Penn pictures.
Pictures courtesy of Stephen Goldsmith.
Princeton JV 81 Mercer 78.
Sophmore guard Bobby Foley hit seven three pointers, including the deciding bucket with seven seconds remaining, as the Princeton JV defeated Mercer County Community College 81-78.
Foley's 26 points spoiled the homecoming of former Princeton assistant Howie Levy.
Forward Jason Liberman had 14 for the Tigers.
Stephen Elmore - a freshman Princeton baseball player who is the son of former Maryland standout Len Elmore, scored 12 in the post. The 6'6" Elmore's physicality makes him an intriguing possibility for a future varsity roster spot.
Zane Ma, who has not suited up for a single varsity game this season, was also in action with five points - including a coast-to-coast drive in the game's opening seconds after he picked off a Mercer pass on the wing. It was good to see him wearing something at Jadwin other than a suit.
Chris Petrie was an unexpected participant in Monday's game. Petrie recorded eight for the Tigers and gave the home team a 76-75 lead with a post move in the final two minutes.
Also on the floor down the stretch was a late-arriving Alex Okafor, who tallied six and picked up an assist on the game-winner when he dribbled to the left wing from half court down by one and set a dribble hand-off for Foley that put Princeton on top.
John Comfort, who scored 40+ in a JV game earlier this season, was off target against the Vikings - connecting just once from outside. This did not stop Levy from screaming "shooter!" to his team every time Comfort touched the ball on the perimeter. Comfort did have a nice individual play late in the first half where he faked a three and drove right to the baseline, dunking with both hands when help defense did not arrive.
While the Tigers ran numerous high screens for their shooters, Mercer looked to attack Princeton from the elbow and the free throw line extended to create backdoor opportunities.
Corye Payton's lefty drive put Mercer up 72-69 with three minutes remaining, but Foley took an Okafor pass that deflected outside and dropped it in to tie the score.
Okafor muscled up a bank on the left baseline to give the Tigers a two point lead. Payton connected from three after receiving a pass out of the post and the Vikings were back up one.
For those of you keeping score at home, Princeton started Petrie, Foley, Ma, Liberman and Comfort.
Rounding out the JV roster: Mystery Player #10 (two three pointers using an unorthodox delivery) and Mystery Player #12 (scoreless).
Pictures courtesy of Stephen Goldsmith.
Two Notes.
Two notes of varying degrees of importance:
Our 1,000th post will go live at 12:00 pm ET. Don't miss it!
Tonight's game tips off at 6:00 pm ET. Don't be late!
Your Saturday is set.
Seniors on a Stick: 1998.
There are lots of reasons to go to Shabbat dinner at my parents' house. Have you tried my mom's challah, for example? Besides spending time eating and laughing (and eating) with family and loved ones, there's also slowly but surely bringing classic Seniors on a Stick home, taking photos of them and putting those snapshots on-line.
On the eve of the start of Ivy League play, with a month of Friday nights spent at basketball gyms instead of around the dining room table forthcoming, enjoy these posters from the final home game of the 1997-98 season.
Steve Goodrich.
James Mastaglio.
Darren Hite.
Sean Gregory.
Mitch Henderson.
All Seniors on a Stick printed and distributed by The 14 Club.
A slew of older Princeton basketball photos.
While on Flickr one recent evening, I discovered a huge repository of late 80s/early 90s photos taken by former Princeton band member Peter Dutton.
Dutton was kind enough to give me permission to share a few of his shots, clicked from the stands at various Princeton games, including four straight trips to the NCAA Tournament.
They're not expert sideline snaps by any means, but that's not the point. These photos bring me back to a time almost two decades previous that was a whole lot of fun. I hope they'll stir up similar memories for some of you and give people who weren't there an idea of what it was like to follow the team back then.
Hopefully these .jpgs will also get me off my duff and scanning the archived material gathering dust at my parents' house!
Peter has thousands of additional photos on his Flickr page.
If you have any Princeton basketball photos you would like to be similarly shared, please get in touch!
December 1989. That's certainly Kit Mueller (#00), Bob Scrabis (#34) and Jerry Doyle (#5). Fairly confident Marv Williams (#22) is also on the floor. Is #40 Anders Vestergaard?
The Tigers' last lead against Georgetown. 1989 NCAA Tournament.
Princeton band. Providence Civic Center. Gorilla costume?
Georgetown shooting a free throw in the first half. I see George Leftwich (#22), Matt Lapin (#33) and Bob Scrabis (#34) ready to box out.
Second half of the 1992 NCAA Tournament. Chris Mooney (#21) is at the top of the arc. Are those Leftwich and Rick Hielscher (#33) on the floor with him?
The band does "Rock Lobster" after a game at Jadwin. Note the Matt Lapin "Senior On A Stick," which most likely means this came from the final home game of the 1989-90 season.
The Tiger unmasked!
The Princeton band plays towards the end of the first half of Princeton's 1991 NCAA Tournament game versus Villanova - a game I've never been able to bring myself to watch on tape after suffering through it live.
Mercer 79 Middlesex 61.
The MCCC Vikings improved to 8-7 with their fourth straight win, a 79-61 decision over Middlesex tonight.
Roger Gordon (left), often seen on the sidelines at Jadwin, has joined the staff at Mercer.
Hope to catch up with Howie Levy on Saturday to talk about his team's improvements since I saw them play in mid-November.
Pictures courtesy of Stephen Goldsmith.
