La Salle closes out 84-81 win against City 6 rival Penn in overtime

The atmosphere in the Palestra certainly matched the historic City 6 rivalry between Penn men’s basketball and La Salle on Saturday afternoon.

In thrilling fashion, La Salle edged Penn, 84-81, in overtime to hand the Quakers back-to-back overtime losses (Penn fell to St. Joseph’s, 85-80, on Nov. 30).

“Once again, we took a team to overtime, played hard,” coach Steve Donahue said of his 5-6 Quakers. “We can play better. We’re certainly disappointed but not discouraged.”

With guard Clark Slajchert injured, Penn’s offense leaned heavily on junior guard Jordan Dingle, who delivered a game-tying shot to send the game into overtime. Dingle had a career-high 37 points, making 12 of 22 shots from the field.

La Salle’s Anwar Gill has been validating head coach Fran Dunphy’s recent decision to bump his minutes, as he led the Explorers (4-4) with 26 points, six rebounds, and three steals.

Junior guard Jhamir Brickus also carried the load in scoring (25 points), shooting 6-of-8 from three-point territory.

The Explorers struggled to find consistency on offense at the jump, which allowed the Quakers to take an early 18-8 lead.

Both teams had trouble from deep in the first half, shooting a combined 7-of-27 from behind the arc. However, Gill and freshman forward Rokas Jocius each hit a much-needed three to keep the game close at 25-16 near the end of the half.

A one-handed dunk by Gill left the Explores trailing just 35-32 at halftime.

As the Explorers continued to chip away, Gill scored on a fast-break layup that tied the game, 52-52, with 11 minutes to play in regulation.

While the Explorers tried to increase their lead, Dingle responded with five points to tie the game at 63.

But when Brickus missed a pair of free throws with La Salle up four, the Quakers found Dingle, who hit a miraculous step-back three at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

“I was ready to walk down to the other end of the court at the end of regulation when Dingle’s shot goes in,” Dunphy said. “Just say, ‘Can you believe this is happening — that we’re going to overtime here?’”

In overtime, Dingle made back-to-back threes. However it wasn’t enough as the Quakers struggled to contest La Salle shots down the stretch.

La Salle hosts Bucknell (6-3) on Tuesday (7 p.m., ESPN+). Penn continues its string of City 6 matchups at Villanova (3-5) on Wednesday (7 p.m., CBS Sports Network).