Junior guard Sam Brown looks to score against Yale on Feb. 1.
Credit: Devansh RaniwalaValentine’s Day brought no love to Penn men’s basketball as they failed to complete their comeback over the Bulldogs in the final minutes of the game.
Penn (6-15, 2-6 Ivy) dropped its second game in a row to Yale (15-6, 8-0 Ivy), heartbreakingly losing the matchup 72-71. The Quakers also lost last week's game against Princeton over one possession. From the start, Yale had aggressive playmaking, and the Bulldogs never ceded their lead to Penn until the last three minutes of the play.
The first half started slowly for Penn. Yale center Samson Aletan put up the first two points for the Bulldogs with a quick jumper, and the Bulldogs continued to control the scoreboard from that point on. Penn’s shots did not drain, which helped their opponents gain a ten-point lead just over four minutes into the half.
Freshmen on both sides had standout games in this contest. Freshman center Michelangelo Oberti played his second game for the Red and Blue and collected four points, three boards, and two assists in 15 minutes. Freshman guard AJ Levine finished the game as Penn’s leader in rebounds and assists with eight and five respectively. However, these two were no match for Yale’s 6-foot powerhouses: freshman forward Isaac Celiscar and junior forward Casey Simmons. In the first half alone, their domination on the boards was demonstrated by two crowd-rousing dunks that widened the Bulldogs’ lead.
With just under six minutes left in the half, junior guard Dylan Williams started some momentum for the Quakers when he hit a three-pointer seconds after being substituted in — marking the first triple for Penn of the game after eleven missed three-pointers from across the lineup.
Senior forward/center Nick Spinoso built on that momentum with a huge block on Simmons. Sophomore guard/forward Niklas Polonowski followed up with a made triple that cut the Quakers’ deficit to four points. The Bulldogs did not let the score gap continue to close as Yale guard John Poulakidas made a jumper and two free throws with seconds remaining in the half.
Polonowski didn't let the team go into the locker room without a bang though. He shot a buzzer-beating three from far beyond the arc that kept the Quakers in the game as they cut the deficit from eight to five points at the end of the first half.
Rebounding, especially offensively in the second half, was a strength for the Quakers. Although Yale ranks 16th in the NCAA for total rebounds while Penn is 252nd, the Quakers remained ahead in offensive rebounds and finished with twelve in comparison to Yale’s ten. These rebounds were imperative to keep Penn on Yale’s heels, such as when star junior guard/forward Ethan Roberts got two three-point attempts on one possession to decrease the score gap to five about four minutes into the second frame.
“[Yale is] a good rebounding team, and that was an emphasis for us going in,” coach Steve Donahue said. “I thought we really did a great job on the boards, and it led to some easy baskets offensively.”
The final half of the game was a long competition of cat and mouse that mostly maintained a lead of seven points for Yale. Nonetheless, sophomore guard Sam Brown quickly rose to the top for points after he knocked down a triple that brought him to his tenth point of the night with 10 minutes left in the half.
Brown’s dominance was notable as Roberts, who missed Penn’s last game due to an upper body injury, could not take his usual control of the team. Overall, Roberts finished with ten points and a 36.4% shooting average compared to 19 points and 47.1% shooting average during this season's last matchup against Yale.
Celiscar continued to drive Yale's aggressive play style as his steal, fastbreak, and finishing dunk shook the stands in New Haven. But Brown was not going to let the Bulldogs run away with the lead. He picked up even more steam in the last ten minutes of the game with a three-pointer followed by a highly contested jump shot that brought the score to 56-63.
In the final six minutes of play, Spinoso came in clutch with three successful shots in a row to keep the Quakers’ momentum and reduce their deficit to two points.
After a few more possessions, Brown — with a made triple — finally led Penn to its first lead of the night with a mere three minutes remaining.
“I thought second half, we really moved the basketball,” Donahue said. “We made quicker decisions [and] cut harder. When you do that, defenses collapse, and we got much better open looks … when we did that.”
Yale was not letting their eight-game win streak end without a fight, so they quickly responded by taking the lead by one point with a floater by Yale guard John Poulokidas. After another triple by Brown, Penn started to hear the bells of victory, but Celiscar sealed the deal for the Bulldogs with a layup in the final eight seconds. Despite Penn’s final possession, a turnover on an inbound pass by Roberts solidified Yale's victory, ending the game with a score of 71-72.
The Quakers complete their road trip weekend with a matchup against Brown on Feb. 15.
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