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02/09/2005: "The Wizard of Os"
I still don't believe I saw this.
Penn and Princeton have been playing for 103 years, and the Quakers now lead the all-time series 115-96. So it's not that I can't believe Penn won.
But I can't remember the last time I walked out of a sporting event with such a strange mix of bewilderment and joy. My freshman year, the first Penn-Princeton game I saw, Penn led 29-3 and 33-9, but wound up losing 50-49, unless, like me, you agree that "Black Tuesday" never happened. There was downright giddiness in the first half of that game, and all I remember of the second half is that Penn couldn't make a shot to save its life, every shot Princeton took was falling and I wound up sitting in stunned silence for a solid five minutes when it was over. I all but couldn't walk out of the Palestra.
Last night was a little different, and not just because the result was flipped.
Things started out badly. When Penn came on the court and the band played "Fight On, Pennsylvania!" I started to chant "Let's Go Quakers!" Immediately, a guy in an orange shirt seated directly in front of me turns around and says, "You know, the game hasn't even started yet."
Indeed, even though Haggs had requested to not be in such a section when he got the tickets, we were in an area full of Princeton fans. I have lots of bad things to say, and I've said them, about Red Sox fans and Eagles fans, but none of them are even close to Princeton fans, the most uppity bunch of frontrunners there's ever been. Red Sox and Eagles fans are loyal to a fault. Princeton fans act like they invented the game of basketball, gloat when they're successful and are nowhere to be seen when things go wrong.
Actually, credit to this guy in front of me, he wasn't gloating when Princeton hit seemingly every shot it took in the first half. He did ask if he could switch seats, then harrumphed when I refused because I wanted to keep sitting with my friends. I wasn't even being that loud -- most people would probably agree that the first half yesterday was the quietest I've ever been at the Palestra, which was as quiet as I've ever heard it for a Penn-Princeton game.
Maybe the student section has changed. Down by 15 points at the half, I agreed with R. Kelly that when we were students, which feels like 50 years ago already, down by 15 points would be when you'd want to make possibly the most noise, to try to get the team back into the game.
They weren't getting back into the game. With its gimmick slowdown offense that milks the shot clock and makes you wish basketball had never been invented, Princeton does not blow 15 point leads. That's one of the reasons their fans can be so smug. When they get a lead, they are the masters of sitting on it -- just the way the student body sits on its trust funds.
Either way, the second half marked time to move to the section where R. was. After last year's bitter second half, in which I shouted at the Princeton band and argued with an old man, I was at least going to go to a section where I could shout a little bit more and not worry about being bothered by Mr. Whiny Princeton Guy.
With 16:19 left, Judson Wallace's layup gave Princeton a 44-28 lead. I thought out loud that against a normal team, a point a minute is about as far away as you want to be. Much more than that, and it's out of hand.
Tick, tick, tick...
With 14:34 left, Princeton got another easy layup. 46-28, their largest lead of the night.
But Mark Zoller hit a three-pointer. Then a layup. 46-33 with 11:38 to play. Princeton had two points in the last five minutes. Maybe the tide was turning. The Palestra started to come alive a little bit. I suddenly remembered that I had my camera with me and wanted to get a picture, the ultimate sign that this was a good night. You don't take pictures of things you don't want to remember.
Four minutes later, the game was over. The big scoreboard read "Penn 35 - 7:35 - Princeton 53." Cue the Princeton fans chanting "we can't hear you," with their usual unspoken tone of, "you're a bunch of Princeton rejects."
(Note to Princeton: Come off it. Most of us WANTED to go to Penn. I know I did. You couldn't have paid me to go to White Bread University at Central Jersey, a place as boring as the backdoor offense. There's a reason I didn't apply, as didn't nearly everyone I know. Just because you couldn't get into Yale doesn't mean that you're somehow better than us.)
(PS: Nothin' but love.)
Seven and a half minutes left of torture.
Tim Begley, the last guy I know on the Quakers, makes one of two free throws. 17 points, 7:23.
Ibby Jaaber comes up with a steal, but he misses a three-pointer.
Wait, Eric Osmundson gets the rebound. He makes a layup. He's fouled! He makes the free throw. 14 points, 6:57.
Another Princeton turnover. Osmundson... for three... HE GOT PUNCHED IN THE STOMACH! Foul! Wait! Shot's good! Whoo! Free throw... good. Palestra getting louder. 10 points (10 points!), 6:38.
Osmundson just scored seven points in 19 seconds. For some reason, the story I read said it was 37 seconds. I'm getting this from the play-by-play sheet, which I think should be right.
19 seconds, 37 seconds, it doesn't matter. Penn was about to get within single digits for the first time since it was 18-10. There was finally some life in the game.
Wallace hit a couple of free throws, and the game stalled for a little bit with Princeton up 12. With the clock running, that glimmer of hope was fading. But every time down the court, I was screaming for Penn to just get a stop... they couldn't afford to let Princeton score, and needed to get the ball away without 35 seconds ticking away every time. They needed steals.
And they were getting them.
Jan Fikiel hits a layup with 5:24 left to get it to 10. A miss by Princeton, a foul at the other end, 1-of-2 at the line and it's nine points, 4:41. Another quick turnover, Fikiel hits a three, six points, 4:20. Now it's a game, and now everyone's going nuts.
I'm looking for gum. I can't find any gum. Nobody in my section has any gum. I'm getting hoarse, and I need something to help me out. A concession stand run at this point is out of the question. Caroline has a Ricola. Excellent.
Princeton manages to kill some clock, get an offensive rebound and kill some more clock. Finally, a loose ball foul sends Steve Danley back to the line. One of two again. This is turning into one of those games that Penn loses at the buzzer after a fierce comeback.
No, wait... another turnover... Danley makes a layup. Three points, 2:04.
Princeton is now desperately trying to kill clock. Anything to just get this over with. They DO NOT blow 18-point leads in seven and a half minutes. They don't. Really. Just kill some clock, kill some clock, kill some clock... yawn... come on defense... kill some clock, kill some clock, BEGLEY TAKES THE BALL AWAY FROM WALLACE AT THE TOP OF THE KEY! He's racing to the other end... layup... GOOD! One point away, 1:33 to go. Where did Begley come from? I have no idea. He just appeared, and it was as if Wallace handed him the ball.
At the other end, Wallace fouls out with a charge. Penn comes back down, chance for the lead, 42 seconds, and Danley misses a jumper. Princeton rebounds, Ibby commits a foul. OK... 37 seconds left... if they make both, it'll be three, you can either take the three at the other end or go for a quick two... first one's good... what's the strategy going to be here? It would be so much easier if he missed this... two to tie, three to win... LOGAN MISSES! Begley gets the rebound! Osmundson gets fouled at the other end!
The Ricola is breaking up in my mouth. I'm now convinced that I need to find a way to preserve it, or the comeback will end. Up by my gums? OK.
Please make these... 56-54, 31 seconds left. Either way it's been a great game, but come on... good! OK, this one's to tie it... haven't been tied since the opening tap, please make this... come on... good!
Princeton goes back down, holds for a game-winning shot, but the ball gets loose and time runs out. It goes to overtime.
The Ricola is gone. Caroline doesn't have another. Nobody in my section or the next one over has even one stick, one measley stick of gum. Don't they realize how important this is? But the players can handle the overtime themselves. No salivary devices needed.
There's a three-pointer by Fikiel in overtime that gives Penn the lead for good, a banked-in three by Begley that all but seals the deal. The Quakers finish it at the foul line. Osmundson's pair with 43 seconds left make it a six-point game and send the Princeton fans for the exits. A majority of Princeton fans have still probably never seen their team actually lose to Penn. They're all on their way home when it's over.
But the Penn fans are on their way to the court.
I still don't believe I saw this. I even spent the train ride back to New York just pretty much mumbling, over and over, "We won? How did that happen?" and "What a game. What an unbelievable game."
The amazing thing is that it wasn't like Princeton was missing a ton of shots shots -- they weren't even TAKING any shots. Over the 7:35 of the comeback, Princeton attempted five field goals -- and they did miss them all. But that's it. Five shots in seven and a half minutes. Penn's pressure defense created turnovers, created points, stopped Princeton from killing the clock. That's the only way you can possibly even hope to come back from 18 points down against that team in so little time, which is why it was more surprsing of a comeback than the 50-49 game. And they did it.
They did it.
We won.
Wow.
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