Men's hoops tops Bears, falls to Elis

The sellout crowd of 3,100 invaded the court as the team's star finished the visiting team with an emphatic dunk at the buzzer. The home team, with not a single senior on its roster, had just won 60-50, grabbing first in the Ivy League. But it was not Jadwin Gym, and the home team was not Princeton. The setting was the Lee Amphitheater, at Yale.

The previously undefeated Princeton men's basketball team (10-8 overall, 5-1 Ivy League) faced a crucial challenge this weekend: traveling to Providence, R.I. and New Haven, Conn. to face Brown (12-8, 4-4) and Yale (15-5, 7-1).

Two victories would secure first place in the league, with the winner of the Yale-Penn Friday matchup two games back. Positive results against the Bears and the Elis would provide the team extra momentum after the injury to sophomore forward Andre Logan, who had been the Tigers' top scorer. Most importantly, sweeping the opponents would supply the team with confidence for the game against archrival Penn on Tuesday.

Saturday, the New Haven arena was filled with Yale fans pumped up after their team's victory over Penn. Their team was now 6-1 in the Ivy League and, with a victory against the Tigers, would take first place.

Seconds into the game, Yale sophomore Paul Vitelli made a three-pointer that brought the crowd to its feet. The energy level grew more with every Eli point, and the fans started booing whenever senior guard Ahmed El Nokali touched the ball.

On the Yale side junior, Ime Archibong hadn't missed a shot and Vitelli was six for eight with fifteen points. Nevertheless, strong team play and perfect free throw shooting helped the Tigers to keep the game tied at 30 at halftime.

The second half started as tight as the first half. Thirteen minutes into the game, Yale was up 42-41 when junior guard Kyle Wente made two free throws to put Princeton ahead. However, three-pointers by Yale freshman Alex Gamboa and Archibong, followed by a layup by junior T.J. McHugh, soon put the Elis in front 50-45.

And when the Tigers seemed to be coming back, Wente was called for his fifth foul. He had stolen a rebound off a missed shot with Tigers down by four with 1:45 left. Instead of an uncontested layup and a two-point game, Princeton lost its top scorer of the night and trailed by six after Yale converted both foul shots.

The Tigers would not score a single point after that. In fact, Princeton did not score a single field goal after Wente made a jumper with 9:24 to play. The Tigers ended the second half with a 22.7% shooting percentage. El Nokali went three for 12 from the field and 0-7 from beyond the arc. The only Princeton player to score in double figures was Wente, who scored 16 points and had seven rebounds in 33 minutes.

Yale was led by McHugh, who scored 15 points. Archibong ended the game with a spectacular dunk at the buzzer that made the final score 60-50 and provoked the 3,100-strong crowd to swarm the court in celebration.

"We knew that Yale was a tough opponent, but we never expected to lose this game like this," said Wente.

Princeton now trails Yale in the league standings by one game.

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"The loss against Yale definitely effects our motivation towards the game against Penn," senior forward Bechtold said. "Now in every game we will be playing for first place, and we can't make more mistakes."

Coming into the weekend, Princeton had feared Brown as an experienced rival. The Bears have been the only Ivy team to beat Yale this year.

The Princeton-Brown game was incredibly close until halftime. Junior forward Ray Robins hit the five field goals he attempted, including two three-pointers, to give Princeton a 33-31 lead after a first half in which both teams shot well.

The second half, however, was definitely orange and black. A three-pointer by Robins started the second stanza, and then Princeton took the game away from the Bears from the perimeter. The Tigers went on a 16-1 run, sending Brown fans to the exits.

Brown would get no closer the rest of the night, and Princeton would lead by as many as 22 at 63-41. By the time there were three minutes to go on the clock, few of those 2,850 Brown fans remained in the stands.

Robins led Princeton with 16 points, shooting six for nine from the field and three for six from three-point range. The Tigers shot 57 percent from the field, while the Bears finished the night at 49 percent.