Princeton Schools UNLV 69-57

March 12, 1998 / 9:48 PM EST / CBS/AP

Chalk up another victim for Princeton, another run-and-gun team consumed by patience and passes.

Thursday night's customer was WAC champion UNLV, defeated 69-57 in the East Regional by an attack that has gone out of style everywhere else.

There is nothing mysterious about Princeton's fossil offense, a precise, approach to basketball that has thrust the Ivy League champions into the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Pass, pass, pass, cut. If the shot is there, take it. If not, start all over again. And maybe on the reload, pop a 3-pointer.

Bored yet? Not the Tigers. They never get tired of the system handed down from retired coach Pete Carril to coach Bill Carmody. They run it religiously, until it wears out the other team.

"It takes a good basketball player," Carmody said. "Get guys who are fast, cut and are fundamentally sound and you'll be pretty good."

Just like Princeton.

Mitch Henderson, who scored 19 points against UNLV, makes the system sound simple.

"I feel like we can run our offense for 25 seconds and get a good shot," he said. "Coach says this all the time. If we wear a team down throughout a game, eventually we are going to get some easy stuff."

In the run-and-gun world of thunder dunks, Princeton is a throwback team. The Tigers' discipline dissected UNLV, picking apart the Runnin' Rebels like so many specimens in a biology laboratory.

"They were prepared," Carmody said. "They knew what we were going to do. We played real well and it took that kind of game to beat them."

Princeton ran a passing clinic during a 20-0 first-half run that seemed to put the Tigers in control of the game. There were five 3-pointers in the siege which UNLV simply could not stop.

On the tying basket in the run, Princeton passed the ball 16 times before the backdoor cut finally opened for Henderson, who converted. The Tigers followed that basket with three straight 3s.

Now, UNLV decided it had the Tigers figured out. They were firing from the perimeter to bust the zone. So naturally, on the next possession, Princeton passed the ball 12 times before Gabe Lewullis' drive to the basket drew a blocking foul.

By then, the Rebels were getting a headache from trying to guess what Princeton might do next. The answer was whatever the Tigers pleased. UNLV was clearly rattled, repeatedly throwing the ball away, failing to score a point for nearly nine minutes.

If Princeton has a weakness, it is in the transition game. Fast breaks are for others. And yet, against UNLV, the Tigers scored 18 points on turnovers and didn't allow any.

Princeton built its first-half lead without Steve Goodrich, the Ivy League player of the year, attempting a shot. When the Tigers found their center in te second half, he converted a pair of hook shots, one from the left side and the other from the right, that were straight out of basketball's crewcut and bobby sox era.

Finally, UNLV made a run, cutting Princeton's lead from 15 to five. Under duress, the Tigers went back to their textbook, scoring five straight baskets on layups and backdoor cuts, using their most reliable weapon.

It was like a exclamation point for their game, a signature statement for a team that is 27-1 with a school record 20 straight victories, a team that sticks to the textbook.

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