EASTON, Pa. – The Lafayette men's basketball team was clicking in all areas of the floor on Tuesday evening at Kirby Sports Center, shooting 54.2 percent from the field with 17 assists and just five turnovers to knock off Penn for the first time since the 2014-15 season by an 86-75 final.
 
Penn, picked second in the Ivy League Preseason Poll and coming off a win over SEC opponent Alabama on the road earlier this month, couldn't stay with a potent Lafayette attack, putting a season-best 86 points on the board. The Leopards move back above the .500 mark at 3-2 on the year, while Penn falls back to 2-2 this season.
 
Junior Justin Jaworski hit 4-of-6 from beyond the arc to lead five Leopards in double-figure scoring for the first time this season. Jaworski finished with 20 points and tied a career-high with six assists, while adding a career-best three steals in the victory.
 
Sophomore Isaac Suffren had the best offensive showing of his career with 19 points on 7-of-11 from the field and 4-of-4 from the foul line. Classmate Tyrone Perry added a career-high 12 points, hitting three of his four shot attempts, while seniors Myles Cherry and Lukas Jarrett added 13 and 10 points, respectively.
 
After allowing 39 points on 53.3 percent from the field to the Quakers in the first half, the Leopards locked down in the second, holding Penn to a 38.7 percent mark overall and just 5-of-19 from three-point range (26.3%) in the second 20 minutes. Devon Goodman led the visitors with 15 points, but committed five turnovers, while AJ Brodeur was just two assists shy of a triple-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds and eight helpers.
 
The win for the Maroon and White marks the third this year over an Ivy League opponent in four scheduled matchups, heading to Cornell for the final interleague battle on Dec. 7. The three wins against Ivy foes is a first for the program since the 2007-08 campaign and Lafayette hasn't beaten four Ivy programs in the same season since 2000-01.
 
Lafayette came out sizzling with Jaworski hitting his first two triples to send the Leopards to an 8-6 advantage at the opening media break. The Leopards' lead got as high as six, but Penn settled in, using an 11-2 run over a three-minute span to a take a 22-19 advantage into the midway point of the half.
 
The Leopards withstood a cold stretch that saw the Penn lead only grow as high as seven before an 11-2 run, with six from Jarrett, put Lafayette back in front, 32-30 with 5:10 to play. The rest of the half was played within that margin as the Maroon and White held onto a 40-39 advantage into the break.
 
Penn scored the first four out of the intermission, but Cherry's three, his fourth in five attempts this season, sparked an 11-6 spurt that put the Leopards back ahead, 51-49, with 15:43 to play. Lafayette continued that momentum into the midway point as a strong finish through a foul from Suffren took the game under 11 minutes remaining with the home lead at nine, 64-55.
 
The Leopards didn't let up through the eight-minute mark as an above-the-rim finish from Suffren off a transition feed from Jaworski made it 72-59 in favor of the Maroon and White. Penn closed the gap as close as six on a layup with 2:35 left, forcing Lafayette to win it down the stretch, but Jarrett answered the call as his driving layup through a foul out of the timeout with just over two minutes to play proved to be the final dagger in an 86-75 victory.
 
The Leopards close the three-game homestand in their next contest on Sunday, hosting Fairleigh Dickinson at Kirby with opening tip set for 1 p.m.