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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
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Dartmouth
Dartmouth Comes From Behind to Stun Princeton in Men's Basketball, 50-42
February 04, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 4, 2005
Box Score
Dartmouth nearly came back from a 20-point deficit last season against Princeton at Leede Arena, only to fall a few points short in the final minutes. This time, not quite a year later on the same floor, the Big Green completed a stunning come-from-behind win.
When Johnathan Ball completed the comeback with a layup at the buzzer that gave the Big Green a 50-42 victory over the Tigers, the students in the crowd at Leede Arena stormed the court. They stormed it not just because of their team's win, the first Dartmouth win over the Tigers since 2001, but also because of exactly how their team did it.
Dartmouth (5-13, 2-3 Ivy) did it by scoring 18 of the final 19 points of the game in the final 4:30 after scoring 32 points in the first 35:30 of the game. Dartmouth did it behind the clutch play of Mike Lang, who scored nine of his game-high 16 points in that final run. And they did it behind 63% shooting in the second half and a few key Tiger turnovers in the final minutes. "Honestly, it's been happening to this team all year," said Princeton head coach Joe Scott. "We won games at Monmouth and Holy Cross, but it followed the same pattern. Similar things happened last year here, but we won. We need to figure out how to win with this team this year in these situations."
After the Big Green had tied the game at 41 with 2:03 left, Lang hit two free throws to put his team ahead for good one minute later. When Princeton's Judson Wallace made only the second of two free throws with 1:06 on the clock, Dartmouth still had a one-point lead. Then, in maybe the game's biggest play, David Gardner scored on the other end for the Big Green and was fouled by Wallace with 36 seconds left.
Gardner would miss the free throw, but Will Venable then missed a driving layup on the other end and Chuck Flynn grabbed the rebound for Dartmouth. Flynn's free throw then gave Dartmouth a 46-42 lead, and Scott Greenman's three-point attempt for Princeton was off the mark with 12 seconds left.
Princeton (10-7, 1-2 Ivy), which led 27-18 at halftime, still led by nine points with under five minutes left when Will Venable hit a three-point shot from the right corner at the end of the shot clock. But Lang hit a three-pointer on his team's next possession, and Princeton's Mike Stephens missed on the other end.
Lang would then miss a shot in the lane for Dartmouth, but Ball grabbed the offensive rebound. Lang's three-point shot then missed, but Princeton's Noah Savage couldn't control the rebound and fell out of bounds. Chuck Flynn then scored in the lane to pull the Big Green within four.
After Dartmouth's press forced another Princeton turnover, Lang scored in the lane to make it 41-39. The Tigers were then called for a five-second violation under their own basket, and Ball drove the lane and scored to tie it at 41 with 2:03 left.
Princeton, which fell to 1-2 in Ivy League play for the first time since the 1994-95 season, made just four second-half field goals, all of which were three-pointers. The Tigers shot 53% in the first half on the way to their nine-point halftime lead but shot just 29% in the second half.
Savage led Princeton with 10 points, but he was the only Tiger player in double figures.
The Tigers recovered from a slow start to take as much as a 13-point lead late in the first half at 27-14 after a 7-0 run that ended with a Wallace dunk. But the Big Green scored the final four points of the half.
Princeton then had as much as an 11-point lead at 38-27 with 7:30 left in the second half after two Wallace free throws. But Venable's three-point shot with 4:57 left was the Tigers' only field goal after that.
Wallace played 17 minutes off the bench despite missing practice much of the week due to a bad back, scoring seven points.