NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team led for the entire first half of Saturday's game against Ivy League leader Yale, but the Bulldogs came out firing to start the second half and the Quakers were unable to regain their footing after that in taking a 74-70 loss at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.
 
Penn's four-game win streak came to an end with the loss as the Quakers fell to 6-5 in league play. The Red and Blue is still alone in third place, however, after the other results from the weekend came in. Yale—which played Saturday without starting center Nick Townsend—improved to 21-4 overall and remain atop the standings at 9-2.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn shot 50 percent in the first half on Saturday (16-32), but didn't hit a field goal for the first five minutes of the second half and ended up shooting just 33.3 percent for the period (9-27).
 
*Michael Zanoni led all scorers in the game, with 20 points; it was his sixth time hitting that mark this season, but his first since doing so against Brown on January 10.
 
*Junior TJ Power added 18 points—knocking down four of his seven three-pointers—and led Penn with eight rebounds. He also had three assists.
 
*Senior Ethan Roberts was the Quakers' other double-digit scorer, with 12 points, and he also tied for the team high with four assists, grabbed four rebounds, and came up with two steals.
 
*Sophomore AJ Levine dealt with foul trouble all day—he fouled out with about a minute to play—and ended the day with six points, four assists, four boards and two steals in 25 minutes.
 
*Junior Augustus Gerhart was active on Saturday with eight points (going 3-3 from the field) and four rebounds including two on the offensive glass.
 
*Freshman Jay Jones played nearly 21 minutes off the bench and ended the day with four points and four rebounds.
 
*Isaac Celiscar led the Bulldogs in Townsend's absence, leading them in scoring (16 points) and rebounds (a game-high 14) and tying for team-high honors with five assists. Trevor Mullin had 14 points and five assists, while Samson Aletan and Casey Simmons both ended the day with 13 points and seven boards. Simmons also had three blocked shots and two steals.
 
How It Happened
Penn got out to a quick start on Saturday, scoring the game's first 10 points as Zanoni set the tone with the first two field goals, one inside the arc and one outside. That lead grew to 12 early, at 18-6, when Power drained a transition trey from Roberts.
 
The lead was still ten, at 32-22 with 4:55 left in the half, when Yale got going. Jordan Brathwaite got things started with a triple, and then after a Power driving layup the Bulldogs scored the game's next eight points. When Aletan hit the first of two free throws with 2:27 to play, Penn's lead was just one (34-33).
 
The Quakers held their nerve. Zanoni drained a mid-range jumper on the right baseline, and then Power and Jones answered a pair of Celiscar free throws with two more buckets. That gave Penn a 40-35 lead heading into the locker room.
 
The Bulldogs were biting out of the break. They clamped down defensively on the way to a 10-0 run to start the second half, Mullin giving Yale its first lead of the day when he hit a jumper in the paint with 17 minutes left to make it 41-40.
 
Yale's lead was still 50-45 at the under-12 media timeout, but out of the stoppage Gerhart was fed for a dunk and then scored on a driving layup after a Bulldogs turnover. That got Penn within one, and then Jack Sullivan and Roberts traded triples to make the score 53-52 Bulldogs as the clock went under nine minutes.
 
Yale opened up as much as an eight-point lead with seven minutes left—Simmons supplying all the offense in a modest five-point run—but Penn didn't go away. Roberts hit a three-pointer, then Zanoni and Gerhart got to the line on consecutive possessions and made all four shots. That had the Quakers back within one with 5:51 to play, 61-60.
 
Penn wouldn't score again for nearly five minutes, and Yale took advantage with the game's next six points. Power finally ended the skid, draining a trey with 1:12 left, and another triple by Zanoni made the score 68-66 with less than a minute to go.
 
Credit Yale down the stretch; they held on. First, Celiscar took Power down to the left block and hit a tough fallaway turnaround over the junior's outstretched hand near the end of the shot clock. That made it a two-possession margin. After that, Celiscar and then Mullin were fouled as Penn got desperate; both of them were shooting nervy 1-and-1s but they made all four, keeping Penn at bay.
 
Up Next
Penn is back at home for one final traditional Ivy League weekend next Friday and Saturday, hosting Dartmouth and Harvard.
 
For the latest on Penn men's basketball, follow @PennMBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.