Men's hoops takes EA Sports out of the game, 72-59

In its first action this year, the men's basketball team looked as though it might be on its way to being better than last year's Ivy League champion squad.

The Tigers defeated EA Sports East, a group of recent college graduates, 72-59, in an exhibition game last night at Jadwin Gym. Junior forward Ray Robins, who had 10 points, punctuated the victory with two thundering dunks. His first was an alley-oop from sophomore forward Andre Logan with nine minutes, 14 seconds left in the first half. The dunk was Princeton's first in over a season.

Logan started the game for the Tigers, along with sophomore Konrad Wysocki and senior Mike Bechtold in the frontcourt. Junior Kyle Wente and sophomore Ed Persia were the starting guards.

Behind this veteran lineup, the Tigers came out of the gate quickly, jumping out to a 19-6 lead, and never trailed in the contest. Princeton's offense of three-pointers and layups gave EA Sports fits all night.

Logan had four points, three rebounds, a block and an assist during Princeton's early run. He played 26 minutes in the game, 12 fewer than fellow sophomore Persia. The guard was on the floor longest for Princeton, playing 36 of 40 minutes and running the point for much of the game. Senior guard Ahmed El Nokali missed the contest with a strained groin, but head coach John Thompson III '88 explained that the senior would have played if it had been a regular-season game.

Persia filled El Nokali's shoes admirably, chalking up 16 points and seven assists. Six of his points came in a five second span in the first half. Persia's spurt came courtesy of EA Sports' Jermain Willform's temper.

With 14:17 left in the half, Willform grabbed an offensive rebound and made a move toward the basket. He was hacked but called for traveling prior to the foul. Willform jabbed with the referees as he headed downcourt, eventually picking up a technical foul.

This served only to further infuriate Willform, who raised the volume of his criticism and was ejected from the game with his second technical foul. He refused to leave until one of EA Sports' assistant coaches escorted him off the court, but not before he nearly bumped a referee.

After the ejection, Persia stepped to the charity stripe for four free throws. The sophomore hit the first three and missed the final one, and the Tigers controlled the offensive board. Persia got the ball, stepped behind the three-point line and hit his shot, giving Princeton a 17-6 lead.

"Eddie played really well," Thompson said. "He's made progress from being a freshman to a sophomore. We're going to need him to shoot more this year."

Persia went three-for-five from downtown but was upstaged by his teammate Bechtold. The senior hit five of eight three-point attempts, including three in the closing minutes, and finished with 17 points to lead all scorers.

Bechtold and El-Nokali will be called on this season to provide some leadership for a promising freshman crop. Four freshmen saw playing time and they combined for 12 points.

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Judson Wallace, a 6'8" forward, led the class of '05 with six points on two three-pointers. Guard Will Venable played 14 minutes, the most of the freshmen, and scored four points.

The Tigers' two tallest players — 6'10" freshman centers Dominick Martin and Mike Stephens — also saw action for the first time in a Princeton uniform. Martin had a nice hook shot off the glass for a bucket but picked up four fouls in just 11 minutes.

"Quite honestly, I should have left [the freshmen] in longer," Thompson said. "They have to get better — they're pretty talented, but right now they're bumbling around like freshmen do."