Men's hoops: Down to the wire

The Crimson, undefeated at Lavietes Pavilion and backed by a boisterous sellout crowd, proved too much to overcome, topping the Tigers 79–67. But Princeton (23–6, 11–2 Ivy) left Cambridge with its Ivy title dreams still alive. If the Tigers won at Penn March 8, they would split the crown with Harvard (23–5, 12–2) and force a neutral-site rematch to determine the league’s NCAA Tournament team. (The result of the Penn game was not available for this issue of PAW.)

The Princeton-Harvard game at Lavietes was similar to the teams’ Feb. 4 meeting at Jadwin Gym. In both games, Harvard led by one point at halftime and the home team pulled ahead in the second half.  

Senior Dan Mavraides was Princeton’s star in the second outing, scoring a game-high 25 points, including his 1,000th career point. After falling behind by 12 points, the Tigers cut the deficit to five with 5:24 remaining, thanks in part to one of Mavraides’ five 3-pointers. But the Crimson replied with five straight points and kept Princeton at arm’s length in the closing minutes.