Central Connecticut outscored Princeton 17-8 over the final 6:12 of the second half, pulling away from the Tigers for a 67-56 victory on Saturday afternoon in New Britain, Connecticut.
Freshman guard Robby Ptackek ptallied a career-best 20 points for the Blue Devils.
Despite limiting the touches of Ken Horton, CCSU's leading scorer, who was averaging 20.9 ppg before today's game, the 6'6" forward still finished with 18 on 5-7 shooting from the floor and 8-9 at the foul line against Princeton.
The Blue Devils went to the stripe 26 times compared to Princeton's six chances, a disparity that did not sit right with the Tigers' head coach.
"I'm not usually like this. I'm not too happy right now. I see how many free throws they shot and how many free throws we shot," said a dissatisfied Coach Sydney Johnson. "I don't know if we were taking the ball to the basket any less than they were. I don't know if we were not throwing it down in the post any less than they were. That really hurt us."
"I'm a little bit frustrated with that because I felt like although we didn't shoot the ball well, we did not play perfectly - we played hard enough at times that we could have at least been a little bit closer down the stretch," Johnson added.
Freshman guard Doug Davis was Princeton's high man, scoring 18 - including the Tigers first seven points as they raced to a 7-0 lead. Dan Mavraides added 13 off the bench and Nick Lake had 10.
Despite playing in a gym located at the top of Manhattan College's steep campus, It was an uphill battle for Princeton against the homestanding Jaspers on Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers fell behind 14-6 early and although they made several pushes to pull within one possession throughout the game, could never catch Manhattan.
"We were chasing the game, and that really makes it hard to get back into it," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson after his team's 70-60 loss. "We did, and then a couple other times down the road we couldn't turn the corner and that's been our season right now."
Tiger freshman Doug Davis’ career-best 27 points on 10-18 shooting was outshined by Chris Smith’s 35. Smith, the younger brother of Denver Nugget J.R. Smith, made his first seven jump shots on his way to 18 first half points.
"We made it tough on ourselves [early] in the sense that we were a little slow to react to Chris," Johnson said.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson & Pawel Buczak:
It was the perfect call. A play that Princeton hadn't run once in a game this season, one that caught Rutgers by surprise. A play they had been sitting on for a moment like this.
It was the perfect time. Trailing by one with :46.6 left to play and nine on the shot clock, the Tigers would get two possessions to the Scarlet Knights' one.
It was the perfect pass. A high inbounds diagonal lob from in front of the Princeton bench by Dan Mavraides to back-cutting center Pawel Buczak on the other side of the basket from the far end of a stack set.
It was perfect.
Almost.
Buczak was alone behind the defense, their heads turned, trying to react to what was happening. Buczak soared into the air above the iron to receive Mavraides' expertly-placed pass with two hands and lay the ball off the glass. But Buczak put a touch too much on his layup and the ball sailed strong off the backboard.
Instead of retaking the lead and being one defensive stop away from a victory, Princeton was playing defense still behind by one.
Down at the other end of Jadwin Gym, Mike Coburn thrust up an errant bank off a drive for Rutgers but Hamady Ndiaye crashed the boards and threw home Coburn's miss to send Rutgers up three with 10 seconds to go.
Two plays.
One made. One unfinished.
The difference between victory and a fourth straight home loss for Princeton.
"They got more penetration that we would have liked [on their final possession] and I think that created the offensive rebound opportunity," said Princeton coach Sydney Johnson.
"Tough luck for us."
Doug Davis' three point shot on the left arc that would have tied the game came up short of the rim and Rutgers had scored the last five points to defeat Princeton 49-44. It was the Scarlet Knights' 10th victory over the Tigers in their last 12 meetings.
Freshman center Gregory Echenique bumped and bodied his way to 15 points and 11 rebounds for Rutgers.
Dan Mavraides scored 11 off the bench to lead the Tigers, seven in the first half. Buczak and Zach Finley combined for 15 points and eight rebounds out of the center position for Princeton.
St. Bonaventure scored the last eight points of tonight's game, pulling away from Princeton in the final two minutes of a come-from-behind 60-53 victory for the Bonnies.
Jonathan Hall's 18 points paced St. Bonaventure. Andrew Nicholson added 16 of his own, plus nine rebounds and eight blocks, repeatedly deflecting Tiger hook shots in the post.
Jason Briggs and Kareem Maddox each tallied 10 for Princeton. Briggs added a team-best seven rebounds in his strongest game of the season.
Princeton's leading scorer, freshman guard Doug Davis, recorded just two points on 0-8 shooting.
"We knew a day was coming where Doug Davis was going to miss shots, and we still wanted to be in the game down the stretch - and we were."
Four players scored in double figures for South Carolina as the Gamecocks handed Princeton a defeat by the largest margin of victory for a visiting team in the 40 year history of Jadwin Gym.
Devan Downey had 22 points, seven steals and six assists to pace USC. Zam Fredrick added 20 in the 84-58 win.
Princeton had clawed their way through intense early pressure to take a 24-23 lead with 5:58 left in the first half on a Zach Finley layup created by a penetrating Jason Briggs.
The Tiger advantage lasted all of 16 seconds as Evaldas Baniulis' scooping drive under the extended arm of Kareem Maddox would begin a 15-0 run that concluded the half.
“We got some shots that didn’t go down [during the South Carolina run],” said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson. “We went through a woeful stretch there. They’re playing faster and their pace overwhelmed us. If we were able to continue to make some baskets, it might have been a different picture.”
Nick Lake's 14 points led a balanced, surgical Princeton attack as the Tigers defeated Fordham 73-61 on Thanksgiving Eve.
Lake was one of three Tigers in double figures, joined by center Pawel Buczak's career-high 13 and a 11 for freshman Doug Davis. Kareem Maddox added eight points and seven rebounds.
While Davis reached double figures for the fourth straight time, Wednesday's game was more than just The Doug Davis Show.
"We had great contributions," said Tiger head coach Sydney Johnson. "Doug is a nice player, but it is definitely going to be more than him and it has to be if we expect to do anything this year."
Princeton anatomized Fordham's man-to-man defense, shooting a season-best 54.3% from the field.
Following Princeton's loss to Maine on Wednesday night, Tigers head coach Sydney Johnson felt that despite never trailing in the second half, his team did not have a good understanding that they were controlling the game.
Four days later, in their first road contest of the season, Princeton methodically turned a one point disadvantage at halftime into a 17 point lead as they took complete control of the afternoon and never let up in a 55-43 victory. It was the Tigers' first win on the road since December 30th, 2006.
"They understood," said Johnson of his team. "I thought we played to our strengths. It is a good step forward for us considering the lack of experience. To understand who we are and try to execute knowing who were are and to get the shots and how we need to defend - it's good."
"I have an emotional connection to these guys for a number of different reasons and to see them achieve the way they did tonight, we'll take it and run with it."
Freshman Doug Davis was high man for the Tigers for the third straight game, scoring 19 points on an efficient 8-11 shooting from the floor.
"Coach expects a lot out of us," said Davis. "When each person goes in they have to be ready to play, and I think we really did that tonight. We relaxed, we knew what we were doing, we knew our plays. We just had to execute and we did that."
Princeton led for most of the night, but Maine led when it mattered most - at the final buzzer.
The visiting Black Bears rallied from seven points down with six minutes remaining to force overtime and then held off the Tigers in the extra frame for a 58-55 victory.
Maine improved to 3-0 on the season with the win while Princeton fell to 0-2.
"Our inexperience showed," said Princeton coach Sydney Johnson after the tough loss. "I don't think that we had a good understanding that we were controlling the game. It is painful to have to learn this way."
Freshman Doug Davis was the Tigers' high man for the second straight outing, scoring 14 points on 6-12 shooting. Dan Mavraides added a career-best 13 off the bench, 11 in the first half.
For Maine, Kaimondre Owes recorded 11 and Junior Bernal tallied 10. The Black Bears' leading scorer, Mark Socoby, was 0-6 from the floor and did not score until OT.
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.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson & Doug Davis:
The 40th season of basketball at Jadwin Gym got off to an exciting start on Friday night, as Princeton dropped a 55-53 decision to Central Michigan at the wire.
Like many first games of a campaign across college basketball, the energy level and eagerness was high on both sides, the play heavy on mistakes throughout and the questions moving forward numerous.
What no-one could have expected was Tiger newcomer Doug Davis scoring the most points by a freshman making their debut in Princeton basketball history. The diminutive Davis dropped 25 on 10-21 shooting, connecting four times from the new three point distance and blazing by defenders into the paint. This new benchmark was accompanied by four steals, two assists and six turnovers as Davis played all 40 minutes.
You have to rewind to Bill Bradley's first game in 1962 to find an initial Tiger total that was higher than Davis' dynamic performance. Bradley scored 28 points versus Lafayette during the curtain-raiser of his sophomore season.
November 2008
Fri. 11/14 Central Michigan (184/185) - 7:00 pm ET - 55-53 L (0-1 / 0-0 Ivy)
Wed. 11/19 Maine (327/322) - 7:00 pm ET - 58-55 OT L (0-2 / 0-0 Ivy)
Sun. 11/23 at Army (212/268) - 2:30 pm ET - 55-43 W (1-2 / 0-0 Ivy)
Wed. 11/26 at Fordham (167/140) - 7:00 pm ET - 73-61 W (2-2 / 0-0 Ivy)
January 2009
Sat. 1/03 UNC Greensboro (125/115) - 12:00 pm ET - 65-55 W (3-8 / 0-0 Ivy)
Wed. 1/07 Lehigh (245/242) - 7:00 pm ET - 73-64 W (4-8 / 0-0 Ivy)
Sun. 01/25 Concordia (NY) - 5:00 pm ET - 64-44 W (5-8 / 0-0 Ivy)
Fri. 01/30 at Dartmouth (300/312) - 7:00 pm ET - 59-54 W (6-8 / 1-0 Ivy)
Sat. 01/31 at Harvard (307/284) - 7:00 pm ET - 77-71 W (7-8 / 2-0 Ivy)
February 2009
Fri. 02/06 Cornell (65/135) - 7:00 pm ET - 61-41 W (8-8 / 3-0 Ivy)
Sat. 02/07 Columbia (220/267) - 6:00 pm ET - 63-35 W (9-8 / 4-0 Ivy)
Fri. 02/13 at Yale (183/236) - 7:00 pm ET - 60-48 L (9-9 / 4-1 Ivy)
Sat. 02/14 at Brown (106/151) - 7:00 pm ET - 61-43 L (9-10 / 4-2 Ivy)
Tue. 02/17 Penn (261/278) - 7:00 pm ET - 62-55 OT L (9-11 / 4-3 Ivy)
Fri. 02/20 Harvard (307/284) - 7:00 pm ET - 58-55 W (10-11 / 5-3 Ivy)
Sat. 02/21 Dartmouth (300/312) - 6:00 pm ET - 66-63 L (10-12 / 5-4 Ivy)
Fri. 02/27 Brown (106/151) - 7:00 pm ET - 56-48 W (11-12 / 6-4 Ivy)
Sat. 02/28 Yale (183/236) - 6:00 pm ET - 62-54 W (12-12 / 7-4 Ivy)
March 2009
Fri. 03/06 at Columbia (220/267) - 7:00 pm ET- 58-44 L (12-13 / 7-5 Ivy)
Sat. 03/07 at Cornell (65/135) - 7:00 pm ET - 60-51 L (12-14 / 7-6 Ivy)
Tue. 03/10 at Penn (261/278) - 8:00 pm ET - 59-56 W (13-14 / 8-6 Ivy)
princetonbasketball.com was founded on April 28th, 1998 in an attempt to provide fans of the Princeton Tigers and Ivy League basketball with the best on-line source for up-to-date news and information. We have since expanded to launch a companion site, Georgetown Basketball News.
As these sites have continued to grow we have increased our coverage to include additional teams with Princeton connections - the Richmond Spiders, Denver Pioneers, Oregon State Beavers, Fairfield Stags and Mercer County Community College Vikings - plus former Tigers playing professional baseball and basketball all over the world. This site is not directly affiliated with the Friends of Princeton Basketball, Princeton University or the Princeton athletic department.
Sun. 11/10 vs. Florida A&M
Sat. 11/16 at Butler
Wed. 11/20 vs. Lafayette
Sat. 11/23 at Rice
Tue. 11/26 vs. George Mason
Sat. 11/30 at Bucknell
Sat. 12/7 vs. FDU
Wed. 12/11 at Rutgers
Sat. 12/14 at Penn State
Fri. 12/20 vs. Portland*
Sat. 12/21 vs. Pacific*
Tue. 12/31 vs. Kent State
Sat. 1/4 at Liberty
Sat. 1/11 at Penn
Sun. 1/26 vs. Kean
Fri. 1/31 at Harvard
Sat. 2/1 at Dartmouth
Fri. 2/7 vs. Columbia
Sat. 2/8 vs. Cornell
Fri. 2/14 at Brown
Sat. 2/15 at Yale
Fri. 2/21 vs. Dartmouth
Sat. 2/22 vs. Harvard
Fri. 2/28 vs. Yale
Sat. 3/1 vs. Brown
Fri. 3/7 at Cornell
Sat. 3/8 at Columbia
Tue. 3/11 vs. Penn
2,503 - B. Bradley, 1962-65
1,625 - I. Hummer, 2009-13
1,550 - D. Davis, 2008-12
1,546 - K. Mueller, 1987-91
1,451 - P. Campbell, 1959-62
1,441 - C. Robinson, 1979-83
1,428 - B. Earl, 1995-99
1,365 - B. Scrabis, 1985-89
1,321 - G. Petrie, 1967-70
1,292 - H. Haabestad, 1952-55
1,277 - G. Lewullis, 1995-99
1,239 - B. Taylor, 1970-72
1,207 - S. Goodrich 1994-98
1,133 - F. Sowinski, 1975-78
1,130 - R. Hielscher, 1991-95
1,122 - C. Thomforde, 1966-69
1,099 - T. Manakas, 1970-73
1,090 - J. Wallace, 2001-05
1,088 - C. Belz, 1956-59
1,079 - B. Hauptfuhrer, 1973-76
1,076 - B. Roma, 1976-79
1,071 - C. Mooney, 1990-94
1,064 - A. Hyland, Jr., 1960-63
1,062 - L. Brangan, 1957-60
1,057 - A. Hill, 1973-76
1,054 - D. Mavraides, 2007-11
1,044 - S. Johnson, 1993-1997
1,031 - J. Hummer, 1967-70
1,010 - W. Venable, 2001-05
