Freshman guard AJ Levine attempts a layup against Princeton on Feb. 7.
Credit: Kenny Chen“Finish strong” was a phrase that Penn did not accomplish in its final game of the season against its Ivy rival, Princeton.
With the Tigers defeating the Quakers by a score of 95-71, Princeton (19-10, 8-6 Ivy) is now granted a spot in Ivy Madness while also extending its winning streak over Penn (8-19, 4-10) to 13 games.
This Saturday afternoon brought about much contention for the Ancient Eight regarding the teams that would play in the Ivy League men’s basketball tournament on March 15-16. As every team in the conference played at the same time, all spectators had one question: Who is the fourth seed for the Ivy tournament?
While Penn was already eliminated from Ivy Madness contention, the Quakers could keep Princeton out of the tournament by defeating them in this game so long as Dartmouth beats Harvard and Brown beats Yale as well. As these games went on simultaneously, every Ivy fanatic kept their eyes and ears glued to the scoreboards.
As Ivy League rivals since 1903, the all-time record between the Quakers and Tigers has not been tied since 1905 when each team had defeated the other three times. Taking Princeton’s 12-game win streak against Penn before this game into account, the record stood at 126-125, with the Quakers never trailing in the history of this series.
During its last game against Princeton earlier this season, Penn was able to rally in the second half to only be defeated by two points in the end. However, this game did not mirror that contest’s efforts.
“I thought we played them really well at our place,” coach Steve Donahue said. “I thought now that we have a chance to get that back, [we] could guard them better and just really play better defense and then hopefully a little better offense now that we have [junior guard] Ethan Roberts in the game. But we just didn’t play defense like we can, and Princeton took advantage of it.”
Keeping its goals at the forefront of the mind, Princeton was a force to be reckoned with from tip-off. Princeton took control of the ball easily and maintained the lead from four minutes into the first half until the final buzzer. Roberts and junior guard Dylan Williams scored Penn’s first points with three-pointers, with both immediately matched by Princeton guard Blake Peters.
A microcosm of the contested matchup between Princeton and Penn was the duel between Penn’s sophomore guard Sam Brown and Princeton guard Xaivian Lee. These two opponents took the reins for scoring for their teams in the first half.
Though Lee did not score his first points until the eight minutes remained in the half, he scored 14 points to contest Brown’s 13 in the first half. When Brown swished a deep three-pointer to bring the score to 42-34 in favor of Princeton, Lee immediately countered with a triple of his own to extend Princeton’s lead to eleven points.
Senior forward/center Nick Spinoso, playing his final game for the Red and Blue, went out with a bang. His first four rebounds were made within merely five minutes of play, and he finished the game with seven rebounds and 10 points. Senior guard George Smith also finished well with five points and four rebounds.
“Nick has been really such a terrific player for us, an ambassador to our program,” Donahue said. “I would have loved to end Nick, George, and Reese, who wasn’t dressed, [better], but I wish we could have went out on a win.”
While the first half was a narrower game of cat-and-mouse between the rivals, Princeton ran away with the lead in the second half.
Spinoso started strongly for the Quakers with a tough layup, and Brown, an invaluable player in this game, scored on Penn’s next possession with another two-pointer. As reigning Ivy Player of the Week, Brown’s 37 minutes of playing time allowed for 19 points and 3 assists alongside a 100% free throw percentage, making him the scoring leader for Penn.
Despite Penn’s best attempts, two Princeton players were impossible to slow down: Lee and Peters. Lee quickly rose to the top as a scoring leader in the first half, and his supremacy was overtaken by Peters in the second half. Both players had historic performances for the Tigers. Lee accomplished the second ever triple-double in Princeton history, which was first accomplished again by Lee earlier this season. Lee concluded with 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists.
His teammate, Peters, also excelled as he became the sixth player in Princeton history to land 200 three-pointers. Peters finished with 25 points, seven of which from beyond the arc.
“I think the [previous game against Princeton freshman guard] AJ Levine played Xaivian Lee so well that he was only three for 13, and [Lee’s] such a good player that today we didn’t do a good job on him," Donahue said, "Not having AJ today defensively, in particular, kind of really hurt our game plan.”
Since Penn was unable to overcome the Orange and Black by the final buzzer, the all-time series record between the two teams now stands at 126-126, and Princeton will play in the Ivy Madness tournament next weekend. One individual who felt this loss more than any was Donahue, who has a losing record of 2-18 against the Tigers.
“We want to get better [and] play better against Princeton, and I’m really excited about," Donahue said, "Our team, in general, coming back. We are going to take this season as a learning experience and really grow from it.”
All in all, this game said a sad goodbye to Penn men’s basketball seniors and to 123 years of Quakers dominance over Princeton. Though the season is formally over for Penn, the end grants the Red and Blue a new beginning.
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