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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
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Dartmouth
Buffmire's Late Plays Lead Princeton to 63-60 Win over Dartmouth
February 24, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 24, 2006
Box Score
Edwin Buffmire isn't the leading scorer for Princeton, and you only need your two hands to count his career blocked shots. But the unsung junior is a big reason the Tigers are still alive late in the Ivy League race.
Buffmire converted a three-point play in the lane with 33 seconds left to give Princeton a two-point lead, then blocked Leon Pattman's jumper in the final 10 seconds as Princeton came back from a late deficit to defeat Dartmouth, 63-60, and remain two games behind league leader Penn in the league chase.
The Tigers (9-14, 7-3 Ivy) trailed 57-51 with 2:37 left after Chuck Flynn's layup for Dartmouth (5-19, 3-8 Ivy), but pulled within one on a big three-pointer by Luke Owings with 1:22 left. The Big Green then turned the ball over on offense, giving Buffmire and Princeton the chance to go ahead.
"The play didn't really go as planned, but I got the ball in the post and felt like I could score in there," said Buffmire, who made both of his field goal attempts in 24 minutes. "On the defensive end, the scouting report said to force him to go right, and I was able to get a piece of it."
Even though Luke Owings then made two free throws on the other end to give the Tigers a 61-57 lead with nine seconds left, Dartmouth still made it interesting. Mike Lang hit a long three-pointer wih 4.4 seconds left to make it 61-60, and the Big Green still had a chance after Scott Greenman made two free throws. Johnathan Ball caught a long pass just outside the three-point line, but his last-second attempt fell short. "I'm happy that we were able to make big plays when we needed them," said Princeton head coach Joe Scott. "Obviously Buff's plays were both huge. Our defense was a lot better in the second half, and that let us come back from eight points down."
The Tigers trailed 31-23 at halftime after the Big Green shot a blistering 59% (13 for 22) from the field in the first half. Princeton, on the other hand, went cold midway through the half, and a Ball jumper with 6:16 left in the half concluded a 9-0 run that gave Dartmouth a 21-12 lead.
Greenman, who scored 22 points, and Justin Conway, who had season highs of 17 points and seven rebounds, would lead the Tigers back early in the second half. The duo combined for seven straight points to pull the Tigers within 38-37 with 11:55 left, and Princeton tied it at 45 on a long three from Greenman with six minutes left. But Dartmouth pulled away again in the next few minutes before the Tigers' late comeback.
Lang had all 12 of his points in the second half for Dartmouth, which made eight of its 16 three-point attempts but only eight of its 15 free-throw attempts. Lang was the only Dartmouth player of the 13 to play who scored in double figures.
Owings added 17 for Princeton, 12 of which came in the second half. Princeton made 11 of its 17 second-half shots (65%) and made 19 of 21 free-throw attempts for the game.
Princeton defeated Dartmouth for the 19th straight season at Jadwin Gym. The Tigers haven't lost to either Dartmouth or Harvard at Jadwin since a loss to the Crimson on Feb. 3, 1989.
NOTES * Princeton shot a season-low 10 three-point shots in the game compared to 29 two-point shots.
* Princeton had fewer than 10 turnovers (seven) for the sixth time in its last seven games.
* Greenman has now scored more than 20 points three times in Ivy League play. The senior guard came into Friday night's game averaging 7.5 points per game for his career.