PHILADELPHIA – Penn shot 60 percent and benefited from 59 combined points by Clark Slajchert and Jordan Dingle to defeat Colgate 81-69 Saturday evening at the Palestra.
Colgate dropped to 0-2 in the inaugural Cathedral Classic, while Penn, which was picked to win the Ivy, improved to 2-0. The Raiders close out the weekend against Hartford on Sunday.
Colgate bolted out front 13-0 with a 5-for-6 clip from the field, including two 3-pointers from Braeden Smith and Oliver Lynch-Daniels. Tucker Richardson and Ryan Moffatt made two key shots, and Keegan Records converted a three-point play to cap the burst.
Penn's first basket came at the 13:29-mark when Dingle drove inside for the fast-break layup. Dingle connected on a 3-pointer and the Quakers responded with a 9-2 spurt to slice the margin to 16-11 before a Records hook shot ended the run.
The teams traded points through the middle stages of the frame. Records earned some tough buckets underneath but then Penn caught fire. Dingle hit two more 3s and the home team had a 10-for-10 stretch from the field to build a 27-24 lead with 4:40 showing.
Penn's Dingle did not start but played 18 minutes in the first half, leading his team with 14 points at the break. Records scored 12 for the Raiders, who trailed 34-31 at the intermission.
Colgate turned the ball over four times in the first four minutes of the second half and Dingle scored five quick points to build Penn's lead to 42-33 with just over 15 minutes to play.
Another tough sequence – Penn's Slajchert made a contested shot on the baseline, and then a foul under the basket gave the Quakers another possession, and Slajchert made a 3-pointer for a five-point swing in about eight seconds to stretch Penn's lead to 59-48 with 8:26 to play.
Chandler Baker kept the Raiders in it with 14 points in the second half but the Raiders could not answer defensively. Penn shot 64 percent on its home floor and carried a double-digit lead for most of the way en route to the 81-69 final score.
Records led the Raiders with 17 points. Baker had 14 on a perfect 6-of-6 from the field, and Richardson finished with 10 points and five steals.
Slajchert ended up leading Penn with a career-high 33 points, while Dingle had 26.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Matt Langel
"One of those nights where you just have to tip your cap to those guys on the offensive end. Certainly, we could've done some things differently to play better on both ends of the floor, but their two scoring displays (Slajchert and Dingle) were obviously significant.
"Hartford is going to be another challenge for us on Sunday. They fight hard, they're learning about themselves, and on any given night can be a difficult group to defend. We'll have to work hard and be attentive to the details on Sunday to get the result that we want."
UP NEXT
Colgate (4-4) closes out the inaugural Cathedral Classic with a 2 p.m. tip-off against Hartford on Sunday from the Palestra.
