Tigers hungry for revenge tonight

When the schedule came out last fall, most Ivy League basketball fans circled March 8: Penn at Princeton. The year's second installment of the league's marquee rivalry would probably be the game that decided the Ancient Eight championship. Not this year. The title has already been locked up. The net has already been cut. For Penn (19-8, 12-1 Ivy), this is just the final tune-up before the NCAA Tournament next week. But for Princeton (15-12, 6-7), there is an awful lot of unfinished business in a season that has been anything but business as usual. The seven-loss Tigers -- yes, that's a sub-.500 record in the Ivy League -- welcome an old foe to Jadwin Gym tonight hungry for revenge after falling apart against Penn at the Palestra a month ago. And if tonight's game -- 7:30 p.m., televised on CSTV -- is anything like the last time Penn and Princeton got together, fans are in for nothing short of a thriller. Senior Judson Wallace's 21 points led the way for the Tigers who built an 18-point edge in the second half only to see Penn chip it away in the final seven minutes. Eric Osmundson's pair of foul shots tied the game at 56, completing the Quakers' stunning comeback, and forcing overtime. In the extra frame, Penn came out firing, and finished off the deflated Tigers, 70-62. Since then, it has taken Princeton some time to regain its form. Every Ivy team but Columbia has defeated the Orange and Black at least once this season. That leaves rookie coach Joe Scott faced with the possibility of being the first in Princeton history to see his team finish with a losing record in the Ivy League. The Tigers have posted .500 or better conference records for 52 consecutive seasons -- the longest such streak in Division I. But there is at least some since of normalcy returning to Jadwin Gym. Princeton handily defeated Harvard and Dartmouth last weekend for its first sweep of the season. Senior Will Venable was the star of the weekend, posting a combined 32 points on 13-of-17 shooting. The 6-foot-3 guard is sitting at 999 points heading into the final game of his collegiate career. The Tigers as a team have also picked up the pace, shooting better than 50 percent against both Harvard and Dartmouth, and sinking 10 three-pointers Friday night. That is nothing new, however, for Penn. The Quakers have shot 50 percent or better in five of the last six games. Chances are, another performance of that caliber will be necessary for the Red and Blue to escape from New Jersey with a win.

Notable:

Freshman David Whitehurst was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week for his 16 points -- on 4-of-5 shooting from long range -- off the bench against Harvard. The 6-2 guard will make his fourth collegiate start against Princeton. Penn's Class of 2005 is 6-1 over the past four seasons against the Tigers. The one loss came last season in overtime at the Palestra. Princeton has not won three straight games since defeating Rutgers on Dec. 8. Tonight is senior night at Jadwin Gym. Princeton's five seniors -- Wallace, Venable, Mike Stephens, Andre Logan and Jon Berger -- will be honored before the game. The Tigers' Class of 2005 sits at 67-43 (40-15 Ivy) over the past four years, while the Quakers are 83-31 (47-8).

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