PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team was buried by a barrage of three-point baskets on Friday night in taking an 86-78 loss to Navy to complete the first day of the Cathedral Classic Invitational presented by Toyota.
 
The Midshipmen knocked down 15 three-pointers in the game, shooting nearly 50 percent from distance (15-32). Of particular note, Navy knocked down three straight after Penn had taken its only lead of the day, at 51-50, and never looked back in gaining the victory
 
Penn falls to 2-4 overall while Navy improves to 3-4.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Junior Ethan Roberts established a collegiate high in scoring, with 33 points; his previous high came two years ago when he was a freshman at Army and knocked down 32 in a game against Bucknell.
 
*Senior Nick Spinoso posted his first double-double of the season and the seventh of his collegiate career, with 16 points and 13 rebounds (one board shy of his career high).
 
*Sophomore Sam Brown was Penn's other double-digit scorer on Friday, with 11 points.
 
*Freshman AJ Levine set season highs in points (5), rebounds (5), assists (2) and minutes (24).
 
*Another freshman, Michelangelo Oberti, also set a season high in rebounds, with five.
 
*Navy got 16 points and a game-high five assists from Austin Benigni, while Jack Medalie scored 14 points (going 4-6 on 3FG) and pulled down six rebounds. Cam Cole had 12 points and three steals while Jordan Pennick finished with 10 points.

How It Happened
Navy's first three buckets on Friday came from distance, Pennick connecting twice and Lysander Rehnstrom following up. It was still 9-7 when the Midshipmen ran off 10 of the next 14 points, opening up an eight-point lead. Roberts scored the game's next three points, getting Penn within 19-14, but Medalie sandwiched treys around a Benigni triple and that extended the Mids' lead to 28-16. The Quakers got as close as six, but Navy took a 37-28 lead into the locker room at the half.
 
Spinoso opened the second-half scoring, only for Rehnstrom to answer with back-to-back treys as Navy opened it up to 45-33.
 
The score was 50-40 when Penn finally got things going. George Smith (6 points) started the run with a transition three-pointer, then Spinoso tipped home a Roberts miss and followed up with his own layup on the left block. That brought a Navy timeout, but out of the stoppage the Quakers got a stop and then Brown fed Augustus Gerhart underneath for a layup. Overall, it was an 11-0 run and the Red and Blue had its first lead of the night at 51-50.
 
Navy did not waste much time re-establishing order. Jinwoo Kim immediately knocked down a three to push the Mids back in front, then Medalie and Benigni went back-to-back from distance for a 9-0 run that quickly moved the lead up to eight, 59-51. Another three, this time by Cole, gave Navy its largest lead of the night (70-57) with a little less than three minutes to play.
 
Penn kept fighting and got as close as five points on three separate occasions in the game's final 70 seconds. However, Navy made enough free throws to keep their hosts at bay.
 
Up Next
Penn is back in action on Saturday at 4:30 p.m., this time hosting Maine which was a 69-56 winner over Elon in Friday's first game at The Palestra. The Quakers will then play the Phoenix on Sunday at 2:30 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.