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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Yale
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Venable's Three-Point Play in Final Seconds Lifts Men's Basketball Past Yale, 49-47
January 31, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2004
Box Score
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - After scoring a season-high 18 points in Princeton's win at Brown on Friday, Will Venable only took one shot against Yale on Saturday night. But the junior guard's one field-goal attempt may have been the most important one of Princeton's season.
Venable grabbed the offensive rebound off an Andre Logan miss with under five seconds remaining and converted a reverse layup and three-point play to put Princeton ahead, and Yale's Alex Gamboa missed a desperation three-point attempt as time expired as the Tigers improved to 2-0 in the Ivy League with a thrilling 49-47 win over the Bulldogs before 2,532 at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.
The thrilling ending for the Tigers (9-6, 2-0) capped a tightly-contested game in which there were six ties and no lead greater than four points in the second half. Princeton gained possession of the ball down 47-46 with 15 seconds left when Edwin Draughan missed a foul line jumper and Venable pulled down one of his game-high eight rebounds. "I felt like we could get something better off a miss without calling a timeout in the last 10 seconds," said Princeton head coach John Thompson. "Obviously we were fortunate to win the game in that way, but I trust the team we had on the court to make a play to win the game in those situations."
"Andre has a knack for taking shots in those situations," said Venable, who also played 37 minutes and held Draughan to 3 for 12 shooting and just nine points. "I got a little fortunate that the ball got bobbled on the rebound and I was able to control it, and all I had to do was lay in it at the end."
Yale (6-11, 1-3) 47-44 with under a minute remaining, but Mike Stephens got a key offensive rebound off a Logan missed three-pointer and stuck in a putback with 45 seconds left to pull the Tigers within one. Venable then forced Draughan into a tough foul-line jumper on Yale's next possession, setting up Princeton's final attempt.
Logan was a force for Princeton offensively throughout the game, scoring 11 of Princeton's 27 second-half points and finishing with a game-high 16 points on 7 for 13 shooting. The junior forward also finished 2 for 3 from three-point range and had six rebounds.
"I don't think we would have been happy at all to come out of this weekend at 1-1," said Logan, who played 35 minutes. "We have an experienced team and we trust each other to be able to win games like this in the end."
Princeton managed the first run in a tightly-played first half, scoring seven straight points in a four-minute span midway through the half to take a 20-12 lead on a Luke Owings three-pointer with 5:13 on the clock. But Yale then scored nine of the final 11 points of the half to pull within 22-21 on Gamboa's jumper in the final minute.
There were 10 lead changes and five ties in the second half, with the final tie coming at 40-40 after two Matt Minoff free throws for Yale with 6:33 left. Yale's Paul Vitelli then hit a three-pointer with just under five minutes left to put the Bulldogs ahead by three, and Yale would hold that lead until Venable's final three-point play.
Draughan, Gamboa and Sam Kaplan each led Yale with nine points, but the Bulldogs shot just 35% for the game and 2 for 13 from three-point range. Princeton shot 43% from the field, winning a game in which it shot under 50% for the first time this season, but the Tigers did make 5 of 11 shots from beyond the arc.
Judson Wallace added nine points and five rebounds for the Tigers, who outrebounded the Bulldogs 33-23 tonight after outrebounding Brown 32-21 on Friday.
Princeton (2-0) and Cornell (4-0) are now the lone undefeated teams in Ivy League play as February begins, while Penn fell to 0-2 in league play after falling in overtime to Brown in Providence. The Tigers host Dartmouth and Harvard at Jadwin Gym next weekend.