Bell Reaches 1,000 as Tigers Roll Past Dartmouth on Senior Night

Saturday, February 24

Princeton, N.J.

6:00 PM

Princeton University

Dartmouth

The Tiger senior players and head manager before the game.

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

Bell Reaches 1,000 as Tigers Roll Past Dartmouth on Senior Night

February 24, 2018 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The second-longest Ivy League skid in program history is over, and Amir Bell joined an exclusive club on Saturday night in Jadwin Gym.

With a 64-47 win over Dartmouth, Princeton broke its seven-game Ivy skein, improving to 4-8 in the league heading into the final weekend. The only longer stretch of lost league games was in the 2007-08 season, when the Tigers dropped nine straight.

Princeton finds itself still alive for an Ivy League tournament berth, but the Tigers will need wins and help. Penn (11-1) moved atop the league with its win over Harvard (10-2), and Yale (7-5) stands third. Cornell and Columbia are tied for the fourth and final Ivy League Tournament spot at 5-7 with Brown and Princeton tied for sixth at 4-8 and Dartmouth rounding it out at 2-10. Princeton will hit the road for the final weekend of the 14-game league run, playing at Brown Friday and Yale next Saturday.

During the game, which was the final one for Princeton's four-man senior class of Aaron Young, Mike LeBlanc, Alec Brennan and Amir Bell, Bell recorded four assists to pass head coach Mitch Henderson '98 for seventh on Princeton's all-time career list, kept since the 1974-75 season. Henderson graduated fourth on the list and is now eighth, with all four players who have passed him having played for him in Ian Hummer '13, T.J. Bray '14, Spencer Weisz '17 and now Bell.

"All of our seniors (as well as Bell), Aaron Young, Alec Brennan, Mike LeBlanc, we're going to miss those guys," Henderson said. "That's what tonight's about."

Bell also became the 34th player in program history to score 1,000 career points, entering the night needing 15 and finishing the night with 17 for 1,002 for his career. The milestone-making basket came on a 3-pointer with 7:02 to play in the game to give Princeton a 57-28 lead.

"It's special as well," Bell said of the 1,000. "I had a lot of friends and family at the game. To do it on our home court, where we've spent so many hours hours working hard, and to do it in front of our home fans is special. But just sharing that moment with my fellow seniors in the class and being able to do it tonight is great."

Princeton scored the first five points of the game and went on a 13-1 run over a seven-minute stretch as the first half wound down, after which Princeton led 24-8 with 2:16 left in the opening half. The Tiger lead hit 20 for the first time on a Devin Cannady 3-pointer with just less than 14 minutes to go in the game and peaked at 29 on Bell's milestone 3-pointer.

"I'm so glad that he decided to come to Princeton and I'm so proud of him," Henderson said of Bell. "There's a disappointment to kind of where we wanted to be, but that doesn't take away from what a great player he has been for us."

Postgame Notes

• Princeton has won nine straight against Dartmouth in Jadwin, the Tigers' longest active home Ivy winning streak.

• Amir Bell is the seventh 1,000-point scorer to play for Mitch Henderson, joining Douglas Davis '12, Ian Hummer '13, T.J. Bray '14, Spencer Weisz '17, Steven Cook '17 and junior Devin Cannady. Only Pete Carril, with 18 such players, had more 1,000-point Tigers play for him.

• Dartmouth's 14 first-half points were the fewest Princeton has allowed since Cornell scored 14 in the first half on Feb. 23, 2013. Dartmouth's .268 field goal percentage was the lowest for a Division I opponent in the Mitch Henderson era.

• Cannady had a season-high 10 rebounds, one off his career high set last season in the Ivy League semifinal against Penn.

• With one 3-pointer tonight, Cannady tied Gabe Lewullis '99 for fourth on Princeton's all-time career 3-pointer list, now with 212. The 3 was his 74th of the season, tying him with Davis (2009-10) for the sixth-most in a season in program history.

• Bell now has 307 career assists, one behind sixth-place Hummer.

• Rookie Charlie Bagin had his first career field goal, coming with just more than a minute to go in the game.