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Quakers make a statement in revenge win over Princeton

01/06/2018, 8:45pm EST
By Jeff Griffith

Ryan Betley (above) and Penn topped Princeton for the first time since 2014. (Photo: Tommy Smith/CoBL)

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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On March 11, 2017, the Penn Quakers watched their 10-point lead be erased in a matter of five minutes. They watched — in their own stadium, in the Ivy League’s very first playoff game — as what had been a magical late push to reach the four-team conference tournament came to a close at the hands of their most bitter rivals, the Princeton Tigers.

They watched those rivals go on to win an Ivy title and nearly defeat fifth-seeded Notre Dame in front of a national audience in the NCAA Tournament.

Maybe if one more late shot attempt had been made or a couple more key rebounds had been grabbed, that could have been the Quakers. Then a freshman, Ryan Betley couldn’t help but picture his own team in the Tigers’ shoes.

“You come so close, of course you’re going to think that,” said Betley, who led the way with 18 points and 12 rebounds in that loss. “But it’s a matter of doing it.”

Ten months later, a 76-70 Penn victory over those same Princeton Tigers — the Quakers’ first win against their bitter rival since 2014 — proved that this team could very well be in that position in two months’ time.

It proved, if a strong non-conference performance hadn’t already, that Penn basketball is for real.

“Obviously, it means a lot to us and our team to beat Princeton,” junior center Max Rothschild said. “That’s our rival, they beat us at home last year in the tournament in overtime, we didn’t forget that. Our goal is to try to win the championship this year, and Princeton is a good test at first.”

“I thought it was a great college basketball game, and both teams I thought played well, played really hard, answered each other’s punch,” head coach Steve Donahue added. “I’m so proud of the energy and enthusiasm and grit we showed throughout the whole game, guarding, getting good shots, making big plays when we had to.”

Since his hiring ahead of the 2015-16 season, it took Donahue about two-and-a-half years to reach this point of league contention.

When he took over at Penn, the Quakers were fresh off of a 9-19 season with a 4-10 conference mark. Within two seasons, Donahue had his team back in the top half of the Ivy League.

To be able to wrap up a win in a pressure-packed rivalry game, particularly against a Princeton team Donahue — not to mention, anyone on the current Penn roster — had never beaten, speaks volumes to the culture change taking place in the Quakers’ program.

“They’re our rival and like every time I’ve played them, for the most part it’s come down to one or two possessions at the end,” junior center Max Rothschild said. “I think it’s a testament to our team and what coach donahue’s done with our program, you see our growth, and we can finally close these types of games out.”

Such a quick turnaround — one that appears to be continuing in an upward direction — came in large part because of Donahue’s very first recruiting class.

That group of 2016 recruits, which includes Betley, A.J. Brodeur and Devon Goodman, has already made remarkable contributions during the Quakers’ rise back into Ivy League contention. Most notably, Brodeur was a second-team All-Ivy selection last season and currently averages 10.5 points and 6.2 rebounds, while Betley has won Ivy League player of the week twice this season and leads the Quakers in scoring at 15.2 ppg.

Saturday, with 19 of his game-high 21 points coming in the first half, on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and 3-of-3 shooting from deep, Betley got things going for a Penn team that struggled offensively out of the gates. Behind his early outburst, the Quakers opened up a 36-27 halftime lead.

Out of the break, though, he was all but entirely locked down by Princeton senior guard Amir Bell, connecting on just one shot attempt.

“They played better defense in the second half, and I just had to do a better job of setting my teammates up with cuts and passes and stuff,” he said. “But credit them, they did a better job and that’s something I’ve got to learn how to play through.”

But as a testament to one of Donahue’s favorite new attributes of his team, a handful of other players — particularly the Quakers’ big men — were able to carry the torch when Betley’s hot hand went ice cold in the second half.

Rothschild — who had all 10 his points and three of his six boards after halftime — made multiple key three-point plays to keep the Tigers (7-8, 0-1 Ivy) at bay down the stretch. Brodeur also had eight of his 13 points in the second half, including a huge hook shot that pushed the Quakers’ lead to four under 30 seconds to play.

Junior guard Antonio Woods, who has enjoyed a double-digit outputs in three of his last four appearances, added 13 points of his own, including two free throws that put a bow on victory for Penn (10-5, 1-0 Ivy).

“I think that’s our strength of our team, we never say who are we going to go to, ‘He’s our go-to guy,’” Donahue said. “Ryan was hot, most of his stuff was off the doubling of the post in the first half, they were scrambling, he took advantage of it. They didn’t double in the second half, I thought we hurt them in the low block with Max and A.J. and cuts off of that.”

As Penn continues to make such strides as a program, its rapid improvement hasn’t gone unnoticed by Princeton’s head coach, Mitch Henderson.

“I’ve been watching them grow since a year ago, and they just keeps growing and we know that,” he said. “Kudos to them, they’ve been working at it and they’re much-improved, and that’s a good team that just beat us, that’s a good team. We know they’re going to win a lot of games.”

But no matter where the positive noise is coming from, the mantra from Quaker to Quaker is clear. At the end of the day, albeit an impressive victory against a talented rival, Saturday’s victory is just one win.

What matters most is still a couple of short months away.

“We’re not satisfied, we haven’t done anything yet,” Rothschild said. “We came in fourth last year, so our minds are set on a championship.”


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