PRINCETON, N.J. – The University of Pennsylvania and Princeton men's basketball teams have played plenty of crazy games through the years, and Monday's Ivy League opener at Jadwin Gym only added another chapter to this storied rivalry.
 
Think about this: Penn led by 14 with three minutes left in the first half; Princeton led by 14 with three minutes left in the second half; and the Tigers only were able to exhale when AJ Levine put up a three-pointer from right off the P logo in the middle of the floor that could have won the game for the Quakers. The shot hit the back of the rim and fell off, however, allowing Princeton to escape with a 78-76 win.
 
Penn fell to 7-7 overall while Princeton improved to 5-11.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn lost this game despite taking five more shots than its opponent, pulling down 12 more rebounds than the Tigers (35-23), going a perfect 19-19 at the foul line, and putting five players in double figures in the scoring column for the first time this season.
 
*Penn's 19-19 performance at the foul line marked the first time the Quakers were perfect from the charity stripe since November 11, 2022 when they went 11-11 at Missouri, and tonight's game marked the most shots made while also shooting 100 percent in a game in program history.
 
*The Quakers led Monday's game for more than 24 minutes, with Princeton taking its first lead at 41-39. The Tigers never trailed again after a Jack Stanton bucket gave them a 45-44 advantage.
 
*Princeton started the second half going 16-16 from the field, with four of them coming from distance. By the time they missed, the Tigers had turned an eight-point halftime deficit into a 15-point lead.
 
*Ethan Roberts made his first appearance since getting injured on December 6 and was right back in the flow, leading Penn with 19 points and tying for team-high honors with four assists. He had the Quakers' first four points on Monday night.
 
*AJ Levine continues to grow offensively; he had 15 points and tied Roberts with four assists. Levine has scored 45 points across Penn's last three games after scoring just 41 in the first 11 contests.
 
*TJ Power ended the night with 13 points and seven rebounds, tying for game-high honors in the latter category.
 
*Freshman Dalton Scantlebury also had seven rebounds to go with 12 points off the bench.
 
*Michael Zanoni was Penn's other double-digit scorer on Monday, with 13 points as he went 6-8 from the field.
 
*Princeton got 23 points from Stanton, 19 from Dalen Davis—making his first appearance in ten games—and 11 from Malik Abdullahi. Jacob Huggins led the Tigers with seven rebounds, while Jackson Hicke had a team-high four assists.
 
How It Happened
After missing Penn's last four games, Roberts needed exactly 20 seconds to get on the scoreboard Monday as the Quakers scored the game's first six points. It was still a four-point game when Roberts drained two free throws, worked a pick-and-roll with Scantlebury for an easy two, and then fed Zanoni for a triple. Overall, it was a 9-0 run and put the Red and Blue in front, 21-8, forcing a Princeton timeout.
 
The lead was still 13, Power tipping in his own miss as the clock went under a minute, but Princeton gained some late momentum when Levine was called for a foul on a Stanton three-pointer. The Tiger guard hit all three shots, and then Hicke drove for a layup right at the buzzer to make the score 32-24 at the break.
 
What happened next simply defied belief. The Tigers opened the second half by making the first 18 shots they took—11 from inside the arc, five beyond it, and two at the foul line. As a result, Princeton turned that eight-point deficit into a 15-point lead, at 63-48, and the streak didn't end until the 8:27 mark when Sebastian Whitfield missed a three-point shot.
 
Predictably, Penn was completed dazed by the run. The Quakers finally got off the mat and closed within eight on a pair of Scantlebury foul shots with 5:41 left, but Princeton scored eight of the next 10 points to push back in front by 14 with 3:24 to play. Roberts and Davis then traded points and the Tigers' lead was 75-61 as the clock went under three minutes.
 
Penn was resilient. The defense stifled the Princeton offense, and the foul shooting got the Quakers back into it. First Scantlebury hit two, then Roberts did the same, then Levine, and then Levine again. The eight combined free throws made the score 75-69 as the clock went under a minute.
 
Penn fouled Abdullahi and he missed both of his shots. Penn drove the ball down the court and Levine scored on a turnaround on the left block and was fouled. He hit his and-1, and suddenly this was a one-possession game at 75-72 with 45 seconds still to go.
 
The press worked again, as the Tigers were called for traveling in the backcourt, and Penn scored almost immediately when Levine found Power underneath and the junior spun home a layup to make it 75-74.
 
With enough time on the clock, Penn chose to play it out defensively. Princeton found the matchup they wanted, getting Davis on the block against Levine, and the Tigers junior converted to get the margin back to three. Penn took timeout, and after Roberts missed his first chance he scored in the paint to make it 77-76. Princeton got the ball to Davis who was immediately fouled with 6.2 on the clock. He missed the first but made the second.
 
Penn inbounded to Roberts who quickly ran the ball up the court. He was blanketed as he crossed the timeline and could only shovel a pass over to Levine who was also well covered. Levine had no choice but to put up a desperation heave, and the shot heavily hit the back rim and fell away as the buzzer sounded.
 
Up Next
Penn is back at home on Saturday, hosting Brown at 2 p.m. at The Palestra.
 
For the latest on Penn men's basketball, follow @PennMBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.