At Lavietes Pavilion on Saturday, sophomore forward Kyle Wente was 9-for-12 from the field, 4-for-7 for three pointers and, most importantly, one-for-one on miracle last-second shots.
Wente saved the men's basketball team from being swept on the road this weekend with a career-high 22 points and an end-game heave from 25 feet out. The three-pointer edged Princeton (10-8 overall, 5-1 Ivy League) over Harvard (12-8, 5-3), 69-67.
The much-needed victory came one night after the Tigers dropped a nail-biter to Dartmouth, 57-56, for Princeton's first league loss of the season. The Big Green offense could not miss, shooting 54.8% from the field. Only Duke — when they went 57.1% — shot better against the Princeton defense.
Freshman forward Andre Logan had a chance to put the Tigers ahead in the closing seconds, but could not get the shot to go in as Dartmouth (7-14, 2-6) rebounded the ball to prevent any last-minute heroics.
Harvard would not escape as the Big Green did, however. In an exhilarating finish, a capacity crowd ran the gamut of emotions as the lead changed three times in the final minute. After going on 5-0 and 7-0 runs late in the second half, the Tigers, down by as many as eleven points in the half, trailed Harvard by just one point with a minute to play.
"We fought tonight," head coach John Thompson III '88 said. "We fought and were fortunate enough to get away."
The Tigers good fortune began with 48 seconds left in the game as senior center Nate Walton edged around Harvard's Sam Winter in the paint to hoist up a shot that bounced off the backboard, onto the rim, and finally decided to go in. Walton, who had 16 points and three steals, gave the Tigers their first lead in over 18 minutes of play.
Princeton now had to try and get a defensive stop on the Crimson, but first they had three fouls to give before Harvard would be sent to the line. After freshman guard Ed Persia and Wente committed fouls, the Crimson only had 13.1 seconds left to inbound the ball and get off a shot, and they rested their hopes on Harvard forward Dan Clemente. At the top of the key and under pressure, Clemente fell back, released the ball and found nothing but net, giving the Crimson a one point lead with 7.4 seconds to play.
The play that followed appeared as if it would have very little chance of succeeding.
"We wouldn't have done the last possession over again defensively," Harvard head coach Frank Sullivan said. "And we wouldn't have done the last possession over again offensively."
The Tigers had the daunting task of inbounding the ball, getting it down the length of the court, and making a basket in under seven seconds. That was the plan, at any rate.
As the Tigers attempted to inbound the ball to junior guard Ahmed El-Nokali, Harvard smothered the guard and plans had to change. Only Wente managed to get open, who immediately took the inbound pass and started to run it down the court. After almost losing the ball at halfcourt off a misdribble, Wente managed to get out in front of the top of the key before two Harvard defenders put themselves directly between Wente and the basket.
"By the time I stopped, while I was coming I saw the clock," Wente said. "It was all I could do."
With no time and no possibility to pass the ball to an open teammate, Wente took the ball in his right hand, hoisted it from his hip, threw the prayer up and over Harvard's Andrew Gellert and Pat Harvey and into the net. The perfect shot from 25 feet sent the home crowd into stunned silence as Wente was mugged by his fellow teammates.
"The makeup of our team is that we can lose to anyone in this league, and we can also beat anyone in this league," Thompson said. "Yesterday was tough — today was tough."
The Tigers desperately needed the win to keep their season alive after the previous night's loss at Dartmouth.
Princeton will face Penn Tuesday in Philadelphia to determine who will sit alone atop the Ivy League.
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