The Wente heave, the short runner by Sam Winter ’03, the off-balance miss by Elliott Prasse-Freeman ’03.

Pick almost any Harvard-Princeton game of recent memory and you can define it by that one last-second play that sent the Tigers on to victory and tore the hearts out of the Crimson.

Last year was no different.

In the midst of one of its worst seasons in school history, Harvard—2-16 at the time—held a tenuous two-point lead on the road at Princeton with under a minute to go. But a layup by freshman forward Harrison Schaen with just 23 seconds remaining allowed the Tigers to force overtime, and they would finally prevail in the second extra session.

“The motivation for this group of guys is how we played last year at Princeton,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. “They’ve got the confidence that they played very well at Princeton and very well at home against the team that represented the league in the NCAA tournament.”

In the game at Lavietes Pavilion a month later, Princeton trailed by three with under four minutes to go and pulled even at 51 just two minutes later before guard Scott Greenman nailed a three-pointer from the corner to destroy the Crimson’s upset hopes once again.

“I think we’re due for a victory against Princeton,” captain Jason Norman said. “I know all of the seniors are ready to get this one, and we’re just going to work hard throughout the week.”

In the last four games between Harvard and Princeton at Lavietes, the Tigers have racked up four wins by a combined total of 14 points.

“We’ve been close with Princeton ever year that I’ve been here,” senior guard Kevin Rogus said. “We know that we can beat them...and this year we want to take that extra step and get those couple of points that we’ve needed.”

NIGHT AND DAY

As if playing the two toughest opponents in the league on back-to-back nights isn’t tough enough, the Quakers and the Tigers utilize two completely different offensive strategies as well.

Penn’s primary objective is to rely on its strong perimeter play and ability to score points in bunches in order to put an opponent back on its heels and run it out of the gym.

In the Quakers’ 104-69 win over the Crimson last season at The Palestra in Philadelphia, Penn did just that, taking a 55-24 lead into the intermission.

“Penn likes to play fast,” said senior point guard David Giovacchini. “Last year, they kind of blew past us, so we’ve been

front of them and slow the game down,” junior center Brian Cusworth said. “We can’t let them get the open looks that they are used to.”