The Quakers Hold Off a Bulldogs Rally For a 76 – 68 Win at The Palestra
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 1/22/2022 –
Yale closed to within four points. Jordan Dingle rose up and hit a key three-pointer with 1:37 remaining on the clock. It was a dagger three. The Yale players were making comments to Dingle about his three-point shooting. He did not make a three-pointer previously. Dingle took the challenge, let the shot go, and the University of Pennsylvania had the room needed to win.
“It was something that we needed,” said Dingle. “I knew it was getting to a point where we had to put points on the board to expand our lead. I tried to not let any of the past shots get in my way. My coach and my teammates were very confident, they told me to keep shooting and if I was open, take it. I took it and it went in.”
“They were making some slight comments about things, and those are things I take kind of personally. I wanted to show them you can’t do that every time against me. It may be a bad game, but I’m not a bad shooter.”
The sophomore guard scored a career-high tying 31 points making 13 of 24 field goal attempts, and the one important make of eight from three-point land. Dingle was in the midst of a scoring run. Including the shot from distance he scored 16 of 21 points for the Quakers down the stretch. For the team it had more impactful of when he went on a scoring run, not how many.
“They cut it to two or three, and you’ve got to call his number,” said Penn Coach Steve Donahue about Dingle. “He wasn’t making them. On the last one they dared him again. I wanted him to shoot.”
The Eli can look back at how costly the foul line was missing 7 of 11 free throws over the last nine minutes. Overall the Bulldogs went 19 of 28 from the charity stripe.
“One of the things that goes a little under the radar was, they didn’t shoot fouls, and we really shot fouls,” Donahue said. “To go 17 for 20 is a really big reason why we won as well.”
Penn held a 35 – 23 lead at halftime holding Yale to 29.6% shooting, and no three-pointers. Things changed in the second half. The Eli pulled to within a point twice, the last time with just over seven minutes to play. Prior to the run by Dingle, it was Quakers freshman guard Clark Slajchert who kept the Bulldogs from taking a lead scoring eight consecutive points for a 50 – 44 edge with just over 11 minutes to play.
“He got three or four buckets in the lane. He just manufactures them,” Donahue said about Slajchert. “We needed that as well to beat a team like Yale.”
Slajchert contributed 13 points and Max Martz added 11 points. Forward Michael Moshkovitz set a career-high pulling down 9 rebounds.
Yale had three players reach double-digits in scoring led by Jalen Gabbidon with 21 points, one shy of his season-high. Matt Knowling scored 13 points while Amar Swain added 12 points. Isaiah Kelly pulled down a season-best 11 rebounds.
The Red and Blue improves to 4 – 2 in the Ivy League, and bounced Yale (2 – 1) from the unbeaten ranks in the Ancient Eight. And protected their home court.
“It means everything,” Dingle said. “Any game can go to anybody. It’s a really tough conference. It means something playing in this building, a very historic building. There is a lot of winning tradition in culture here, and we need to continue to establish that.”
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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