.
 
*Spinoso has now hit double digits in the scoring column in his last three appearances against Yale, dating back to last season.
 
*Spinoso also set a season/career high with three blocked shots.
 
*Senior Max Lorca-Lloyd also had three blocked shots on Saturday night, tying his season/career best.
 
*Sophomore George Smith matched his season best with a pair of three-point baskets for his six points.
 
*Senior Jonah Charles tied a season/career high with three assists.
 
*Yale was led by August Mahoney, who scored 17 points and made some big plays late to help the Bulldogs win the game. EJ Jarvis and Bez Mbeng scored 14 points each, with Jarvis also grabbing 10 rebounds for the double-double.
 
How It Happened
Penn scored the first six points Saturday night and held that lead throughout the first half, though the Bulldogs made it a fight in front of a partisan crowd. It was 10-10 when Dingle went on a personal nine-point run that pushed the Quakers in front, 19-10. It would be Penn's largest lead of the night.
 
Yale scored four in a row, the start of a 12-5 run that got the Bulldogs back within two at 24-22. Spinoso drove the lane for a bucket but Mbeng replied with another trey and it was a one-point game at 26-25. Slajchert pulled up for a jumper to make the score 28-25, and Penn's lead fluctuated between one and two possessions to the halftime buzzer. The Quakers were up 38-35 at the break.
 
Yale opened the second half with back-to-back treys from Mbeng and Mahoney, the second one giving the Bulldogs their first lead of the night at 41-38. At that point, the hosts were 9-of-14 from beyond the arc. When Matt Knowling turned a turnover into a layup at the other end, Yale's lead was 45-39 and its run was 10-1 to start the half. The JJL was rocking.
 
Penn settled down while Yale cooled off. That allowed the Quakers to hang around, and when Smith hit his first trey of the night the game was tied at 47-47. Mbeng (2FT) and Spinoso scored to keep things tied at 49-49, but at that point Penn turned the ball over on a staggering seven possessions in a row. Fortunately for the Quakers, their defense was stout and held Yale to just four points, and Eli's lead was 53-49 at the under-8 media timeout.
 
Penn got the ball to Max Martz in the lane out of the stoppage, and he went over his man to end the Quakers' skid. Jarvis missed a three at the other end, and then Smith took a kickout from Lorca-Lloyd and drilled his second long ball to put the Quakers in front, 54-53.
 
Mahoney quickly put Yale back in front with a jumper in the lane, and then the teams went quiet for a little more than a minute before a pair of Bulldogs free throws, and another Penn turnover led to yet another Yale bucket. The Bulldogs' run was 6-0 and their lead was 59-54 as the clock went inside three minutes.
 
Dingle got Penn within a pair twice, at 59-57 and 62-60, sandwiching treys around a John Pouladikas three. However, after his second trey Yale worked the clock and Mahoney got to the rim, finishing and getting fouled. His old-fashioned three-point play put Eli up, 65-60. Penn then missed a three-pointer, and Spinoso was surrounded when he grabbed the offensive board. He lost the ball out of bounds. Yale again worked the clock, and as the game clock hit the one-minute mark Mahoney stuck another bucket in the lane. That made the score 67-60, and Penn was unable to make up the difference after that.
 
Up Next
Penn completes its out-of-conference schedule on Monday night, staying in the Nutmeg State to face the University of Hartford for the second time this season. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. in West Hartford.