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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Cornell
Greenman Plays Hero For Princeton Twice, Tigers Come Back to Win at Cornell in Double OT, 76-68
February 17, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 17, 2006
Final Stats
ITHACA, N.Y. - Princeton didn't just win a basketball game Friday night in a way that somehow managed to eclipse the way it won just a week ago at Harvard. Thanks to a little help, the Tigers also pushed themselves right back into the thick of the Ivy race.
Scott Greenman was the hero twice for Princeton, hitting three-pointers in the final seconds of both regulation and the first overtime to extend a game in which the Tigers pulled away in the final five minutes for a 76-68 double overtime win. And a few hundred miles away, Columbia's last-second win over previously undefeated Penn gave the now 6-2 Tigers a huge breath of life in the Ivy League race.
But Friday night's game at Newman Arena was more than enough to talk about on its own. Mostly because of Greenman, who played all 50 minutes in the game of his life, shooting 10 for 15 from the field.
His three-point shot from about 24 feet on the right wing with two seconds left in regulation that tied the game at 57 seemed like it had to be his final big play of the night. But then he did it again at the end of the first overtime on a much harder shot. He was pressured on the right wing, but stepped through a double team and forced an off-balance three that went in with 0.2 seconds left on the clock.
"Scotty was great, he did great things the whole night," said Princeton head coach Joe Scott. "To play all 50 minutes and do all of those things, and then make two shots like that, what can you say?"
"I thought that the second one might have been short coming out of my hand, but thank god it wasn't," said Greenman. Just like a week before at Harvard, the Tigers (8-13, 6-2) seemed out of it late, trailing by nine points with 4:04 left in regulation. In fact, Princeton never led at any point in the game until the second overtime.
But Princeton then made a run. The 5-9 Greenman, who tied a career high with his 27 points, grabbed an offensive rebound within the trees and made it 54-47. Two Noah Savage free throws pulled Princeton within five. Savage then made a deep three-pointer from the right wing with 1:25 left, pulling his team within 54-52. The Tigers then even had a chance to go ahead in regulation with 45 seconds left, but Justin Conway missed a three-pointer from the left wing.
Ryan Rourke missed the second of two free throws for Cornell (10-13, 5-4 Ivy) with 13 seconds left, giving Greenman the chance to tie the game with his three-pointer in the final second.
In the overtime, Cornell looked in control again, taking a 62-59 lead when Lenny Collins made a tough jumper in the lane with 52 seconds left. Rourke's two free throws with 20 seconds left put the Big Red ahead by three again before Greenman's second game-tying shot.
The Tigers finally took control of the game in the second overtime thanks to Savage, whose career-high 28 points were almost overshadowed by Greenman's heroics. His three-pointer from the right wing with three minutes left and tie game put the Tigers ahead for good, and his four free throws in the final minute salted it away.
"Noah came to play tonight," said Scott. "He made shots for us at the beginning of the game when we were struggling a little bit and made big plays at the end when we needed them."
"Scotty did a great job tonight," said Savage, who shot 8 for 16 from the field and 6 for 9 from three-point range. "He did almost everything a player can do to help a team win."
Princeton, which ended a three-game losing streak against Cornell, didn't look like a potential winner in a first half that saw Cornell shoot 13 for 23 from the field and take a 30-25 halftime lead. The Tigers had to to 45-42 midway through the second half after a Kyle Koncz "three," but the Big Red then scored nine of the next 12 points to take that nine-point lead with four minutes left.
Rourke, Collins and Adam Gore all scored 14 points for Cornell, which shot just 9 for 29 in the second half and overtime after making 57% of its baskets in the first half. Princeton made 16 of its 31 shots in the same span.
At Columbia, Ben Nwachukwu's tip-in with one second left gave the Lions a stunning 59-57 win over Penn, putting the Quakers, at 7-1, just one game ahead of 6-2 Princeton with six games left in the Ivy race. Princeton visits Columbia tomorrow night in a game that starts at 8 p.m.