Gamecenter: Penn 80, Dartmouth 78

1st 2nd Final
Penn (19-9, 10-1 Ivy) 38 42 80
Dartmouth (9-16, 4-8 Ivy) 32 46 78
Leede Arena – Hanover, NH Boxscore
 
Postgame audio
Penn: Glen Miller
Dartmouth: Terry Dunn
 
Keys to the Game
Key sequence After a pair of Leon Pattman free throws gave Dartmouth a 65-64 lead with 6:28 to go, DeVon Mosley fouled Ibby Jaaber on a three-point attempt in front of the Penn bench. The Penn guard proceeded to swish all three free throws to put the quakers back on top by two. Pattman missed the front end of a one-and-one at the other end before his fourth foul sent Penn into the double bonus. Brian Grandieri and Steve Danley sandwiched a pair of one-of-two trips to the line around an Alex Barnett miss to make it 69-65. After Jason Meyer missed a triple, Michael Kach scored on a two-on-one break to cap a 7-0 run that gave the visitors a six-point advantage. Dartmouth would battle back to within two points several times down the stretch but never could recover the lead.
Key sign it was over Ahead 75-73, Penn suckered Dartmouth with a home run pass from Grandieri to Danley for a dunk with 34 seconds remaining, but the Big Green answered nine seconds later on a layup in the paint by Elgin Fitzgerald to make it a two-point game again. Dartmouth fouled Danley to send him to the line and he missed the first before making the second for a 78-75 lead with 18.8 seconds to play. Dartmouth looked to tie with a long three-point try from straight out by Pattman, but it missed the mark. An offensive rebound by Mosley led to a second three-point attempt by Jason Meyer from the left corner that looked to be true, but kicked out. Danley finally salted away the thriller with a pair of free throws with 5 seconds left, before Pattman’s halfcourt heave at the buzzer found the bottom of the net for a meaningless final bucket.
Key performance Jaaber made 7-of-10 shots from the field, drained his only three-point attempt, and went 7-for-9 from the line to finish with a game-high 22 points. The Penn senior hauled down five rebounds and made three steals, while playing all 40 minutes.
Key statistic Dartmouth committed 27 personal fouls, resulting in 33 free throw attempts for Penn — compared to 18 for the hosts. The Quakers outscored the Big Green 23-14 at the line.
Notes

– Pattman was the top scorer for the Big Green with 20 points on 7-for-16 shooting, adding seven rebounds and three steals.

– Mark Zoller was limited to 16 minutes because of foul trouble, but the senior big man still scored 13 points for the Quakers.

– Barnett had another big game for Dartmouth with 14 points (on 6-for-9 shooting), nine rebounds, and five blocks.

– Freshman Darren Smith was the only Penn starter not in double figures, but he was 2-for-2 from outside the arc.

– Penn shot 56.0 percent in the first half and topped that in the second half with 59.1 percent to finish the game at 57.4. That shooting was critical because Dartmouth went 58.1 percent in the second half and 51.7 percent on the game.

– The Quakers made eight of their first nine shots from the field and their first three three-pointers while vaulting out to a 17-5 lead after five minutes. They began the second half the same way, hitting five of their first six shots.

– Penn now has won 21 consecutive games against Dartmouth although this one was a lot closer than most of the first 20, which came by an average of 18.7 points.

– The Big Green once again won the battle of the boards, grabbing 41.9 percent of the rebounds at their offensive end while holding the Quakers to 25.0 percent. Dartmouth had 21 second-chance points, including 13 in the second half, while Penn had two second-chance points in the first half and 10 for the game.

– The Big Green’s struggling inside game got a huge lift from freshman Elgin Fitzgerald who had 12 points (on five-for-six shooting) and four rebounds in 20 minutes.

– Penn returns home to host Yale (13-12, 9-3 Ivy) on Friday, March 2, at 7:00 pm ET, while Dartmouth heads out on the road to face Columbia (14-12, 5-7 Ivy).

Bruce Wood

Bruce Wood wrote 37 posts

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