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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
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Dartmouth
Players Mentioned
Dartmouth Holds Off Men's Basketball, 66-63
February 22, 2009 | Men's Basketball
PRINCETON -- Whether or not the Princeton men's basketball team was picked to finish last in the Ivy League's preseason poll didn't matter to the guys in uniform on a night like Saturday on the newly christened Carril Court. A 66-63 loss to Dartmouth, or anyone else, still stings.
Nor did it matter to the team that they've probably exceeded the expectations of those who voted them last by winning as many Ivy League games already -- five -- as they did in the previous two seasons combined.
When your team shoots 59% from the field, has Ivy League title aspirations very much alive and comes up three points short, it's painful regardless of the win-loss record.
That was the feeling that came across quite clear from Sydney Johnson after a loss in which the Tigers led by as many as 13 midway through the first half.
"We were crystal clear on our plan on defense," said Johnson, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of men's basketball at Princeton (10-12, 5-4 Ivy). "We just didn't follow through."
The words Johnson used to describe Princeton's defense against the Big Green (8-16, 6-4), words like miserable and awful, didn't sound like last-place expectations either.
In a season that has felt like several seasons rolled into one with all the ups and downs, the lessons have been repeated. Just as happened eight days earlier, when Yale outrebounded Princeton by 20 in the Tigers' first Ivy League loss of the season, Dartmouth out-boarded Princeton by 12. It was the only other double-digit rebounding deficit for the Tigers this season.
Five days after losing an 11-point lead against rival Penn, the 13-point lead that stood with eight minutes to go before halftime vanished before four minutes were gone after the break.
It's a young team -- 96% of Princeton's points this season overall and 99% in the Ivy campaign have been scored by non-seniors -- and maybe the lessons will pay off in seasons to come. All 63 of Princeton's points, led by 19 from sophomore Dan Mavraides and 16 from freshman Douglas Davis, can be back next season.
But for now, on the night when the coach who presided over 514 wins along with some defeats just like this one, it's a tough loss to have to live with until the next Ivy weekend begins.