Princeton Holds Off Dartmouth Men in Final Minutes, 59-54

Friday, January 30

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

3-14, 1-2Ivy

PRINCETON

6-8, 1-0Ivy

Princeton

Dartmouth

Princeton Holds Off Dartmouth Men in Final Minutes, 59-54

1/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. ? Dartmouth senior Alex Barnett (St. Louis, Mo.) ripped the nets for 24 points, but Princeton countered with four players in double figures to knock off the Big Green in Leede Arena on Friday night, 59-54. Pawel Buczak scored 14 points, grabbed five rebounds and handed out five assists to lead the Tigers (6-8, 1-0 Ivy) to the victory in their league opener and their fourth straight win overall. Dartmouth fell to 3-14 overall and 1-2 in the league.

Joining Buczak in double figures were Dan Mavraides with 13 points, and Douglas Davis and Patrick Saunders with 11 each.

Barnett, coming off a 30-point performance at Harvard last Saturday, hit 9-of-22 from the floor and 5-of-10 from downtown. His 54 points over the two contests best his previous two-game mark of 52 points set earlier this year. The senior also snared nine rebounds to lead all players.

Neither side led by more than nine points until less than a minute remained in the game when Princeton opened up an 11-point advantage, 59-48. Dartmouth never let up, scoring six points in the final 30 seconds, but he deficit was too great to overcome.

Although Dartmouth turned the ball over just two more times than the Tigers, 13-11, Princeton was able to convert those miscues into quite a few more points with 18 to just seven for the Big Green. Princeton was also a bit more accurate with its shots, hitting 44 percent (22-of-50) to just 38.2 percent (21-of-55) for Dartmouth.

It took nearly five minutes for the Green to score at the start of the game as the Tigers tallied the first five points. Senior Marlon Sanders (Cleveland, Ohio) drained a pair of short jumpers to get Dartmouth on the board. Trailing 8-4 two minutes later, Barnett quickly heated up, scoring eight straight points with a pair of triples to give the Big Green a 12-8 lead.

A long jumper by freshman Jabari Trotter (Northridge, Calif.) gave Dartmouth its biggest lead of the night at 19-12. But the Tigers roared back with a 9-1 spurt to retake the lead, 21-20. Over the next four-plus minutes, the only points scored for either side came on a Barnett runner in the lane.

Over the final 90 seconds of the half, however, Princeton strung together three quick buckets, two directly after Dartmouth turnovers. Barnett came to the Big Green's rescue as time expired, draining a 26-footer to keep Dartmouth within two at the intermission, 27-25. But trailing at the half was not a good omen for the hosts ? Dartmouth is now 0-12 when it trails or is tied at the half this season.

Barnett took 13 points into the locker room to lead Dartmouth, hitting 5-of-10 from the floor and 3-of-5 from long range. Senior Dan Biber (Lorain, Ohio) brought down six rebounds of his seven rebounds in the game to help the Green hold an 18-15 margin on the boards. The rebounds were nearly exactly the same in the second half at 19-15 in favor of Dartmouth.

For Princeton, Mavraides hit double digits with 10 points, thanks in part to draining both of his three-point attempts, and snared four off the glass.

Trotter drilled a pair of jumpers early in the second half, putting Dartmouth back on top briefly, 31-29. The Tigers rattled off nine straight points, highlighted by another Mavraides trifecta, to take a seven-point lead, 38-31.

Several times the Green were able to get back within one possession but could never get closer than two points. The last time it was a one-possession game was 51-48 after a pair of free throws by sophomore Clive Weeden (Stow, Mass.) with 4:03 to play. Three turnovers and a missed free throw on the front end of a one-and-one allowed Princeton to score eight straight points and build their insurmountable 11-point advantage.

Both teams return to action tomorrow night. Dartmouth will host Penn (5-10, 1-0 Ivy) at 7 p.m. in an attempt to end a 23-game losing streak agains the Quakers. Princeton travels to Harvard (9-7, 1-2 Ivy) for a game at 7 p.m. as well.