No matter how big the lead was down the stretch, Princeton just would not go away. However, in the end, Harvard and last year’s Ivy League player of the year Wesley Saunders made one more play than the home team Tigers and escaped with a 75-72 to move to 2-1 in conference play.
Saunders led Harvard with another all-around great performance as the senior from Los Angeles finished with 14 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds. Corbin Miller came off the Crimson bench and hit five three point shots and led the team with a team high 19 points.
Princeton, which was paced by a game high 21 points from Steven Cook, found itself down by double figures at the half but battled back to cut the lead to just three points with under 1 second to play.
Harvard was able to get a block by Saunders and made some timely free throws down the stretch to keep the Tigers at bay. Princeton was able to overcome a subpar first half (29 points) with a 43-point second frame. But it was to no avail for the Tigers who fall to 1-1 in Ivy League play.
The difference in the game was Harvard’s ability to knock down long range jumpers while their counterparts struggled to find the bottom of the net from deep. On the night, the Crimson made 7 of their 14 three-point shots while the Tigers made just 10 of their 26 attempts. Harvard also made 20 free throws while Princeton attempted only 16 shots from the charity stripe.
There is no rest for the Ivy League weary as both teams will be in action on Saturday as conference play continues. Harvard will travel to Philadelphia to take on Penn in the Palestra, while Princeton will host Dartmouth.