Penn 54, Dartmouth 46: Stats, highlights and reaction from the Quakers’ victory

In a span of 27 hours this weekend, Penn showed the beauty of the Ivy League’s back-to-back weekend schedule.

The Quakers entered the Palestra on Friday afternoon already 0-2 in the Ancient Eight, facing a Harvard team that had owned them for the last few seasons and a bad weekend away from being in deep trouble for one of the league’s four bids to the postseason tournament.

They left Saturday night with a weekend sweep, following up a three-point victory over the Crimson Friday with an ugly 54-46 win over Dartmouth to stake its claim as a factor in the Ivy race.

On a night when leading scorer AJ Brodeur struggled to get in the flow offensively, Penn (10-7, 2-2 Ivy) was keyed by Devon Goodman. The senior guard scored 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting with five rebounds, two steals and two assists. Jordan Dingle chipped in with 13 points.

Brodeur was held to nine points on 4-for-16 shooting, including several missed layups at the rim that he would normally finish.

Dartmouth would rally in the second half, closing within five at 51-46 with 41 seconds to play after trailing by as many as 18 early in the second half. The Big Green (7-12, 0-4 Ivy) was led by Chris Knight, who scratched out 12 points on 5-for-16 shooting.

While the Quakers struggled early on getting into a steady offensive rhythm, the ultimate difference was the defensive pressure that they forced upon the Big Green.

Dartmouth shot 5-for-26 in the first half and was held without a field goal from Ian Carter’s layup with 8:26 left in the first half until Ian Sistare’s pull-up with 17:55 to go in the second half. The Quakers’ lead expanded from 16-12 to 32-16 in that time frame with Dartmouth shooting 0-for-8 and turning the ball over nine times.

“That’s a Saturday night in the Ivy League. They lost last night and were playing hard as heck. I just loved our grit and the fight that we showed,” said Penn coach Steve Donahue on the offensive struggles for both sides.

“Having back to backs, you have to forget about that Friday night game really fast. That was the key. I think mentally and physically, we were prepared,” said Goodman on putting the Harvard win to the side.

“We missed 11 or 13 shots in the paint in the first half. We missed four or five dead-eyed layups in the paint. You have to make those shots against good teams. When you don’t make those shots, it helps you lose your rhythm a little bit,” said Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin on the Big Green’s first half struggles.

“What’s most important is trying to play typical Penn basketball and show what we are trying to do here, competing and executing. And what we showed this weekend here — that’s us. We’re not the best team in the country. But when we play hard, we can beat anybody,” said Donahue on the value of the weekend.

Brodeur saw his streak of 40 straight games scoring in double figures against Division I opponents come to an end. It is the fourth-longest streak in Penn history behind Ernie Beck (74 games from 1951-53), Stan Pawlak (60 straight from 1964-66) and Ron Haigler (41 straight from 1974-75).

The Quakers shot 0-for-6 from beyond the three-point arc in the second half after going 5-for-12 from long range in the first.

Saturday’s win was the 1,800th in program history for the Quakers, making them the 19th Division I program to reach that milestone. Locally, Temple is ahead at 1,935 wins, which is good for fifth on the NCAA’s all-time list. Villanova stands at 1,792 wins.

Penn has won five in a row over Dartmouth after dropping six of nine against the Big Green from 2013 to 2017.

The previous time Penn held an opponent to 46 or fewer points came on Feb. 23, 2018, when they beat Dartmouth, 74-46 at the Palestra.