Penn basketball falls to Princeton in overtime, 68-65, in Ivy League opener

PRINCETON, NJ -- Princeton coach Mitch Henderson clearly put the Penn-Princeton basketball rivalry in perspective. In the opening Ivy League game for both teams, in which each played like expected contenders, Princeton made more plays down the stretch in a 68-65 overtime win over the Quakers on Saturday at Jadwin Gymnasium.

"If this makes any sense, this was a harder game than Arizona State, much harder, much tougher in every way,” Henderson said. In its previous game on Dec. 29, Princeton earned a 67-66 upset over at Arizona State, a team that has beaten Kansas and was ranked No. 17 before facing the Tigers.

“I don’t know how to describe it, but next week is going to be hell," Henderson said.

Henderson was referring to the fact that Penn and Princeton will meet Saturday at the Palestra. It’s the first time in Penn history the series with Princeton will be completed before the Quakers play another Ivy League game.

Penn has now lost three in a row in dropping to 10-5 while Princeton (8-5) has won three straight.

Penn trailed, 59-51, when Richmond Aririguzoh followed his own miss with a layup at 5:06 left in the second half. The Quakers responded and took a 62-61 lead on Devon Goodman’s corner three-pointer with 56 seconds left. Princeton tied it when Sebastian Much hit one of two free throws with 39 seconds remaining.

Penn turned it over with 12.4 seconds left as Goodman dribbled the ball off his foot. The game went into overtime after Jaelin Llewellyn missed a jumper over Jake Silpe and Aririguzoh then failed on a tip at the buzzer.

In the overtime, Penn shot 0 for 5 from the field and just 3 of 8 from the foul line. Princeton wasn’t must better at 2 for 9 and 2 of 4 from the line.

“Our Achilles' heel is getting to the rim and finishing,” Penn coach Steve Donahue said. “Our guys were disappointed but I thought we had our chances to finish at the rim and get high quality shots and we didn’t."

Penn was led by 6-8 all-Ivy League junior AJ Brodeur, who had 18 points, 15 rebounds, and two blocked shots, while Goodman added 15 points. Princeton was paced by Aririguzoh, a 6-9 junior, who had 20 points and seven rebounds and 6-5 senior Myles Stephens added 11 points and 16 rebounds.

Devon Cannady’s floater with 44 seconds left in overtime gave Princeton a 66-64 lead.

Brodeur then missed two free throws, but Max Rothschild got the offensive rebound and was fouled with 20.7 seconds left.

Rothschild made it 66-65 by hitting one of two free throws. Princeton then turned the ball over on the in-bounds pass.

Penn’s Goodman then missed a driving layup. Princeton’s Jerome Desrosiers got the rebound and fed Much who was fouled with 6.5 seconds left. Much had a 1-and-1 and made both to extend the lead to 68-65.

Goodman, who had a sensational two-way game, missed a three from the top of the key as Princeton, which was 1-4 last year in Ivy League overtime games, held on.

Freshman forward Michael Wang, and Rothschild, who missed the past one and three games respectively due to injury, returned to the lineup for Penn. Wang had four points, shooting 1 for 6 and Rothschild ended with three points and six rebounds in 29 minutes.