The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team had its collective hearts broken on this Valentine's Day, the Quakers falling 72-71 to Ivy League leader Yale Friday night at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.

  Penn trailed by as many as 16 early in this game but came all the way back and held the lead twice in the closing minutes. However, it was the host Bulldogs who scored the game's final three points and made the defensive stops when they needed them to pull out the victory.

  Penn is now 6-15 overall and fell to 2-6 in league play. Yale remains unbeaten in Ivy play (8-0) and is 15-6 overall.

 
*This was Penn's first one-point game since the Quakers opened the season with a pair of one-point wins against NJIT and UMES.

  *Just 13 days after being outrebounded by 11 by Yale, Penn outrebounded the Ivy League's leader in rebound margin—the Bulldogs were +10.6 in Ivy play entering Friday—38-32 including 12-10 on the offensive glass (winning the second-chance battle, 18-10).

  *Penn started the game 0-12 on three-point shots but finished 11-of-30, the fifth time in six games and eighth time in 11 the Quakers reached double digits in treys.

  *Penn got 20 points from the bench on Friday, most since scoring 20 against Dartmouth in the Ivy League opener on January 11. The Quakers won the bench scoring battle tonight, 20-11.

  *Sophomore Sam Brown led all scorers with 23 points, his second 20-point game in league play and third overall this season.

  *As part of that performance, Brown was 4-of-8 on three-point shots; he also had three assists (without a turnover) and two rebounds.

  *Junior Ethan Roberts was the Quakers' only other double-digit scorer, with 10 points, and he added five rebounds.

  *Sophomore Niklas Polonowski scored nine points on a trio of three-pointers and had two boards.

  *Senior Nick Spinoso finished the night with eight points, seven rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots.

  *Freshman AJ Levine scored five points on Friday and led the Quakers in rebounds (8) and assists (5).

  *Sophomore Augustus Gerhart and freshman Michelangelo Oberti added a nice bump to the lineup up front on Friday. Gerhart recorded four points, five rebounds (three offensive) and four assists in less than 22 minutes while Oberti—who saw his first meaningful minutes in Ivy play—had four points, three boards and two assists in less than 15 minutes.

  *Yale—which committed just three turnovers on Friday night, one shy of the opponent low in the Steve Donahue coaching era—put all five starters in double figures as Bez Mbeng scored 18 points; Nick Townsend, Samson Aletan and Casey Simmons all scored 11; and John Poulakidas finished with 10. Simmons also had seven rebounds, while Townsend had four boards and four assists.

 
Much like the game 13 days ago at The Palestra (a 90-61 Yale win), Friday night's contest looked like it might be over before it started. Yale hit five of its first six shots—two of them three-pointers by Mbeng—and the Bulldogs led at the first media timeout, 12-2. Another run, this time 10-0 over three minutes, pushed Eli in front 26-10 and it was still 28-14 at the under-8 media timeout with 6:31 left in the half.

  The game began turning after that. Levine hit a pair of free throws out of the stoppage, and then Dylan Williams knocked down a trey after Penn had started the game 0-for-12 beyond the arc. Spinoso then blocked a shot at the defensive end and Gerhart converted a miss of his own layup. Just like that, Penn had halved the deficit. Yale got the lead back up to ten, but Williams' triple proved contagious as Roberts and Polonowski dialed long distance to get the Quakers within four, at 33-29. Poulakidas responded with the next four points, but Polonowski gave the Red and Blue a massive bump when he channeled Villanova 2016 and banked in a triple at the halftime buzzer. That sent the teams to the locker room with Yale up, 37-32.

— Penn Men's Basketball (@PennMBB) February 15, 2025

Penn then started the second half with the ball and Gerhart immediately scored, making this a three-point game, and it was officially game on from that point.

  This looked like it was going to be one of those games where the veteran Ivy leaders were going to keep Penn at bay, the Bulldogs building their lead up to as many as 10 points as the second half reached its midpoint. When Simmons finished a second-chance driving layup, Yale's lead was 67-59 and the clock was going under six minutes.

  Penn roared back with the game's next nine points. Spinoso was the catalyst, scoring the first six points on three straight possessions, and then Brown surprised everyone in the gym with a logo three that found nothing but net. Suddenly, Penn had its first lead of the night, 68-67, and the clock was coming up on three minutes to play.

— Penn Men's Basketball (@PennMBB) February 15, 2025

Poulakidas quickly put Yale back in front, hitting a jumper in the lane, and after the under-4 media timeout the Quakers had three bites at the apple without converting. However, Yale went empty on its next possession and a Polonowski missed three-pointer went long to Brown who dialed his own long distance call to put Penn up, 71-69.

  Yale had another fruitless set, and Penn went deliberate on offense and ran the clock down. The Quakers were left with Spinoso taking a hurried shot from the top of the key to beat the shot clock and it was off the mark. As the clock went inside a minute, Yale went right to Townsend on the baseline and he found Isaac Celiscar underneath. Penn fouled him, and the freshman made one of two free throws to make it a one-point game with 48.3 seconds left.

  Once again, Penn was deliberate on offense and it burned them. This time the best they could get was a shot from Brown deep along the left baseline that missed the rim as the shot clock went off, giving the ball to the Bulldogs with 18.2 seconds left.

  Yale could have held for the last shot but didn't bother. Townsend got the ball up top, dribbled along the elbow, drew a double team and again found Celiscar under the basket. This time the freshman made the open layup and the Bulldogs led, 72-71, with 8.2 seconds remaining.

  Penn quickly drove the ball down the court but Yale—with a stunning four fouls to give—fouled Levine as he went over half court, Penn then inbounded from the left side but struggled to find an open man, and ultimately the pass to the top of the key was tipped by a Yale defender into the hands of his Bulldog teammate. The Quakers could not find a man to foul before the final horn sounded.

 
Penn is back in action on Saturday night, facing Brown at 6 p.m. in Providence. The Bears are coming off a 70-56 win over Princeton Friday night in Providence, improving to 3-4 in league play with the victory.

  For the latest on Penn men's basketball, follow @PennMBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.

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