NEW YORK CITY – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team had its chance to complete a stirring comeback in the final seconds of Saturday's game with Columbia at Levien Gym, but a late turnover spelled the end as the Quakers fell to the Lions in an entertaining game, 84-81.
 
Penn was down 11 with less than three minutes left in the game but whittled that lead to three and had the ball with a chance to tie after the Lions' Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa missed the back end of his two foul shots with eight seconds left. However, just as the Penn player came over midcourt his dribble got away from him and landed in the hands of a Columbia player, who threw it high in the air as the final horn sounded.
 
Both teams are now 1-3 in Ivy League play after today's game. Penn fell below .500 overall at 9-10, while Columbia improved to 10-7.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn lost despite taking 10 more shots than Columbia and outrebounding the Lions, 37-24; the Quakers had nearly as many offensive rebounds (20) as Columbia had total boards.
 
*The difference came in the shooting: Columbia was 13-of-27 (48.1 pct) on three-point shots and shot 29-52 overall (55.8 pct) while Penn was just 27-62 from the field (43.5 pct) including 8-25 (32.0 pct) from beyond the arc.
 
*After starting the season 9-0 in such games, Penn has now lost the last two times it has led at the half. (Granted, Saturday's lead was just two, 43-41.)
 
*For just the fourth time this season, Penn put four players in double figures in the scoring column; the Quakers are 2-2 in those games.
 
*Freshman Tyler Perkins matched his season/career high with 25 points on Saturday, which led all players in the game. 17 of his points came in the second half.
 
*Perkins now has five 20-point games this season, most by a Penn freshman since Jordan Dingle had five such games in 2019-20.
 
*Perkins also has a team-high 14 double-figure scoring games, most by a Penn freshman since Dingle had 18 such games in 2019-20.
 
*Perkins also tied for game-high honors with eight rebounds, along with junior Nick Spinoso who had 17 points on the day.
 
*Junior Ed Holland III scored 15 points, 11 of them coming in the second half; that is a career high against a Division I opponent and just his second double-figure game this season against a D1 foe (12 vs. Villanova on November 13).
 
*Holland has 23 points in Penn's last two games, more than he had combined (22) across the Quakers' last 12 games before last weekend.
 
*Freshman Sam Brown scored 13 points and added three rebounds, three assists—which tied for team-high honors with junior Reese McMullen—and two steals.
 
*Columbia got 24 points from Rubio De La Rosa, 15 from Kenny Noland, and 12 from Zavian McLean.

How It Happened
The first half was a back-and-forth affair, the teams exchanging the lead 14 times and tying seven others. Spinoso (12 points) and Brown (10) led the Quakers offense in the period.
 
Penn was down, 32-29, but scored nine in a row and 12 of the next 14 in a run that was capped by a pair of Niklas Polonowski three-pointers. That gave the Quakers a 41-34 lead at the final media timeout of the half, but they hit a dry spell that lasted more than four minutes and ended at the halftime buzzer when Spinoso put back a McMullen driving layup. That gave the Red and Blue a 43-41 halftime lead.
 
Spinoso opened the second-half scoring, as well, taking his man down low and converting a layup, but Columbia scored the next four to draw level. The score was still tied at 48-48 when Noah Robledo and Rubio De La Rosa sandwiched three-pointers around a Holland layup for a 54-50 Columbia lead. Perkins cut the deficit in half, putting back a Brown shot that was blocked right into his hands, but the Lions responded with an Avery Brown bucket and yet another trey, this time from Kenny Noland. That made the score 59-52 and Penn coach Steve Donahue was taking a timeout.
 
Columbia's lead expanded to 61-53 when Penn made a move, scoring eight in a row as Perkins and Brown sandwiched treys around a Laczkowski dunk that came off a steal and tremendous bounce pass from Brown in transition. The score was tied at 61-61 as the half passed the midway point.
 
Columbia was unmoved. Robledo and Noland scored the game's next two buckets—Robledo from outside the arc, Noland from inside—and a Perkins triple was matched by Rubio De La Rosa. That gave the Lions a 69-64 lead at the under-8 media timeout, though Perkins got two of them back with a pair of free throws immediately out of the stoppage.
 
The next mini-game proved crucial. Columbia hit a three, Penn came back with a two. Columbia answered that Quakers bucket, Penn turned it over. Columbia hit another three, Penn responded with a free throw. Then the Quakers fouled another three-point attempt, and Columbia hit all three foul shots. In all, it was an 11-3 run that pushed the Lions out to an 80-69 lead that was still nine at the final media timeout.
 
Both teams had empty possessions out of the stoppage, then Avery Brown hit two free throws to up Columbia's lead to 11 again as the clock went inside three minutes. Perkins was fouled and hit one of two, and then after an empty Lions possession the freshman drilled a three-pointer that made the score 82-75. After a timeout, Columbia was called for a shot-clock violation, and once again Penn took advantage as Holland drove the lane and hit a layup as he was fouled. He knocked down the freebie to complete the and-1, and with 1:24 left the score was 82-78.
 
Penn got another defensive stop, and with the clock inside the final minute Brown went up for a three that would have gotten the Quakers within one. The shot was off the mark, and a mad scramble ensued for a rebound that went out of bounds. Initially the ball was given to Penn, but after a review the call was reversed and given to Columbia.
 
Penn fouled on the inbounds and still had life when the Columbia player missed the front end of the 1-and-1. Perkins drove the lane and put up an awkward, contested shot that missed and Penn was forced to foul again when the Lions got the board. Avery Brown made the first to get the score to 83-78 but missed the second, and then Rubio De La Rosa compounded the miss when he fouled Perkins going up for a trey. The freshman hit all three free throws, getting Penn within a possession at 83-81.
 
Penn again fouled on the inbounds, and had a chance when the second shot missed the mark. However, the Quakers never got a final shot off due to the hurried turnover.
 
Up Next
Penn has a traditional Ivy League road weekend next Friday and Saturday, traveling to Brown (Friday at 7 p.m.) and Yale (Saturday at 7 p.m.).
 
For the latest on Penn men's basketball, follow @PennMBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.