PU men sweep opening Ivy pair

Tigers top Harvard, Dartmouth to start perfect

By: Bob Nuse
   Because of the nature of conference play, winning is the only thing that matters.
   So while the Princeton University men’s basketball team could have played better in its opening weekend of Ivy League play, the fact that the Tigers emerged with a pair of wins was what mattered most.
   "Wins are very good, period," said Princeton coach John Thompson, whose team completed a weekend sweep with a 57-52 win over Dartmouth on Saturday. "The nature of conference play is that anybody can beat anybody. I think Dartmouth played a terrific game. They came in looking to win and we were a little flat."
   In what figures to be a competitive Ivy League this season, Princeton won’t be able to get away with being flat very often. The Tigers jumped out to a 17-4 lead by holding the Big Green to just two baskets in the first 12 minutes, but the lead was down to eight by halftime and Dartmouth kept battling until finally drawing even at 47-47 with 4:18 left.
   The game was still tied with two minutes left, but Princeton hit eight foul shots down the stretch to improve to 2-0 in Ivy play and 8-7 overall.
   "This was the second night in a row where we needed to make a stop and we had guys make plays," said Thompson, whose team will play on the road at Columbia and Cornell this weekend. "These are games that we might have lost earlier this season. In the Ivy League, once the season starts, every team is in the playoffs and every game is like the playoffs.
   "We didn’t play as well as we would have liked, but we won."
   And Thompson hopes the wins come as the team plays better. After a 67-61 win over Harvard on Friday, the Tigers were able to slip past Dartmouth without guard Will Venable, who missed the game with a thigh bruise.
   "Any time you get two wins in the Ivy League it’s big," said Ray Robins, who finished with 14 points against Dartmouth. "The big thing was the defense in both games. In both games there were long stretches where they didn’t score.
   "The defense is the biggest thing. That’s always been the strength of Princeton. You go up in the basketball office and you see the trophies and plaques going back to the 70s of Princeton leading the nation in scoring defense."
   Robins and his teammates know defense is what they can always fall back on. And in a year where the Ivy race could hinge on any game, every win counts.
   "This year, more than ever, we’ve come out with some wins that in past years we might have lost," Robins said. "This year at the end of games we’re doing the things we need to do to come out with a win. It’s a combination of not making mistakes and playing good defense.
   "The games we played earlier this year were big because we could see that we could play with anybody. We lost to Texas by three, but we also saw that we can lose to anybody on a given night."
   Kyle Wente, who finished with nine points, seven rebounds and seven assists, was happy to escape with a pair of wins over the weekend.
   "Both games were a little too close for me, but it’s good to win," Wente said. "You do the things you need to do to win. That’s our attitude. After four years in this atmosphere of knowing that every league game is important, you know what you need to do.
   "We know that every year it gets tougher and tougher and we can’t take nights off. Dartmouth came in ready and played us real tough. Hopefully we’ll grow from this and realize need to play at the top of our game all the time."
   Princeton didn’t play at the top of its game this weekend, but the Tigers did manage to come away with a pair of wins. They’ll head into this weekend as one of three unbeaten teams in the league. Brown is atop the Ivy League at 3-0, while Princeton and Penn are both 2-0.