Penn holds off Yale to win Ivy League opener

It was the first Ivy League game of Miles Cartwright's career, and with Yale bearing down on the Quakers Friday night at the Palestra, the guard from Van Nuys, Calif., made his presence felt.

The 6-foot-3 Cartwright, who claimed a starting spot with the Quakers nine games into his freshman season, scored five consecutive points late in the second half to propel Penn to a 66-58 win in its league opener.

Penn was up by 50-45 with 4 minutes, 52 seconds remaining when guard Zack Rosen dropped in a jumper to extend his team's lead to seven points. Cartwright then put the Bulldogs away with a pair of free throws and a three-point jumper that left Yale looking at a 57-46 deficit with 2:58 to go.

"It was great, especially since we got the win," Cartwright said about experiencing an Ivy League game. "It was very intense, and about what I expected."

Yale, which played catch-up from the opening tip, got within 61-56 with 46 seconds to play but couldn't complete a comeback after trailing by 11 at intermission. Its winning streak ended at four games.

Penn improved to 7-8 overall. Yale, which has a pair of victories over Brown in league play, dropped to 9-8 and 2-1.

Cartwright led the Quakers with 18 points. Rosen (16), forward Jack Eggleston (13 points, eight rebounds), and swingman Tyler Bernardini (10) also scored in double figures.

For Yale, forward Greg Mangano collected 20 points and guard Porter Braswell finished with 19. Mangano, a 6-foot-10 junior who entered the game leading the Ivy League in rebounding and blocked shots, was averaging 14.8 points per game to rank fourth in the conference.

He had three blocks and eight rebounds against Penn.

"I thought [Yale] did a phenomenal job of weathering the storm, and they came back and played with a great sense of urgency," Penn coach Jerome Allen said. "We talked about making plays when we need to make plays, getting stops when we need to get stops - all the things that good teams do. All in all, our guys did a pretty solid job of sticking to the game plan and playing with effort."

At the outset, Penn was challenging shooters and playing help defense the way it's supposed to be played, making it difficult for the visitors to get into their offense.

After taking a 24-6 advantage, the Quakers were up by 35-24 at the break. Yale was limited to 7-for-25 shooting while Penn was 14 for 28.

"They started with great defensive intensity, and we didn't match it with our offense," Yale coach James Jones said. "I don't think we were very tough in the first half in terms of getting where we wanted to go and moving the ball where we wanted to move it. Penn dictated to us in the first half."

Like their counterparts around the country, the coaching staffs wore sneakers in support of the American Cancer Society, in conjunction with Coaches vs. Cancer.