City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Penn put up a good fight against Ivy League favorite Yale, but the Bulldogs and senior forward Justin Sears were too tough down the stretch in a 79-58 victory.

At First…
Despite 13 first-half points apiece from Yale senior forwards Sears and Brandon Sherrod, Penn trailed by just five at the break against a Bulldog squad that came in tied for first place in the Ivy League. The Quakers shot 52 percent from the floor (13-of-25) over the opening 20 minutes to help them stay close behind an early 17-11 deficit on the glass and 14-6 deficit in terms of foul shots taken.

Turning Point…
Penn was still within two points seven minutes into the second half when Sears took charge. A 12-2 run punctuated by a Sears dunk off a steal made the lead a dozen with 10 minutes to play, and that was only the beginning. Penn managed just six points between the 13:33 mark and 5:29 mark of the second half, a span where the Bulldogs expanded the lead from two all the way to 18 on a Sears jumper.

Standout Stars…
Sears, a Plainfield (N.J.) native and the defending Ivy League Player of the Year, was too much for just about the entire Penn frontcourt to handle. The versatile 6-8 forward tied his career high with 31 points on 12-of-17 shooting, grabbing nine rebounds to boot. Sherrod finished with 15 points, only two of which came after halftime.

Penn was led by junior wing Matt Howard, who needed 13 shots to get to 16 points, while senior forward Darien Nelson-Henry added 15 on 6-of-11 from the floor.

Noteworthy Number(s)...
16.7: Penn's 3-point percentages were trending upwards near the beginning of Ivy league play, but a 3-for-18 performance from beyond the arc against Yale didn't help matters one bit. Sharpshooters Sam Jones was 1-for-6 and Jackson Donahue 1-for-5 against the Bulldogs, while Howard missed all five of his long range attempts.

Up Next…
Penn (10-13, 4-5 Ivy League) vs. Cornell (Feb. 26, 7 PM)
Yale (18-6, 9-1 Ivy League) vs. Harvard (Feb. 26, 7 PM)