PRINCETON, N.J. – The third-seeded University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team battled in a tight semifinal matchup with second-seeded Princeton on Saturday afternoon at Jadwin Gym, but fell short down the stretch, 77-70, to end its Ivy Madness trip.
 
Penn's season ends at 17-13 overall, while Princeton improved to 20-8 and moves into Sunday's Ivy League Tournament final against top-seeded Yale—a rematch of last year's final that the Bulldogs won.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*This marked Penn's second loss to Princeton at Jadwin in a week, its third to the Tigers this season, and the ninth in a row in this rivalry.
 
*Junior Jordan Dingle led Penn with 19 points and tied a season/career high with six assists (against just one turnover); he was named to the all-tournament team following Sunday's final.
 
*Dingle extended his streak of double-figure scoring games to 37 games, the fifth-longest in program history.
 
*Dingle reached double figures in all 28 games in which he played this season; he is the seventh player in program history to do that, and the first since Keven McDonald in 1977-78.
 
*Dingle finished the season with 656 points in 28 games, second on the program's single-season list behind Ernie Beck's 673 across 26 games in 1952-53.

*Dingle ends the season with 1,536 points through three seasons in his Penn career; he sits eighth on the Quakers' all-time scoring list after passing Ibrahim Jaaber (2004-07) today.
 
*Dingle hit one three-pointer on Saturday and finished the season with 77, good for sixth on Penn's single-season list.
 
*Junior Clark Slajchert scored 17 points, his third time reaching that mark in the last four games (15.0 ppg across that stretch).
 
*Slajchert went 4-of-7 on three-point shots, one shy of his season/career high and most since he hit four treys against Delaware back on November 27.
 
*Sophomore Nick Spinoso had 15 points on Saturday, his sixth double-figure scoring game across Penn's last seven outings but his high point game since February 11 at Harvard.
 
*Spinoso also had eight rebounds, two shy of his season/career high and most since he had 10 in Penn's Ivy opener at Brown on January 2.
 
*Sophomore George Smith had six points on a pair of three-point baskets, and led Penn with nine rebounds which was one shy of his season/career high.
 
*In his final game wearing the Red and Blue, senior Lucas Monroe opened the game's scoring with a banked three-pointer and finished the day with seven points, six rebounds, an assist, a steal, and a blocked shot.

*Princeton had four players score in double figures on Saturday, led by Tosan Evbuomwan who had 21. Ivy League Rookie of the Year Caden Pierce had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Ryan Langborg and Zach Martini had 12 each. Keeshawn Kellman grabbed 10 boards.
 
How It Happened
The Quakers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after Monroe banked in a three and Dingle followed with a layup. Penn maintained that advantage for much of the first half.
 
The lead pushed to as much as six several times, including a three ball from Smith at 11:59 to push the margin to six at 17-11. However, the Tigers were always right there, and they responded with a 7-2 run to draw the game even for the first time since the opening tip, 22-22, with 5:59 left. Slajchert silenced the stretch for Princeton with a three of his own, but the Tigers added five points over the next 40 seconds to take their first lead of the game with under five left in the half.
 
Dingle turned it on from there, going back-to-back for four points, and Spinoso capped the half with a dunk to give the Quakers a 31-30 lead at the break.
 
The game remained tight through the final 20 minutes, the advantage swaying back and forth several times. A run by the Tigers gave them as much as a six-point lead with 13:17 left, but the Quakers responded with six straight off an and-one by Spinoso and another trey by Slajchert to draw even at 50-50.
 
Not long after that, Princeton pushed out again by six, but this time a 9-0 run by Penn that was capped by a Dingle layup gave the Red and Blue a 61-58 lead with 7:45 left.
 
Over a four-minute span, the Tigers hit an 11-5 run that ended with two straight layups to give them a 71-68 advantage with 2:28 left. The run was silenced with a tough finish inside by Spinoso to cut it to a one-point game, and Penn called a quick timeout with 2:04 remaining that wiped out the final media break of regulation.
 
The next minute and a half was scoring silence both ways, as each defense put on the press. With 29 seconds left, the Tigers separated slightly with a jumper and added two free throws following a foul on a defensive rebound to go up 75-50 with 11 seconds remaining.
 
Bringing the ball up the court, the Quakers turned it over on a moving-screen foul which inevitably led to quick fouls on the inbounds and sent the Tigers to the line to earn it. They did, sealing the decision and advance to Sunday's Ivy title game.