PRINCETON, N.J. – In the first winner-take-all game to end the regular season in the history of this storied rivalry, the University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team let a 17-point halftime lead slip away and fell to Princeton in overtime, 77-69.
With the win, the Tigers (19-8, 10-4 Ivy) clinched a share of the Ivy League crown with Yale, which defeated Brown on Saturday night, 84-75. Penn (17-12, 9-5 Ivy), meanwhile, is the third seed. The stage is set for a Penn-Princeton rematch in the Ivy League semifinal round next Saturday at 1:30 p.m., the second-seeded Tigers playing the third-seeded Quakers after top-seeded Yale faces fourth-seeded Cornell in the first semifinal at 11 a.m.
The Quakers were still up by eight with just over four minutes left in regulation when
George Smith scored inside to make the score 66-58. However, the Tigers scored the last eight points in regulation to force overtime, then outscored Penn 11-3 in the extra period for the victory.
Quaker Notemeal
*This was the 19th overtime game between these two rivals, with Princeton now holding an 11-8 lead in those games. The Tigers have won the last five games to go to OT, dating back to 2009.
*This was Penn's fourth OT game this season, the Quakers going 1-3 with losses in each of the last three. The last time Penn played this many overtime games in the regular season was 2018-19, when the Quakers played five.
*Penn is 50-62 all-time in OT, 25-26 in Ivy League OT games, 22-25 on the road (8-19 in Ivy play), and 6-11 in the
Steve Donahue coaching era.
*Junior
Jordan Dingle led all scorers with 28 points, 21 of them coming in the first half.
*This was Dingle's 22nd 20-point game this season—second on the program's single-season list, behind Ernie Beck (25 in 1952-53)—and the 43rd of his career which is tied with Keven McDonald (1976-78) for second on the program's all-time list.
*Dingle extended his double-figure scoring streak to 36 games, the fifth-longest streak in program history.
*Dingle moved into ninth on Penn's all-time scoring list, at 1,517 points; Ibrahim Jaaber (2004-07) is eighth, with 1,518 points, while Ron Haigler (1973-75) is seventh with 1,552.
*Dingle now has 637 points this season, second on Penn's single-season list behind Beck who scored 673 points across 26 games in 1952-53.
*Dingle hit four three-pointers on Saturday, giving him 76 this season which is tied for sixth on Penn's single-season list with Tim Begley (76 in 2004-05) and Jeff Schiffner (76 in 2003-04).
*Dingle was a perfect 6-of-6 at the foul line Saturday and has now hit 143 free throws this season; that is ninth on the program's single-season list.
*Junior
Max Martz finished with 13 points, his third straight game in double digits and the seventh time he's done it in the last nine contests.
*Sophomore
Nick Spinoso had 11 points on Saturday, his tenth double-figure scoring game in Ivy play this season.
*Junior
Clark Slajchert finished with seven points and grabbed a career-high eight rebounds.
*Princeton was led by Caden Pierce, who posted a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Tosan Evbuomwan finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Ryan Langborg had 13 points and Matt Allocco added 12.
How It Happened
The first half could not have gone much better if you were a Penn fan.
The Quakers were down early, 13-8, at which point Dingle took over. The junior continued a personal scoring run that would eventually reach 12 points, giving the Quakers an 18-13 advantage. From there, a pair of Martz treys pushed the lead into double digits, at 24-13. In all, it was a 16-0 Penn run that matched the team's longest this season.
The margin fluctuated between single and double digits for several minutes after that, before a Spinoso and-1 putback started Penn off a 10-0 run that pushed the visitors in front, 42-23. The Tigers got two of those back on an Allocco field goal, but Penn took a 17-point lead into the locker room.
The second half was much, much different.
The period started innocently enough, a Spinoso free throw making Penn's lead 48-33 out of the under-16 media timeout. However, the Tigers scored the next five points to get within 10, then matched the Quakers point-for-point for the next few minutes. As the clock went under nine minutes, the hosts finally got the margin back to single digits when Blake Peters drained a three-pointer to make the score 57-48.
Princeton got as close as six, a Pierce second-chance layup making the score 61-55 with 5:53 to play, but Slajchert knocked down a free throw and then Martz rebounded his own three-point miss and drained a mid-range jumper to get Penn's lead back up to nine, 64-55, as the clock went under five minutes.
A
George Smith layup made Penn's lead 66-58 with 4:16 to play. Unfortunately, that would be the Quakers' last field goal of the day.
That allowed Princeton to come all the way back. A Zach Martini layup made it 66-60 with 3:27 left, and no more points were scored until there were less than two minutes to play when Ryan Langborg hit a pair of free throws. Dingle missed a three-pointer, and Princeton pushed the ball for Allocco to score a driving layup and make it a one-possession game as the clock went inside a minute.
Penn took a timeout, and out of the break the Quakers got a look for Martz that was off the mark. Once again, it was Allocco who scored, this time tying things up with 45 seconds to play. Both teams had one final chance at the basket, but Penn turned it over and then Allocco's shot at the buzzer rimmed out.
Princeton won the tip to start OT and Pierce immediately converted, giving Princeton its first lead since 13-10. Amazingly, only one point came over the next three minutes, that from a Spinoso free throw that made the score 68-67. Xaivian Lee hit a pair of foul shots with 1:58 to open the Tigers lead to three, at which point Penn had one…two…three chances to score. They missed all three, and as the overtime period hit its final minute Pierce scored a layup to push the lead to five, at 72-67.
Dingle hit a pair of free throws to get Penn as close as four with 24 seconds left, 73-69, but those were the Quakers' final points on the day as Princeton closed things out going 4-of-4 at the line.
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