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University of Pennsylvania Athletics

Sam Brown vs. Kentucky 12-09-2023
Greg Carroccio/Sideline Photos
Sam Brown tied his season/career high with 20 points Saturday at Yale.
58
Penn Penn 9-12,1-5 Ivy League
74
Winner Yale Yale 15-6,6-0 Ivy League
Penn Penn
9-12,1-5 Ivy League
58
Final
74
Yale Yale
15-6,6-0 Ivy League
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Penn Penn 28 30 58
Yale Yale 34 40 74

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Men's Basketball Falls to Ivy Unbeaten Yale in New Haven, 74-58

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – In a game that was defined by runs on both sides, the University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team was dealt a back-breaker late as Yale used a 14-0 run over four minutes late in the second half to put the Quakers away Saturday at the Lee Amphitheater, 74-58.

Penn used a 10-0 run midway through the half and got as close as nine when freshman Niklas Polonowski rattled home a three-pointer just ahead of the under-8 timeout. However, the Quakers hit a dry spell after that and the Ivy co-leading Bulldogs took advantage, scored 14 unanswered to blow out to a 23-point lead and cruise from there.
 
Penn fell to 9-12 overall and is 1-5 in Ivy League play with the loss. Yale remains unbeaten in the Ivies at 6-0 and is 15-6 overall.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Freshman Sam Brown was the only Penn player to score in double figures on Saturday, as he matched his season/career high with 20 points (originally set almost exactly a month ago at Auburn).
 
*Junior George Smith was back in the starting lineup on Saturday night and had his second eight-point game in as many nights. He also grabbed six rebounds, tying his season high (originally set against Villanova).
 
*Freshman Tyler Perkins also went for eight points and six rebounds on Saturday, adding two assists and a team-high two steals.
 
*Junior Nick Spinoso led Penn with eight rebounds and added six points and two assists.
 
*Junior Ed Holland III had another productive night with five points, four rebounds and a team-high three assists.
 
*Freshman Niklas Polonowski hit for six points on a pair of three-pointers.
 
*Yale got a double-double from Danny Wolf (24 points/12 rebounds), 14 points from Matt Knowling, and 11 from John Poulakidas. Bez Mbeng dished out eight assists without a turnover and led all players with three steals.

How It Happened
The first half was about runs on both sides. Yale scored the game's first seven points and led 10-3, at which point the Quakers scored nine in a row to go in front, 12-10. The Quaker's lead was 15-13 at the under-12 media timeout, but out of the break the Bulldogs hit a pair of free throws and that was the start of a 10-0 run by the home team. The Yale lead was still seven when Andrew Laczkowski connected on a backdoor pass from Spinoso and Brown fired home a transition layup to make the score 24-21. That was as close as Penn got the rest of the period, though, and Yale's lead was 34-28 at halftime.
 
Yale worked to put the game away quickly in the second half. After starting the half with an empty possession, the Bulldogs got back-to-back treys from Poulakidas and Wolf and then Knowling followed with a pair of buckets. It was a 10-0 run that took 1:32 of game time, putting the Bulldogs up 44-28 and forcing a Penn timeout. The run extended out of the stoppage, Wolf converting an Mbeng feed, before Holland finally ended Penn's drought with an and-1 in the lane to make the score 46-31.
 
It was still a 19-point game before Penn made one final effort to get back into it. Over a three-minute span the Quakers outscored the Bulldogs 10-0, Perkins starting the run with a trey and Polonowski ending it with one. His triple, which bounced around a bit before dropping through, made the score 55-46 with 8:12 left.
 
The Bulldogs were nonplussed. They scored four points before the under-8 media timeout and kept the pressure on after the stoppage. While Penn desperately searched for points—going exactly four minutes without scoring—Yale extended its run to 14-0. By the time Brown finally ended the drought with a three-pointer made possible by a hustle play from Reese McMullen and Augustus Gerhart, the margin was 23 and any hopes for a Red and Blue comeback had been put to bed.
 
Up Next
Penn wraps up this three-week run of four straight Ivy League road games next Saturday at Princeton, tipping off with the Tigers in Jadwin Gym at 6 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.
 
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