Unstoppable Tigers Devour M. Cagers

PRINCETON, N.J.--All you really need to know about the Harvard men's basketball team's 87-50 loss to Princeton occurred in the first 11:12 of the first half.

The Tigers built a 33-9 lead and were never seriously threatened.

"Princeton made all the right reads," Harvard Coach Frank Sullivian said. "When they're guarding like they were and hitting the threes, Princeton is as good as anybody in the East."

"We finally played a good game for the home crowed," a beaming Princeton Coach Pete Carril said.

Princeton guard Sean Jackson led all scorers with 23 points. Jackson shot 5-for-12 from long range, and added two assists and three steals.

Harvard Captain Ron Mitchell turned in 17 points and nine rebounds, but had seven turnovers.

With his fifth rebound Saturday night, Mitchell passed Barry Williams '66 to become Harvard's all-time leading rebounder. Mitchell has 766 in his career.

To say the Tigers played a good game is an understatement. Carril's off-repeated philosophy of back-door cuts, three point shots and tight defense was executed to perfection.

Out of the 53 shots taken by the Tigers, 12 were layups and 32 were treys.

"It was a classic Princeton schooling," forward Tyler Rullman said.

Only two shots were taken from inside the three-point circle and outside of the key: Princeton reserve Chris Pavlic's miss from just inside the three-point line and reserve Galen Criqui's rainbow jumper from the baseline.

"The defensive intensity just wasn't there for us," freshman guard James White said.

Princeton held the Crimson to 31 percent shooting for the night, including 3 for 13 from long range. Even worse, the Tigers forced 22 Harvard turnovers.

"Princeton played excellent defense on us," Sullivan said. "We don't have played who can put the ball on the floor, and that's been a real problem for us."

Harvard's only lead was on its first possession. Junior forward Peter Condakes nailed a baseline jumper to put the Crimson up, 2-0.

But Tigers center Rick Hielscher responded with a back-door layup and a three-point shot to put Princeton up, 5-2.

Over the next nine minutes, Harvard's only scores came up layups by Condakes and Rullman and a trey by Mitchell.

In the meantime, Princeton put together an awesome display of offensive firepower.

Princeton had three-point plays by forward Matt Eastwick and Jackson (2), layups from Hielscher, Eastwick, guard George Leftwich (2) and forward Chris Mooney and treys Mooney and treys by Jackson (2) and Hielscher to run the score to 33-9.

The closest Harvard ever got was within 17, when White banked home a fast-break layup with 10:07 left in the second half.