"Carril Court" ceremony pictures.
Photos of Saturday night's "Carril Court" halftime ceremony. Assistance naming all of the former players in attendence would be greatly appreciated.
Pictures courtesy of Stephen Goldsmith.
Manor 58 Mercer 57.
Postgame audio - Coach Howie Levy:
Mercer's season came to an end with a one point loss to Manor in the first round of the Region XIX tournament.
Despite playing with a defensive enthusiasm that had not been evident the other three times I saw the Vikings in action, the Blue Jays' outside shooters were able to find enough space for timely baskets in the second half. Mercer's 4-5 lesser defensive possessions did them in.
The Vikings trailed by 10, 33-23 late in the first half, but a 9-0 run that spanned intermission got the home team back in it and Mercer took the lead by one with under nine minutes to go.
Todd Jones' open three point shot with :40 remaining that would have tied the score at 55 was off the mark and Stefan Thompson sealed the win for Manor with two free throws in the final 10 seconds.
A three point shot from the near corner at the buzzer provided the final margin.
The Vikings (13-15) finished their season with five straight losses.
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.
Manor 56 Mercer 52.
Postgame audio - Coach Howie Levy:
"Unfortunately, success tends to make guys let up," said Mercer County Community College head coach Howie Levy.
"It happened in the Northwestern game [when the Wildcats could not hold a double digit halftime lead versus Purdue]. It happened in [Oregon State's] game against Washington State," added Levy. "You get a big lead and you forget to do the things that got you the big lead."
The same story played out for Mercer on Saturday afternoon, as Manor climbed out of an early 26-9 hole and pulled themselves up from a 43-30 deficit with under 15 minutes to play to pass and fend off the Vikings.
The newest members of the Garden State Athletic Conference's Region XIX ended Mercer's four game winning streak with the 56-52 win and evened the Vikings' record at 8-8.
"The big message that I send to these guys is that every basketball game is decided by a handful of possessions," Levy stated after his team's loss.
"It turned from a game played our way to a game played their way. Our offense doesn't work when we don't cut hard and our guys aren't good enough to play without it." The hard work on defense to come over screens as Mercer built their advantage and the attention to assistant coach Roger Gordon's scouting report that limited the touches of the Blue Jays' sharpshooters came undone midway through the second half.
Back-to-back threes by Stefan Thompson, who had been shut out up to this point, gave Manor their first lead, 47-46 with six minutes to go. "They have shooters that just catch the ball and shoot it. All you have to do is not let them get any shots off, just being attentive. They got two," said Levy of this stretch. "A three point shooter can have a great game and have the ball in his hands for four seconds. You can make three threes, catch and shoot, and he had a great game."
Despite the setback, Mercer has made significant strides since the last time I saw them in action in mid-November. "I think they're starting to enjoy to play this way," Levy said of his team, "but when things are tough they haven't been doing it long enough to not revert to what they did previously."
Mercer hosts Essex on Tuesday night at 7:00 pm ET.
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.
Tuesday News:
Today's Game: South Carolina (4-1 / 0-0) vs. Princeton (2-2 / 0-0)
Location: Jadwin Gym - Princeton, NJ
Time: 7:00 pm ET
Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB
TV: N/A
Internet: goprincetontigers.com
Series History: Princeton leads 3-2.
Last meeting: South Carolina 54 Princeton 48 - 12/20/06.
| South Carolina | Princeton | |
| 4-0 | Home Record | 0-2 |
| 0-1 | Away Record | 2-0 |
| 0-0 | Neutral Record | 0-0 |
| 133 | RPI | 326 |
| 89 | Sagarin | 264 |
| 65 | Pomeroy | 234 |
| 83.0 | Points / Game | 59.0 |
| 68.8 | Points Allowed / Game | 54.2 |
| .465 | FG% | .450 |
| .606 | FT% | .771 |
| .426 | 3PT FG% | .387 |
| 44.0 | Rebounds / Game | 35.8 |
| 16.6 | Off. Rebounds / Game | 9.5 |
| 14.6 | Assists / Game | 11.3 |
| 15.0 | Turnovers / Game | 18.3 |
| 5.2 | Blocks / Game | 5.0 |
| Downey: 19.2 | Points | Davis: 17.3 |
| Holmes: 10.6 | Rebounds | Maddox: 6.0 |
| Downey: 4.8 | Assists | Maddox: 3.3 |
| Downey: 2.4 | Steals | Davis, Maddox: 1.5 |
| Archie: 2.0 | Blocks | Maddox: 1.5 |
| Baniulis: .633 | FG% (Min: 5 FGM) | Buczak: .529 |
| Conrad: 1.000 | FT% (Min: 5 FTM) | Maddox: .900 |
| Downey: .467 | 3PT FG% (Min: 5 3PTM) | Davis: .500 |
Dartmouth vs. Vermont - 7:00 pm ET
Villanova vs. Penn - 8:00 pm ET - CN8
Nick Lake made the Honor Roll of the Ivy Weekly Basketball Awards.
Lake and Coach Johnson also spoke to the Princeton Packet about the Tigers' victory over Fordham.
Two previews for tonight's game - the Trentonian and the Daily Princetonian set the stage.
TigerBlog debates which Princeton players might comprise an all-time Tiger squad.
With four Wildcats in double figures, Northwestern (4-1) defeated UC Riverside, 59-43.
The Trenton Times talks to Howie Levy about the season so far at Mercer County Community College.
Princeton remains stuck in 14th place in the latest Schuylkill 16.
FIT 49 Mercer 42.
I had some free time this afternoon to catch a Mercer County Community College game. The Vikings were playing FIT in the second day of the Mercer Classic. On Saturday, Mercer dropped a 73-72 decision to nationally ranked CCRI.
Former Tiger assistant Howie Levy has his team running many offensive sets that should be familiar to Princeton observers. During the course of Sunday's action, plays called "Chin," "Princeton," "Circle," "Forwards Out" and "Georgetown" were each set in motion.
Four games into the season, the Vikings are slowly learning what Coach Levy wants them to do, but reverted back to bad habits when the game was not going their way. "You just have to make [execution] their habit," Levy told me after the game. "When it works, it works - they just haven't done it enough and don't have faith in it yet."
Without a true big man who is, in Levy's words, "different," the Vikings are forced to play five near-identical, interchangeable players, each around 6'2". Mercer has a wide back-up center who was the first player off their bench, but he is not 100%, recovering from a shoulder injury.
Stephen Goldsmith came with me to take some photographs - which you can see, along with some additional observations, after the jump.
Thursday News:
The Town Topics is the latest to talk to new MCCC coach Howie Levy.
Will Venable picked up two more hits and scored two runs in San Diego's 6-4 loss to Los Angeles. Venable's prospects are analyzed by Baseball Prospectus in their list of call-ups to keep your eye on.
Chris Young is a fan of the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw.
Northwestern has released its 2008-09 basketball schedule.
The Ivy League has concluded its investigation of the Harvard men's basketball program.
Friday News:
Madfriars.com reports that San Diego will purchase the contract of Will Venable and call him up to the major leagues. Venable will replace the injured Scott Hairston on the Padres' roster.
Venable and Chris Young could both be in the same line-up on Sunday, as Young is expected to return to the rotation then.
The Princeton Packet speaks with MCCC head coach Howie Levy.
Two Princeton alums make Yardbarker's Top 5 Middle-Aged Ballers on Earth.
Craig Robinson was a proud brother at Delegate Service Day.
The Journal Gazette invites you to meet Pete Hegseth.
An interview with Howie Levy.
I had a chance to speak with new Mercer County Community College head coach Howie Levy earlier today. A transcript of our conversation follows. - JS
Congratulations!
Thanks. Should be fun.
Was a head coaching position something that was on your radar since you stopped coaching at Princeton, or did this job kind of find you?
A little bit of both. Last spring I actually tried to get the Princeton High School job, which I didn't get. I think that it is ok that I didn't get it. I knew I wanted my next coaching job to be some sort of head coaching job and I was thinking over the last year - "what would be a good job for me?" I wanted to find somewhere where I was not moving my family and I said Mercer would be a good job. I liked the idea of helping kids that need some help and might not necessarily be in the educational system.
The AD at Mercer is a guy named John Simone, who was a long-time high school coach in the area. I think he called me during last season. I can't remember how it started but I want to say I was thinking about them and he happened to call me. He had a pretty good inkling that Kelly Williams, who was the head coach last year, was going to have a real good shot at the College of New Jersey job and asked if I would be interested. I said yes and from there we stayed in contact for a while. When Kelly got the job he called me and we talked and it worked out.
Howard Levy Selected as MCCC Basketball Coach
Howie Levy with MCCC Athletics Director John Simone
Here is the official release. I hope to get a few words from Coach Levy today. - JS
Howard Levy Selected as Head Coach for MCCC Men’s Basketball
West Windsor, N.J. -- Howard Levy, whose basketball resume includes championship success as a player and coach on both the Division I and international levels, has been named the head men's basketball coach at Mercer County Community College, Director of Athletics John Simone announced today. Levy served as assistant coach for men’s basketball at Princeton University from 1996-2007 and is an alumnus of Princeton, where he was a center for the Tigers for four seasons.
According to Simone, the selection of Levy is a real asset for the Mercer program. “Howard has an in-depth understanding of the game and the elements that contribute to team success. He comes to Mercer with a wealth of experience that includes his many years as a player and a coach. Through his work with student-athletes, he truly understands the importance of excelling both on the court and in the classroom. We are fortunate that he will join our coaching staff.”
Sunday News:
The Trenton Times reports that former Princeton assistant Howie Levy will be named the men's basketball coach at Mercer County Community College. Congratulations, Coach Levy!
Will Venable is likely to join the Padres in September when the active rosters are expand.
Venable was also named to the Fort Wayne Wizards' all-time team.
San Diego manager Bud Black says that Chris Young will pitch for the Padres in September.
A New England prep school player who previously listed Princeton as a favorite has instead committed to Brown.
A New Jersey guard took an unofficial visit to Princeton and has "high interest" in the Tigers.
Dave Blatt tells a short, funny anecdote from his playing days at Princeton.
Chris Mooney is pleased with Richmond's offense after the Spiders' tour of Spain.
