PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team got a late bucket from
Jordan Dingle and a final free throw from
Clark Slajchert, and it proved to be just enough as the Quakers knocked off Yale at The Palestra Friday night, 66-64.
With the win, Penn improved to 15-11 overall while Yale fell to 17-7. More importantly, the decision left the teams tied for second place in the Ivy League standings, both at 7-4 and a game behind Princeton which beat Brown on Friday, 78-67.
Brown and Cornell are now tied for fourth in the league standings, at 6-5, while Dartmouth dropped to 5-6 as the Big Red knocked off the Big Green in Ithaca, 95-83, in overtime.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn's six-game winning streak is its longest since the 2018-19 season.
*The home team has now won the last 10 regular-season meetings in the series between Penn and Yale.
*Friday night's game had 14 lead changes, most in a Penn contest this season.
*Penn improved to 12-0 this season when holding its opponent below 70 points.
*Penn won for the first time this season when shooting a lower field-goal percentage than its opponent; previously the Quakers were 0-7 in such games. (On Friday, Yale shot 43.6 percent from the field while the Quakers shot 42.6 percent.)
*Junior
Jordan Dingle led all scorers with 18 points, 11 of them coming after halftime; his streak of 20-point games ends at seven, but his double-figure scoring streak remains intact and sits at 33.
*Junior
Clark Slajchert scored 13 points on Friday, his second double-figure scoring game in the last three.
*Sophomore
Nick Spinoso had his third straight double-figure scoring game, with 10 points, and added five rebounds and two steals.
*Sophomore
George Smith nearly recorded his first collegiate double-double, scoring nine points and tying his career highs in rebounds (game-high 10) and three-point baskets (3).
*Yale was led by John Poulakidas, who scored 17 points. EJ Jarvis and Bez Mbeng scored 13 apiece for the Bulldogs, while August Mahoney finished with 10.
How It Happened
This was a back-and-forth game all night long, as the teams traded the lead 14 times and never held more than a six-point advantage.
Yale was hot from beyond the arc early, with Mbeng and Poulakidas hitting consecutive treys to put the Bulldogs up 13-7. It was still 19-14 when Penn made a move that started with Dingle's only three-pointer of the night; that set the Quakers off on a 7-0 run for a 21-19 lead and forced Yale coach James Jones to burn his use-it-or-lose-it first half timeout. Out of the break, Mahoney put Eli back in front with still another triple.
Yale was in front late in the half, 27-25, but Dingle hit a pullup jumper, Slajchert dropped two free throws, and
Max Martz (7 points) hit a jumper in the lane. Jarvis closed out the first-half scoring and Penn took a 31-29 lead to the locker room.
Dingle opened the second-half scoring, but Yale responded with the game's next seven points for a 36-33 lead that grew to 39-35 on its next possession when Poulakidas finished an and-1 three-point play. Slajchert scored the game's next four points, tying things up, and then Martz answered a Mahoney bucket with a trey to put Penn in front, 42-41.
The teams traded leads for the next five minutes, no one ever leading by more than three. That came with 8:40 left, a Jarvis putback putting Yale up 50-47. From there, though, Penn went on the longest run either team would have all night. Dingle started it by hitting both ends of a 1-and-1, then on the Quakers' next possession Smith hit his third trey of the game to push the Red and Blue in front, 52-50. Dingle again converted a 1-and-1, and after yet another defensive stop,
Lucas Monroe bounced up for a putback tipin. The run was 9-0, Penn's lead was 56-50 with six minutes left, and the Palestra crowd was rocking. Jones called timeout.
The stoppage worked. Yale scored five of the game's next six points, getting within a bucket after Mbeng hit a free throw with 4:59 left. Dingle and then Monroe sandwiched four free throws around a Mahoney miss, putting Penn back up by six (61-55) with 3:48 left.
Penn never gave up that lead, but things sure got dicey down the stretch. Yale got within a possession with 2:52 to play when Mbeng drove for a layup to make the score 62-59. Spinoso was fouled but hit only one of his two free throws with 2:23 left, and at the other end Jarvis converted in the lane to make the score 63-61 as the clock went under two minutes.
Penn worked the clock, but Spinoso lost control of the ball and Yale went out in transition. However, Mbeng charged into Dingle after kicking out to an open teammate, and the refs blew the offensive foul which nullified the open three-point look and fouled Mbeng out of the contest.
Penn again worked the clock, but this time it was Dingle who lost control and in the ensuing scrum Mahoney got his hands on it and quickly called timeout with 1:04 left. Out of the stoppage, Yale got Poulakidas a look but his effort was off the mark. Dingle got the rebound, brought the ball down and, without Mbeng to bother him, got into the lane and dropped a pretty-as-you-like floater with 12.1 seconds left. That made it a two-possession game, 65-61.
Yale took advantage of a Penn timeout following Dingle's basket, drawing up a quick three-point play that Poulakidas hit with 5.8 seconds left to make it a one-point game. After another timeout, Penn inbounded to Slajchert who was fouled immediately. The Ivy League leader in FT percentage, the junior made everyone nervous by missing the first shot before making the second.
Yale still had 5.1 to get a final shot, but a bad pass led to a difficult fallaway effort which was well off the mark, allowing the Quakers to escape with the victory.
Up Next
Penn is back at home again tomorrow night, hosting Brown at 6 p.m.
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