Penn falls to Yale, 81-72, as Jalen Gabbidon scores 32

Penn was unable to stop Jalen Gabbidon, as Yale went on to defeat Penn, 81-72, Friday night at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.

“I’m really proud of our guys; they fought,” said Penn head coach Steve Donahue. “Give Yale credit, I thought they played better than us tonight for sure.”

The Quakers (11-13, 8-3 Ivy League) overcame a sluggish start offensively and relied on bench contributions to keep the game close. Yale (15-9, 9-1) began making their three-pointers in the second half and had enough left in the tank at the end to secure the victory.

Clark Slajchert led Penn with 18 points off the bench.

Gabbidon led all scorers with 32 points.

In the game’s opening 10 minutes, Penn had trouble taking care of the ball, committing seven turnovers during the stretch. In the entire game of last Saturday’s win against Princeton, the Quakers committed only 11 turnovers.

“We were probably a little out of sorts at the beginning,” said Donahue.

Luckily for the Quakers, Yale didn’t have an explosive start, either. Penn held the lead at the under-16, under-12, and under-eight minute media timeouts in the first half, thanks in large part to substantial bench contributions from Sjachert and Nick Spinoso.

The offense rhythm would begin to set in for both teams around the 11-minute mark in the first half, creating the sort of back-and-forth battle expected of two teams battling for first place in the conference.

Azar Swain, behind only Dingle atop the Ivy League in points-per-game average, was held scoreless for the first 16 minutes of the game. He scored eight of the final 12 first-half points for Yale, swinging the momentum to the Bulldogs.

Yale led 36-32 at halftime. Penn’s turnover total had reached 10 heading into the break.

Although Penn out-rebounded Yale, 41-33 in the game, the Quakers had problems stopping the Yale big men in the post on defense. After shooting just 16.7% from three in the first half, Yale adjusted at the break, shooting only open three-pointers and relying on their big men to provide some of the scoring in the second half.

Penn kept the game close with timely shots of their own. Then, the three-pointers started to fall for Yale. Just when Penn seemed to figure out their post defense, the Bulldogs hit back-to-back-to-back three-pointers. The offensive explosion ignited a 12- 2 run by the Bulldogs that grew the Penn deficit to nine points.

Penn would fight to cut the deficit to one point with just under four minutes to play after back-to-back three-pointers from Slajchert.

“Clark has been doing this all year for us when we need a bucket,” said Donahue. “I thought he competed guarding Swain and on the offensive end, he made big plays.”

Along with Slajchert, Spinoso also had a strong second half, adding six points in just four second-half minutes.

The final three minutes of the game was hectic. Jonah Charles hit a three-pointer to put the Quakers up by one point. Then Yale threw down a dunk. Yale advantage, back up by one point. Charles came down the court and launched a three of his own that missed.

Yale then hit a three-pointer and a reverse layup on the subsequent possession to grow their lead to six. After consecutive missed shots by Penn, the Bulldogs sealed the game at the free-throw line.

Jelani Williams, with a pink cast on his left hand, was unavailable for the Quakers in the game. George Smith was slotted into the starting lineup in his place.

Not having Williams was a huge loss for the Quakers, who rely on his energy and experience on-the-court. Perhaps the early sloppiness can be attributed to the Quakers adjusting to the new starting lineup.

“Jelani is our head and shoulders and our heart and soul,” said Donahue.

Williams was barking instructions out from the bench, encouraging his players to shoot on offense and to play defense.