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Princeton University Athletics
Tigers Set The Stage
February 12, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2000
Box Score
By TOM CANAVAN
AP Sports Writer
PRINCETON, N.J. - Not only couldn't Harvard stop Chris Young, neither could a cut over his left eye that sent the Princeton sophomore center to a doctor for stitches after the game.
Young, limited to a career-low two points on Friday night, hit his first eight shots from the field and scored a career-high 30 points in leading Princeton to a 73-55 victory over Harvard on Saturday night.
"Everything seemed to be working" said Young, who finished 10 of 11 from the field, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range. "Some nights, you have nights where shots are falling, where everything is going your way. Last night was not one of those nights for me.
"I wasn't looking to get involved in the scoring last night," he added. "Tonight I had the shots, I took them, they were falling and I felt pretty good." Ahmed El Nokali added 13 points and Nate Walton had 10 as Princeton (13-8, 5-1) set up a much-anticipated showdown with Penn (13-7, 6-0) for first place in the Ivy League on Tuesday night. The Quakers beat Dartmouth 75-61 on Saturday.
"We have to win," Walton said. "If we do, we're in first place. ...We have to be ready for a war."
Damian Long had 15 points and Dan Clemente 11 to pace Harvard, but the Crimson (8-13, 3-5) had no answer when it came to stopping Young, who was sent to the student infirmary after the game.
Princeton sports information director Jerry Price said Young was expected to get five stitches.
Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said Young killed his team in every way.
"We just couldn't stop Chris," he said. "He's better than he was a year ago. We had absolutely no answers for him. He got it in a variety of ways. He got his threes. He put the ball on the floor real well and down in the low post he was terrific."
Even a cut over his left eye that caused him to miss six minutes in the first half was not enough to prevent Young from single-handedly outscoring Harvard 20-17, helping Princeton take a 29-17 lead.
Young scored 13 of the Tigers' first 15 points, with his driving dunk giving Princeton a 15-13 lead with 10:04 to play. He was cut about a minute later when he got an elbow or a hand in the face going for a long rebound.
"I didn't think I did anything," Young said. "I turned to go up the court and saw the ref and he said: `Oh, my God."'
Young came back wearing a bandage with about three minutes remaining and Princeton ahead 22-15.
All Young did was outscore Harvard 7-2 down the stretch. He hit all six of his shots from the field in the half. The only shot he missed was his sixth free throw, which came with 12.9 seconds to go.
"Every player has one of those nights, where they are really hot, where they are in the zone, and Chris had one of those nights tonight," Walton said.
The closest the Crimson got in the second half was 36-27 on a steal and layup by Andrew Gellert with 15:35 to play.
Young then took over again, hitting an off balance jumper - his eighth straight bullseye - to ignite a 13-3 spurt. He also had a block and a steal in the spurt that featured two three-point plays by Walton.
Young, who twice had scored 24 points, closed out his night with an ally-oop dunk on a pass from Spencer Gloger.