The Yale men’s basketball team (10-15, 7-5 Ivy), unable to mount an effective offensive against Princeton (14-10, 9-3), fell tonight to the Tigers 60-49. The loss, which dropped Yale to fourth place in the Ivy League, put a serious damper on the Elis’ hopes for an Ivy League title.

Trailing by 10 points at the start of the second half, the Bulldogs mounted a 13-4 run capped by a Tom Kritzer jumper that narrowed the deficit to 35-34. On the offensive end, Tiger Kyle Wente nailed a long range three-pointer with only a second left on the shot clock to stop the Yale run and silence the raucous John J. Lee Amphitheater crowd.

Princeton built an early lead, 15-5, nine minutes into the game. The Elis rallied with a 9-0 run, highlighted by a thunderous Ime Archibong ’03 dunk, to cut the lead to 15-14. But Princeton, helped by sloppy Eli turnovers, turned the tables with a 13-2 run of their own.

Tiger Nate Walton led all scorers with 17 points. Mike Bechtold scored in double figures, as he chipped in 10 for Princeton.

Captain Neil Yanke ’01 paced the Bulldogs with 16 points and 10 rebounds, the only Eli to hit double figures. Chris Leanza ’03 was held silent by the Tiger defense, scoring only five points on one for five shooting.

In another game with Ivy title implications, Brown (14-11, 8-4) beat Pennsylvania (11-16, 8-4) 85-77.

The Bulldogs must now win against Pennsylvania and Brown, and Princeton must lose its remaining games for Yale to have a shot at postseason play. If this happens, Yale, Brown, Pennsylvania and Princeton would be locked in four-way tie in first, which would force a three-game playoff to determine who receives the Ivy League’s NCAA tournament berth.

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