Men's basketball grinds out New York sweep

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were at it again.

The men's basketball team's schizophrenic season continued as Princeton (13-7 overall, 6-1 Ivy League) swept its New York road weekend to claim sole possession of first place in the Ivy League.

After using a sterling second half to overwhelm then league-leading Cornell (10-11, 5-3) on Friday night, 69-64, the Tigers barely scraped by sixth-place Columbia (6-15, 2-6) on Saturday, needing overtime to win 78-71.

If there was one constant for Princeton, it was the phenomenal play of junior guard Will Venable, who has emerged in the past three weeks as a viable candidate for Ivy Player of the Year.

Against Cornell, Venable scored a career-high 28 points and harassed Cody Toppert, the league's second leading scorer, into a horrendous game. The next night, it was Venable's layup that tied the game with five seconds left in regulation.

"My mindset is to attack the rim," Venable said on Friday. "I just keep going until I get stopped, and I didn't get stopped tonight."

Almost as critical as Venable's heroics was the performance of junior center Judson Wallace, who had his two best games of the Ivy League season, posting 22 points and nine rebounds on Friday and adding 23 and eight on Saturday. After looking unstoppable in November, Wallace had not broken the 20 point plateau in 2004.

But despite the individual heroics of Venable and Wallace, Princeton played unevenly as a team yet again. Friday night in Ithaca, Cornell jumped out to a 16-9 lead after the first 10 minutes, thanks to six Tiger turnovers and two Toppert threes.

Then the Tigers suddenly clicked, going on a 13-4 run as the Venable-Toppert match-up shifted in Princeton's favor. The Big Red guard shot 0-6 the rest of the game and eventually fouled out.

"He [Venable] did a terrific job on him [Toppert]," head coach John Thompson '88 said. "[Will's] got a big burden on his shoulders because he's normally guarding the best offensive player on the other team."

The Tigers pulled ahead by 10 early in the second half with a 9-0 run that included Wallace's first made three-pointer since early January. The streak was punctuated by an alley-oop from senior guard Ed Perisa to freshman forward Harrison Schaen, who freed himself with a backdoor cut and slammed the ball home.

Cornell fought back, however, parading to the charity stripe and cutting the gap to 47-45 with nine minutes to play. During the second half, a foul was called nearly every time a player from either team penetrated into the lane.

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Down the stretch, however, Venable and Wallace were simply too much for the Big Red to handle, as the duo scored 19 of the Tigers' final 22 points. Venable's twisting reverse layup off a backdoor cut with 1:35 left put Princeton up seven and essentially ended Cornell's chances.

The following night in New York City, the Tigers once again started sluggishly, missing five layups and committing eight turnovers in the first half. Meanwhile, the Lions shot 5-9 from beyond the arc, taking an 11 point lead into the break.

Princeton got back into the game after intermission, briefly grabbing a 40-39 lead with 13:48 to play. But two turnovers and three straight errant three-pointers allowed the Lions to jump back in front by eight at the 10 minute mark.

Again, the Tigers slowly chipped away at the lead with a balanced attack — every starter scored in double digits. Wallace led the way, scoring 18 second half points, including 11 of 12 free throws, after shooting 1-7 from the floor in the first half.

"I had a couple bad games, and maybe my teammates and my coaches lost confidence in me," Wallace said. "It's gonna be a slow process, but hopefully I can earn that confidence back."

Still, Columbia had a two-point lead and the ball with 45 seconds to play. But the Lions couldn't add to their cushion, turning the ball over and giving Princeton one last chance, which Venable converted.

"We wanted to set something up for Will, maybe posting up on a smaller player," Thompson said. "Andre made a great pass, Will made a terrific cut, and we got a great shot in that situation."

The Tigers took a lead they would never relinquish on the first play of the extra stanza, as Schaen hit two free throws. Thompson had inserted Schaen specifically to win the opening tip and run one offensive play. The Tigers would hit 12-16 free throws in overtime — they made 29-36 for the game — to win going away.