1:34 remaining

• Housman unleashes a killer crossover, gets into the lane and draws contact. Heads to the line shooting two.
  
• Misses first. Swishes second.
• Well, as if you didn't already know this, Princeton went on to defeat Harvard tonight, 74-68, in double overtime. Only the second multiple-overtime game in Jadwin Gym history.
• Technical difficulties kept Sideline Dispatches from bringing you the entire second overtime period (BlogSpot pretty much crashed on us, preventing us from publishing new posts. Even now, we are only able to update old posts) but there were few difficulties for the Tigers over the final five minutes of the game.
  
• First, at the end of the first overtime, Princeton had the ball with 27 seconds left in the game and a chance to win it, but the possession turned sour and sophomore forward Michael Strittmatter had to force up a bad midrange jumper at the buzzer, which fell short.
• Halfway through the second overtime, a huge three by junior forward Kyle Koncz put Princeton up to stay, and clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch sealed the deal, giving Princeton its first win of the Ivy League season (if we could still add new posts, the title for this one was going to be "Oh and four no more").
• Some impressive individual numbers at the end of the game: freshman guard Lincoln Gunn had a career-high 22 points for Princeton, along with four rebounds and a team-high five assists. Senior center Justin Conway played all 50 minutes and pulled down 10 rebounds. Junior forward Noah Savage had a season-high 16 points in his first start of the season and senior forward Luke Owings pulled down seven boards coming off the bench for the first time all season.
• The statline of the night went to Harvard's Drew Housman, however, who dropped 33 points on Princeton for a losing cause, with a series of pull-up threes, floaters and finesse layups. Housman was 11 of 23 from the field and also led the Crimson with four assists.
• Despite the failure to contain Housman, Princeton was a markedly improved team tonight, coming up with big defensive stops down the stretch and getting offensive contributions from a number of sources. A big first win to get under their belts.
• Tomorrow (Saturday) night at 7:30, the Tigers will go for a second-straight win, against the Big Green of Dartmouth. Sideline Dispatches will be there as well, live-blogging for as long as BlogSpot lets us. So check us out.
  

Schroeder hits floor to force steal

• Princeton gets it back. Savage bad pass goes off Koncz's finger tips and out of bounds.
• Housman banks in a leaner to put the Crimson up a point.
• Koncz short on a three.
  

Koncz three rims out at shot-clock buzzer

• Harris was right in his face. That would have been wicked.
• Schroeder draws contact driving to the lane, heads to the line shooting two.
• Way short on the first. Second one good.
• 57-56 Tigers with 3:10 left
  

First overtime game of Princeton's season

• Savage, Koncz, Schroeder, Conway and Gunn take the court.
• 56-56. Five-minute overtime period.
• Harvard wins the tip at midcourt.
• Schroeder with a steal.
  

Housman to inbound

• Goffredo gets it. Savage gets a body right on him, forces the ball out of his hands then lunges on top of Goffredo to get his hands on the ball and force a jump ball.
• Possession arrow Princeton.
• Tigers inbound, Schroeder can't get off three-quarters-court three-point shot.
  
• Regulation buzzer sounds.
• Overtime at Jadwin!

Back-to-back timeouts

• Harvard calls one to get things set up, then Princeton calls one once it sees what Harvard's set looks like.
• Zach Finley replaces Conway.
  

Here goes nothing

• Same five on the floor for Princeton. Still tied.
• Housman hold the ball near midcourt, runs down the clock. Conway defending. With about 10 seconds to go, Housman drives on Conway. His shot is blocked, bounces over the top of the backboard with 5.2 seconds remaining.
• Harvard gets it back.
  

Harvard ball

• Shot clock turned off.
• Crimson call time out. 21.9 seconds remaining on the game clock.
• Conway just kind off coughed that one up on the other end, there.
  

Koncz and Savage actually on the floor together

• With Schroeder, Conway and Gunn.
• Conway loses the ball.
  

One minute to go

• Harvard's Brad Unger fouled with a chance to put his team up two, but he misses both FTs. 56-56 with 50 seconds remaining.
• Savage checks back in for crunchtime.
• Last year in Cambridge, Savage drained a fall-away jumper with 0.2 seconds remaining to beat the Crimson by one point.
  

We must protect this Housman

• Conway hits 1 of 2 FTs to put Princeton up three.
• Housman buries a three from the top of the arc. Absolutely ridiculous. It's like Groundhog's Day. Housman just answers and answers.Like that guy who kept winning on Jeopardy.
• Who is Ken Jennings?
  

Kind of saw that one coming

• Right in front of my seat at the scorer's table, Schroeder pulls up for a deep three. With the angle I have on it, it's clear that the shot will be an airball long before it flies about a foot shy of the rim.
  

Heckuva head fake

• Gunn gives his defender a little juke like he's going to drive to the basket, then effortlessly launches up a wing three as his defender slips trying to get back in position. Swish. Princeton goes up four.
• Housman, as usual, answers on the other end. 54-52 Tigers with 3:00 to go.
  

Heartburn

• Schroeder has a habit of dribbling all the way back to within inches of the midcourt line while the Tigers are on offense, always coming daringly close to committing a backcourt violation. Clearly, he has an innate sense of where the line is (he never looks for it), but he keeps you on the edge of your seat when he goes back there. Mark my words, once in his career, he will step over that line. Especially if he keeps playing 39 minutes a game.
  

Goffredo tackled shooting a three

• Hits two free throws.
  
• Schroeder answers by draining a deep three, a few steps behind the top of the arc. Hey Drew Housman, we've got news for you: Schroeder's shooting. Tigers lead 51-50 with 4:13 to go.
  

Speechless

• During a timeout, former Tiger men's basketball player Alex Okafor '09 takes the floor as tonight's contestant in the Amtrak Shoot-around promotion game.
• He opts to try a three-pointer for a round-trip ticket to Boston. Misses on the first attempt. And the second.
• In the Princeton huddle, junior guard Zach Woolridge can't help but sneak a peak at how his former teammate is fairing.
  

Housman responds again

• This time a floater off the glass coming out of a timeout. He then comes down the floor on the next Crimson possession and throws up a ridiculous floater/hook/finger roll that some how rattles its way home.
• Owings bangs another big three, then comes up with a monster block on the other end.
• Tie game again. 48-48 with 5:34 to go.
  

Unless...

• ...Luke Owings comes right back and drains a three, which is what just happened. Tigers lead 45-44 with 7:44 to play.
  

Tie game

• Savage holds his follow-through for just one extra second after nailing a corner three to tie the game.
• Housman answers right back with a way-too-easy layup. Really can't afford to let that happen.

Owings nearly ties it

• But his open three rims out. 9:41 to play.
• Schroeder dives to the floor to force a jump ball. Possession arrow Princeton.
• Gunn misses a three that would have tied it.
• Savage hits the deck to force another jump. Possession arrow Crimson.
  

Gunn again

• Another big three. Princeton cuts Harvard's lead to three, 42-39.
• Tonight's Terra Momo trivia question has just been announced over the PA system. The answer can be found here (you can figure out the question).
  

The Gilbert Arenas of the Ivy League

• That would be Harvard's Jim Goffredo. He appears to have no conscience. He just jacked up a shot from well behind the top of the three-point arc with 30 seconds still left on the shot clock. He nearly banked it in, but that shot would have gotten him kicked off the Princeton roster long before he ever got close to 1,000 points for his career.
  

Koncz picks up fourth foul

• Savage returns. Koncz gets a warm welcome back at the Princeton bench for his hustle, and that clutch three.
  

Koncz drains a huge three

• The Tigers had just fallen behind by eight points, and Koncz just hit a big wing three with a hand in his face (six-foot, eight-inch Evan Harris' hand, no less).
  
• Crimson up 42-37 with 13:42 remaining.
• This is about as high a score as you're going to see with 13:42 to go around these parts. Last weekend, it would have been a final score.
  

Mixing it up

• The biggest thing Steuerer probably brings to the table is a little unpredictability, as the Ivy League had clearly figured out how the Princeton offense would be running with Schroeder at the point. Steuerer isn't going to do anything revolutionary, but it's a different look.
• Scott must have just refreshed his computer screen, he subs Steuerer out of the game and brings back Schroeder (who we're not knocking, it just seems like Steuerer might need more of a chance, the way things are going).
  

"Woooo!"

• Kyle Koncz IS shooting, and calling out for the ball as well to let his Steuerer know he's open in the corner. He misses, though, and Princeton is still down six, 40-34. Koncz still scoreless.
  
• 15:42 left to go in the half.
• Very interesting to see Scott going away from Schroeder, who has been a security blanket all season for his coach (who was a point guard himself for the Tigers back in the day). Steuerer is going to get some minutes here, and have a chance to get Princeton going offensively.
  

"He's not shooting, he's not shooting"

• Harvard's Housman talks smack to Princeton's Schroeder as the Schroeder handles the ball outside the three point line. Housman is proved correct, as Noah Savage shoots instead, and is rejected.
• Steuerer checks in, replacing Schroeder. Definitely the first time Schroeder haas been replaced twice in one game.
  
• Steuerer running the point.
  

Harvard ball coming out of halftime

• Clinging to a three-point lead over Princeton. Jersey boy Andrew Pusar scores inside to make the Crimson lead five.
• Finley and Schroeder nail layups on back-to-back possessions to cut the Harvard lead to one. First points of the game for both freshman starters.
  

Statizzles

• 10 points, four rebounds for Harvard's Evan Harris at halftime. He's pretty much had his way inside. That dunk he had earlier was also about the only thing that could have topped Savage's slam. Harris's got a 8.5, Savage's a solid 8.
  
• 52 percent from the floor for the Crimson, 42 percent for the home boys. Gunn with 11 points, Savage with nine, well past his season average.
• Koncz was scoreless in nine minutes (matching his output against Brown last Saturday) but he provided energy on defense. He probably has something to do with Princeton's improved play, but the home-court advantage seems to be playing a role as well.
• Schroeder 0-3 from the floor and actually went to the bench at the end of the half. Schroeder entered the game leading Division I in minutes per game with 38.7, having been on the floor for 697 of the 720 minutes the Tigers have played this season. With his four minutes on the bench in the first half, he has now sat out 27 minutes on the season, which is still significantly less than one full game.
  

Halftime

• Harvard 32, Princeton 29.
• The Tigers are leaps and bounds ahead of where they were last weekend offensively, but stops have been hard to come by on the other end. Harvard has a number of talented offensive weapons and seems a lot better than its 3-3 Ivy record. Maybe that's just because it's playing Princeton, though, hard to tell.
• The Princeton Paws dance team is on the floor. Someone apparently deemed the normal cheerleading squad insfufficient.

A cheer for Jim Goffredo

• The senior Crimson guard just became the 24th player in Harvard history to score 1,000 career points.

Steuerer gets big

• For a huge rebound in traffic off a Harvard miss.
  
• Then sets a really, really illegal screen on the other end. Crimson basketball.

28-27 Tigers

• With 3:34 to go before halftime.
• Junior point guard Kevin Steurerer checks into the game to give Schroeder a breather. That is just Steuerer's fourth appearance of the season. Schroeder has hardly gotten any rest this year, averaging a ridiculous 38.7 points per game as a freshman.
• Steuerer, of course, was Princeton's starting point guard for a stretch of games last year while Scott Greenman '06 was out with an injury.
  

An inside presence

• On the defensive end, Savage bodies up a Harvard post player who had just gotten great position underneath the basket after an offensive board. Savage keeps on him though and forces him to miss the layup.
• Owings drains a three from the top of the arc. Offensively, the Tigers are looking like their old selves.
• On the other side? Not so much. Drew Housman cruises in for an easy layup and Scott immediately sends Koncz to the scorer's table to check back into the game for some defense.
  

Lost art

• Savage clangs home a mid-range jumper to put the Tigers back on top. Evan Harris answers right back for Harvard.
• This was a huge problem for Princeton in its losses against Brown and Yale last weekend-an inability to stop opponents from answering back following a big bucket on offense.
• Gunn bottoms out another three. He's got nine points to match Savage's output.
  

Gunn back on track

• Nails his second consecutive three. He seems to like the left wing, and sets up to shoot there often.
• Savage and Owings (into the game for the first time) check in for the Tigers.
• Harvard's Jeremy Lin answers with a put-back, Crimson leads 21-20 with 7:32 to go in the half.
  

Harvard

• Here's a link to the Crimson's season stats.
• The man at the top of that list, senior center Brian Cusworth, is no longer on the team because he ran out of collegiate eligibility at the start of the spring semester. Harvard must miss his 17 points a game, plus the Ivy league-leading averages in blocks and rebounds.
  

Tigers lead

• Gunn rattles in a three and the Jadwin Jungle is commanded to "show their trays" by the PA announcer. Princeton leads, 15-14, but Harvard's Drew Housman answers with his own three on the very next possession, putting the Crimson up 17-15 with 9:48 to go.
• Housman, a sophomore guard, appears to be 10 or 11 years old. He's got game, though
  

Koncz, Conway, Strittmatter, Schroeder and Gunn

• The five on the floor for Princeton. Conway comes up with a steal.
• Koncz is really getting vocal on the defensive end, pleading for Gunn to get in position. What's the early line on Koncz being named team captain next year?
  

Savage with 7 points already

• 12 minutes still to go in the first half. Did we mention it's his first start of the year?
• Right on cue, Savage gets subbed out and Koncz replaces him. Great sign to see Koncz getting out on the floor, but not positive why it has to be Savage he's replacing. That's just how it's been all season, though. They are coach Joe Scott's two small forwards, and in this system they will never find floor time together.
  

Must be a sawed-off shot-Gunn

• Freshman guard Lincoln Gunn airballs a pretty open three-pointer from the left wing.
• On the other end, Harvard's Evan Harris throws down a dunk that looked like it hurt the rim. Two dunks already in an Ivy League game? I'm feeling disoriented.
• Sophomore forward Michael Strittmatter, fresh into the game, knocks down a big three. On the next Tiger possession, Savage does the same. We're tied at 12.
  

First timeout

• With 15:51 to go in the half, the game is tied, 6-6.
• Savage's dunk got the student section excited, but not as much as it should have. He flat out threw it down, with no regard for human life (apologies to NBA announcer Kevin Harlan).
• Savage has four dunks on the season by our count, while the rest of the Tigers remain jamless.
  

Noah way!

• Savage flies in through the lane for a two-handed monster dunk, taking Harvard's center down to the floor in the process. The posters will be available on goprincetontigers.com after the game.
  
• Savage has hops.
  

Edwin Buffmire

• The junior guard is in street clothes.
  

Awful start

• Shot-clock violation on the first possession, with Schroeder getting stuck with the ball with a couple seconds left and unable to hit rim on a desperation mid-range jumper.
• Evan Harris responds with a finger roll on the other end for Harvard.
• Six seconds left on the shot clock on Princeton's next possession. Ball goes out of bounds. Savage gets it at the top of the arc with two seconds left and nails a two-pointer with his foot on the three-point line.
• Harvard answers with another layup. 4-2 Crimson with 17:48 to go.
  

Starting Savage

• Wow, junior forward Noah Savage was just announced as a starter, joining senior captain Justin Conway at forward. Freshman center Zach Finley also gets the nod, as do classmates Marcus Schroeder and Lincoln Gunn at guard.
• Koncz, it looks like, will come off the bench, as will senior forward Luke Owings. The reason for Owings' demotion to the bench is unclear, although he sat out the tail-end of Princeton's pre-game shoot-around and got attention from a couple team officials on the bench.
  

Trays

• Some combination of the athletic department and the Jadwin Jungle has established a new tradition here at Jadwin that has members of the student section lifting cafeteria trays high into the air each time Princeton nets a three-point bucket ("a trey"). Everyone's sitting in the bleachers now looking like they're waiting for dinner.
• No team in Division I hoops, of course, is a better candidate for such a three-friendly promotion as Princeton. The Tigers score a higher percentage of their of their points from beyond the arc than any other team in the country, at 46 percent. Princeton also scores the fewest percentage of its points on two-pointers (36 percent). For those of you wondering why those numbers don't add up to 100, it's free throws
  

0-4

• That's the big number for Princeton, obviously, as they have dropped their first four Ivy League contests for the first time in school history. The Tigers have won 17 straight against the Crimson here at Jadwin, though. And there is really no point harping on their recent failures, because if Koncz is his normal self, this will be a totally different team tonight. A team that had it sights set on a run at an Ivy title before Koncz went down heading into Ivy League play.
  

Now, usually I don't do this...

...but I'm a go ahead and break 'em off with a preview to tonight's game.

[R. Kelly stops singing]

• The Tigers have just taken the court, joining the Crimson in the pre-game shoot-around. The big thing to report at this point is that junior forward Kyle Koncz is in uniform and looks like he's going to give it a go despite his nagging foot injury. Koncz, Princeton's leading scorer and best defender, saw limited time off the bench in losses to Brown and Yale last weekend. It remains to be seen whether he's feeling good enough to start (or at least get significant minutes) tonight, but his being out there is certainly a good sign for the Tigers.
• Especially against the Crimson. It is a well-known fact throughout the Ivy League that Kyle Koncz owns Harvard University.
• Shameless self-promotions aside, though, Koncz really does seem to play his best against Harvard, having come up with career scoring nights (20 and 23 points) in each of his last two games against the Crimson.
  

Princeton-Harvard in half an hour

Sideline Dispatches is sidelined no longer. In just about half an hour, we'll start live blogging the men's basketball matchup between the Tigers and Ivy League rival Harvard. Tip-off is at 7:30, we should be getting going around 7:20.

• Check out the Daily Princetonian's preview of the game while you're waiting.

• And this article might be of interest as well.