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Princeton University Athletics
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Mavraides' 22 Leads Tigers to Weekend Sweep, 77-71 at Harvard
January 31, 2009 | Men's Basketball
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. ? After another performance that the Princeton men's basketball team needed from him, sophomore Dan Mavraides added another paragraph to what looks like a standout sophomore season Saturday night at Harvard.
Mavraides led the Tigers with 22 points in a 77-71 victory at Lavietes Pavilion, resetting his career-high point total for the third time in January. No small coincidence then that Princeton finished the first month of the new year undefeated.
Princeton has its first five-game win streak since 2004, the last time it won an Ivy League title, and has surpassed last year's win total with seven.
But before Tiger fans begin clearing their mid-March calendars, a Big Red concern will enter Jadwin Gym next Friday night. The Ivy's last two undefeated teams, Cornell (14-6, 4-0 Ivy) and Princeton (7-8, 2-0) will meet for control of the Ivy race. While the Tigers have pulled out exciting wins on the road in New England to sweep the trip for the first time since 2006, Cornell routed its last two opponents, Brown and Yale, by an average of 30 points this weekend.
The Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of Princeton basketball, Sydney Johnson, has that fact squarely in his sights.
“We've got 12 games to go,” Johnson said, referring to the rest of the Ivy League season. “We'll enjoy this Saturday and Sunday and get back to work Monday.”
Princeton's Ivy-undefeated status was in doubt until late. In a game that saw eight ties and seven lead changes, the Tigers grabbed the lead for good on a three-pointer by Douglas Davis, who finished with 19 points, with 6:02 left.
If only the Tigers knew then they'd have the lead the rest of the way.
In the same way Princeton never lost track of Harvard despite never holding a lead in the first half, the Crimson kept on Princeton's heels late.
Mavraides gave Princeton a six-point lead with 2:24 left with a three, and less than two minutes later, he made another three that restored a six-point lead. The last bucket came with 32 seconds left, and Princeton sealed it from the free-throw line by making its last six shots, four from Mavraides.
The Princeton-Cornell first-place tilt will tip at 7 p.m. next Friday in Jadwin Gym as the Tigers' first home Ivy League contest of the season.