Men's basketball bounces back with pair of victories

The Princeton players placed themselves like pegs along the three-point line, stringing up screens along the perimeter. Tiger after Tiger stepped into the newly protected private space, shielded from the crashing Big Green bodies and outstretched arms.

And as they stood alone on the arc, the men's basketball team proceeded to sink three-pointers with the casual grace of players shooting by themselves in a backyard. The Tigers (12-9 overall, 7-2 Ivy League) rode the strength of 16 three pointers — one short of the school record — to a much-needed 79-68 victory over Dartmouth (9-13, 2-7).

The next night against Harvard, senior forward Mike Bechtold struck during a crucial five-minute span midway through second half and converted the most important shots himself. With three straight three pointers and one lay-up, Bechtold scored 11 of the Tigers' 13 points as they transformed a 36-34 deficit into a serviceable 44-40 lead. Harvard (12-10, 5-5) would not lead again, and the Tigers escaped with a 70-59 victory.

With the weekend wins, Princeton snapped a two-game losing streak, and helped to wash away the stained memories of an abysmal performance Tuesday night against Penn. Against the Quakers, the Tigers struggled through one of their worst shooting games of the season. They followed it up with one of their best. The hapless Big Green, lacking the bristling power, height and athleticism of the Quakers, were just what the Tigers needed to restore their confidence.

"I feel great," Coach John Thompson '88 said Friday night. "We came out, we made shots, and that makes all the difference in the world."

Led by sophomore guard Ed Persia's 18 points, Princeton's scored its highest point total this season. Four Tigers scored in double figures, even though no player averages more than 8.8 points per game. Konrad Wysocki tied his career high with 17.

Though the lead contracted and expanded with the elasticity of a rubber band in the final few minutes, the distance between the teams never shrank below eight points. Dartmouth pulled to within eight with two minutes left in the game, 67-59, and hastily began fouling Tigers as soon as they touched the ball. But Princeton converted 12 of 16 free throws in the final two minutes.

Dartmouth refused to concede, but with less than a minute left all but decided. Freshman center David Gardner snatched a frantic feed from senior guard Flinder Boyd and flew towards the net, where he promptly banged the ball off the metal rim. The crowd hooted at the missed dunk attempt and despite a Dartmouth three-pointer with less than a minute to play, there would be no comeback.

The Dartmouth coach refused to comment on the game afterwards.

The Crimson would not be so easy. The four-guard lineup that had been effective against the undersized Big Green — senior Ahmed El-Nokali, junior Kyle Wente, sophomore Ed Persia and freshman Will Venable — was mostly shelved against sturdier Harvard.

The Crimson sped out to a 30-23 lead at halftime, as the Tigers appeared to be listless, their shooting touch faded. Harvard junior guard Patrick Harvey scored 17 points, while no Princeton player had more than six, on 43 percent shooting from the field.

"They weren't really beating our defense they were just beating us on effort alone," Bechtold said, who scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half. "If I'm going to go out, it's not going to be on effort."

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"The significant thing about Princeton is that I think they always have way of finding the man in rhythm," Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. "Michael was dead on. They were piling on the screens with him."

After halftime, Princeton switched to a man-to-man defense and was sparked by Bechtold's shooting and a breakout game from freshman center Dominick Martin, who collected seven of his ten rebounds and eight of ten points in the second half. Martin is still a freshman. He had three fouls in the last 90 seconds.

But his blend of boards and points was encouraging for Princeton.

"It's the most minutes in a game I've had and it really helped out.," Martin said. "I definitely got more confidence."

Lurking in the background of two wins were hints of future worries.

Another potential problem will be Penn.

After defeating Princeton, 62-38, the Quakers have gone on to outscore their opponents 178-113 in their next two games, including a 100-62 victory against Dartmouth Saturday night. It was the first time the Quakers scored 100 points since 1996.

The Princeton game seems to have unlocked a Pandora's box in the Palestra.

But that is a problem for another day.