Penn rallies past Dartmouth, 78-68

With only a handful of family and close friends permitted inside the usually raucous Palestra, where so many memorable games have been played throughout the years, it was eerily quiet as Penn took on Dartmouth in a Saturday matinee.

For a while, that seemed to benefit the visiting Big Green, who started out hot, hitting 11 of their first 17 shots. But then the Quakers began to find the range, too, both from inside and beyond the arc. Penn overcame a 10-point first-half deficit, before taking command in the last seven minutes of a 78-68 victory.

Max Martz and Jelani Williams led a balanced attack for Penn (6-11, 3-1 Ivy League) with 13 points apiece, followed by George Smith with 12, then Jordan Dingle and Clark Slajchert with 11 apiece. That enabled the Quakers, who shot 51.9% for the game, to pull away.

Brendan Barry’s 16 topped Dartmouth (4-10, 1-2).

“It’s definitely different — some guys feed off the crowd, but I like it,” said Williams of the small crowd. “As a leader on the court, I like to be able hear everything and to lock in on a defensive possession.”

After Penn dug out of a 38-34 halftime hole, the second half featured six ties and 10 lead changes. Lucas Monroe’s three-point play put the Quakers ahead to stay, 61-59, with 6 minutes, 46 seconds left. That triggered a 12-2 Quaker run to break the game open.

“We knew at beginning of the season we had a lot of talent; it was just figuring out how we were going to play and use it,” Williams said. “Once we got that squared away, guys have stepped into their roles and are playing with confidence.”

With Penn’s leading scorer Jordan Dingle (19.0 points per game) mostly kept under wraps by Dartmouth’s zone, it was left to the underclassmen to pick up the slack. Smith, a freshman, erupted for all 12 of his points in the first half, more than doubling his 5.1 ppg average, keeping the Quakers within striking distance. Sophomore Martz, averaging 8.5, helped lead the way, while Williams, Monroe, and Slajckert came up big down the stretch.

Quakers coach Steve Donahue praised his team’s ability to turn things around.

“You look at Dartmouth, they do such a good job staying in the gaps and not giving up wide open threes,” Donahue said. “We had chances in the first half and missed a lot of close shots. Our theme all week was you’re not going to get something early against Dartmouth because they do such a good job positionally. You have to watch the clock, reverse the ball and then attack. I thought we did that the second half.”

The celebrated Slajchert siblings matchup finally took place midway through the first half when Dartmouth senior Wes Slajchert entered the game to face his younger brother, Clark, a sophomore. But not really, since neither guarded the other.

Wes had the better of it in the first half, promptly draining a three-pointer to push Dartmouth’s lead to 26-18. Clark knocked down an earlier trey before his brother got on the court, then chipped in with eight key points down the stretch to help Penn take charge.

Penn now holds a 157-63 series lead over Dartmouth, which beat the Quakers in their last meeting in Hanover, N.H., 66-59, but hasn’t won here since 2017. ... Penn has played all four of its Ivy League games at home. The Quakers head to Princeton Monday, before taking on Yale back at the Palestra on Saturday.