Crimson push men's hoops to limit at home

Princeton men's basketball now owns bragging rights as the only Ivy team undefeated in league play. Those bragging rights, however, did not come as easily as expected, as the Tigers narrowly escaped with the win in a double-overtime thriller against Harvard.

Hosting two teams with similarly humble records, Princeton (11-6 overall, 4-0 Ivy League) was the heavy favorite over Dartmouth (3-17, 1-5) and the Crimson (2-18, 1-5). On Friday, the Tigers defeated the Big Green handily, 61-45. The next night, however, Harvard came out with an intensity that took the game into double overtime before the Tigers pulled away and won by a final score of 58-50.

Harvard brought to Princeton a squad hungry for an upset after an embarrassing 104-69 loss to Penn the night before. On Saturday, a stunned crowd of over 5,000 watched as the Crimson burst out to an early 18-10 lead in the first half. Harvard's stingy defense did not allow the Tigers any good looks at the basket early on.

A three-pointer from sophomore guard Scott Greenman ended the Crimson's momentum, however, and helped spark a 16-2 Princeton run. Senior guard Ed Persia's basket gave the Tigers their first lead of the night at 22-20, and Princeton added four more to end the half with a 26-20 lead.

The second half began with a rejuvenated Harvard defensive effort. The aggressive man-on-man coverage allowed few open looks at the basket, and the Tigers missed the few shots they had, including easy layups.

Only the Princeton defense kept the Crimson from running away with the game. Despite taking more than 12 minutes to score their first second-half field goal, the Tigers stayed within four points of Harvard with under three minutes remaining.

Field goals by junior guard Will Venable and freshman forward Harrison Schaen sent the game into overtime.

Another key Venable layup tied the game at the end of the first overtime, keeping Princeton alive.

In the second overtime, the Tigers finally found a way to penetrate Harvard's defense. With Princeton holding on to a tenuous 50-47 lead at 1:10 remaining, a Greenman three gave the Tigers the boost they needed to cap off the exhausting 58-50 win.

Coach Thompson emphasized the extraordinary intensity Harvard displayed.

"You've got to give Harvard all the credit in the world for how they came in here and performed," Thompson said. "They really executed well. They did a very good job of eliminating our open shots."

He also credited his own team for keeping its cool in the midst of such an overwhelming Crimson performance.

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"I think our guys showed a lot of character and a lot of heart," Thompson said. "It would have been easy to cave in."

Not so close

Against Dartmouth the night before, Princeton dominated the first half from the opening whistle. With their 7-of-10 performance from three-point land in that half, the Tigers surged out to as much as a 25-point lead.

More impressive than Princeton's offense, however, was its no-nonsense defense. It took Dartmouth over 15 minutes just to hit double digits. The Tigers denied the Big Green any open shots so that only eight of Dartmouth's 15 first-half points were from the field.

"There are some terrific shooters in the league," coach John Thompson '88 said. "We just tried to contest every shot."

Princeton led by as much as 28 in the second half before the Big Green closed the gap slightly, as the final score was 61-45.

The Big Green's standout freshman, Leon Pattman, racked up 18 points while enduring "ball hog" taunts from Tiger fans as he attempted over a third of Dartmouth's total field goals. Princeton's more well-balanced offense was led by junior forward Andre Logan and senior guard Ed Persia, who had 12 points apiece.

After the Big Green contest, Thompson stated his usual caution: "This is a league where everyone can beat everyone." The next night, Princeton fans found out how true that statement was when the Crimson came to Jadwin to contest the league-leading Tigers.

Princeton gained sole possession of first place in the league when Cornell suffered its first loss, a 67-48 contest against Yale on Saturday.

Tomorrow night, Penn comes to Princeton looking to mar the Tigers' unblemished record in a contest that promises to be every bit as exciting as Saturday's thriller.