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Penn outclasses Yale, advances to Ivy final
- Updated: March 11, 2018
PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men’s basketball team will play Harvard on Sunday for a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament after a thorough, 80-57 demolition of Yale in an Ivy League Tournament semifinal Saturday at The Palestra.
The Quakers never trailed in Saturday’s game with the Bulldogs in improving to 23-8 overall, the program’s best win total since the 2001-02 season. Yale’s season ends at 16-15 overall.
Sunday’s game at The Palestra will be televised live on ESPN2. Penn and Harvard split the regular-season series, the Crimson taking a 76-67 win on February 10 in Cambridge, and the Quakers returning the favor with a 74-71 victory two weeks later at The Palestra.
Notes
*Penn has now won three of its last four meetings with Yale.
*Penn is now 1-1 in Ivy League Tournament play, and 1-0 as a higher seed. (Penn was the 2 seed on Saturday, while Yale was the 3 seed.)
*For the second-straight game, and the eighth time this season, Penn never trailed in the game.
*Penn improved to 14-0 when making more free throws than its opponent (Penn 15, Yale 10), and 16-0 when taking more foul shots than its opponent (Penn 16, Yale 13).
*Penn’s 15-of-16 (93.8 percent) performance was its best at the free-throw line this season.
*Penn is now 21-2 this season when shooting a better field-goal percentage than its opponent (Penn 52.7, Yale 32.8), 18-3 when leading at the half, 14-3 when outrebounding its opponent (Penn 46, Yale 27), and 19-5 when hitting more three-point shots than its opponent (Penn 7, Yale 5).
*Eight days after being outrebounded at Yale 41-27, Penn outrebounded the Bulldogs on Saturday 46-27.
*Sophomore AJ Brodeur had his second double-double in as many Ivy League Tournament appearances, going for 25 points and 10 rebounds. It was his fourth double-double this season and his eighth at Penn.
*Brodeur had another strong day from the field, going 10-of-13 overall and hitting his only three-point attempt.
*Senior Darnell Foreman had 11 points on Saturday, his fourth straight game in double digits (15.4 ppg) and his 18th this season.
*Foreman also had eight rebounds and led Penn with five assists.
*Junior Max Rothschild had 11 points, his 12th game in double digits this season.
*Junior Antonio Woods had nine points, his best offensive outing since he had 10 at Princeton on February 6.
A week ago, Penn held a five-point lead with 46 seconds left at Yale and had foul shots to add to that advantage. Somehow, the Quakers lost at the buzzer. There would be no such drama on Saturday.
Penn scored the game’s first four points and had a 12-4 lead before the first media timeout. Yale got back to within 12-9, but the Red and Blue exploded with the game’s next 12 points to go up 24-9, the punctuation coming when Caleb Wood was fouled taking a three-point shot. He hit all three free throws.
From there, Penn consistently doubled up whatever points Yale put on the board. It was 44-22 just before the half, when the Bulldogs drained a trey to make it a 19-point game at the break. Yale had an 8-0 run that made it a 20-point game midway through the second half, forcing Coach Donahue to call a timeout. That settled things down, as the Red and Blue scored nine in a row to make the score 71-42 with 8:24 to play. The Bulldogs never got closer than the final margin.
Up Next
Penn and Harvard will meet in the Ivy League Tournament final on Sunday at noon, the winner of the game will earn the Ivy League’s bid into the NCAA Tournament. Sunday’s game will be televised live on ESPN2.
Related: Taking in a game with the head of NCAA men’s basketball officials