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Princeton University Athletics
Say Wente
February 10, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2001
Box Score
Cambridge, Mass. - Kyle Wente earned a permanent place in the Princeton men's basketball annals. And he may just have saved the season in the process.
Wente, trapped 25 feet from the basket as time was expiring, threw in an incredible leaning three-pointer as the final buzzer sounded to give Princeton a thrilling 69-67 win over Harvard Saturday night as a stunned sell-out crowd at the Lavieties Pavilion watched in disbelief.
Princeton rallied from deficits of 11 and nine points in the second half to pull out the win, which came one night after a 57-56 loss at Dartmouth. The Tigers are now 10-8 overall and 5-1 in the Ivy League, tied with Penn for first place. Harvard, who would have made a giant leap forward in the league race with the win, instead fell to 12-8, 5-3 in the league. Princeton is at the Palestra Tuesday night (7:30) against the archrival Quakers.
Harvard's Dan Clemente had given the Crimson a 67-66 lead with 7.1 seconds remaining on a tough jumper in the lane of his own. After a timeout, Princeton tried to inbound the ball to Ahmed El-Nokali, but he was trapped in the corner. Instead, Wente took the ball, dribbled up court, found himself wedged between Harvard's Patrick Harvey and Andrew Gellert and let it go as time ran out.
"Coach [John Thompson] wanted someone to get the ball and go," Wente said. "I was looking to pass, but once I pulled up, I saw the clock and knew I had no time. I just had to let it go. It felt good when it left my hand."
Wente's basket gave him a career-high 22 points and ended a game that Harvard looked to have won even before the frantic final minute. The Crimson led by 11 midway through the second half, and even when Princeton cut it to four, Harvard made another run to get back to five.
The Tigers made it a two-point game at 62-60 with three minutes left, and Wente appeared to have a steal to give the Tigers possession. Instead, the ball sailed through his hands to Clemente, and the Ivy League's leading scorer looked like he put the Tigers away when he rattled in a three-pointer. Harvard even picked up a steal on Princeton's next possession, but Ed Persia took the ball back from the Crimson to give Princeton another chance.
Andre Logan then made a layup and a leaner in the lane to make it one-point game, and after Harvard missed two open three-pointers, Princeton had a chance to take the lead in the final minute.
Nate Walton put the Tigers on top with 19.7 seconds to go, but Clemente came back with what looked like it would be the game-winner.
"It's a great win for us," Thompson said. "Our guys stayed composed, and they played hard. We've been in several close games, and we've had success in them. We did what we had to do."
Wente had 22 points on 9 of 12 shooting, 4 of 7 from three-point range. Walton had 16 points, while Logan had 13 points and nine rebounds.
Clemente had 19 points, while Patrick Harvey had 20.