Postgame audio - Coach John Thompson III, Hollis Thompson & Chris Wright:
Dwight Hardy waited at the top of the circle with time running down, the shot clock off and his St. John's team trailing by one.
Looking directly at Georgetown's long-armed junior guard Jason Clark, who had placed the Hoyas in front with a pair of free throws after controlling an offensive rebound under his own basket with :23 left in the second half, Hardy made his move.
Attacking to his right, Hardy dusted Clark and went up for a layup that had to be adjusted high off the glass as two Georgetown defenders soared across the lane to attempt a block.
After Princeton held on to defeat Northeastern 65-63 on Wednesday night in the first round of the UCF Holiday Classic, Tiger head coach Sydney Johnson allowed himself to consider the opportunity that his team now had against Central Florida.
Johnson understood first-hand that if you decide to play basketball at Princeton, the opportunity to knock off a Top 25 team on their home floor will come, but these chances rarely occur more than ten times across your four seasons.
"We played another ranked team earlier this year and that didn't turn out well," Johnson said, referencing the Tigers' 97-60 loss at Duke in mid-November. "So we have to prove a lot to ourselves."
The difference between a signature victory over a 12-0 foe and a close loss in the final game of 2010 came down to the final four minutes.
"They just probably made one or two more plays than we did," considered Johnson. "Offensive rebounds killed us."
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Patrick Saunders & Kareem Maddox:
Joel Smith's layup rolled off the rim as time expired and Princeton survived their first night of the UCF Holiday Classic, 65-63 over Northeastern.
Smith's attempt skidded across the iron and nearly rallied the Huskies from down 10 with 80 seconds remaining, as the Tigers turned the ball over twice in the backcourt and made just two of four free throws trying to close out their 10th victory of the season.
After a first half where Princeton's biggest lead was two and Northeastern's largest advantage four, the Tigers' active defense sparked an 18-2 run that seemed to change the game. The second of two Kareem Maddox dunks capped this spurt with 9:59 to go.
However, Princeton's attention to detail waned after they went up 16 and Northeastern hung close enough to make an improbable last second push a possibility.
"I just think that we came to play," said head coach Sydney Johnson of his team's performance during a stretch where Northeastern went 7:16 between field goals. "There's a little bit of a spark in us. I'm disappointed, because I didn't think we did that the entire game. The came after us after that run and we didn't respond well. We've got to learn from that."
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Kareem Maddox & Douglas Davis:
Make it seven straight heading into a brief Christmas break for the Princeton Tigers.
A balanced scoring attack, led by Kareem Maddox and Patrick Saunders in the first 20 minutes - then Dan Mavraides, Ian Hummer and Douglas Davis in the vesper, allowed the visiting Tigers to slowly pull away from the homestanding Towson Tigers midway through the second frame.
"It feels good to go into the holidays with a win," said Davis after his team's ninth success of the campaign and the 50th victory of Sydney Johnson's head coaching career. "It feels good anytime you get a win on the road."
Leading 46-44, Princeton scored 12 of the game's next 16 points, capped off by two Mavraides free throws.
Postgame audio - Coach Bill Carmody, Michael Thompson & Drew Crawford:
Northwestern's 1-3-1 defense befuddled St. Francis into 21 turnovers and after a slow start the Terriers could not contain the Wildcat's explosive troika of Drew Crawford, John Shurna and Michael "Juice" Thompson.
Trailing 15-13, ailing from what head coach Bill Carmody called "Garden jitters," the Wildcats settled into their funky zone, with JerShon Cobb at the top of the D and Shurna's long arms cutting off the passing lane to the right corner as he straddled the arc.
Electronic statistics for men's college basketball go back as far as the 1996-97 season. Before then, stats are all blurry photocopies and hand-transcribed scrawl.
This is noteworthy, because since electronic stats have become the standard, Princeton has not attempted as few three point shots as they did on Friday night at Wagner.
The Tigers only needed to shoot five times from behind the arc because they were able to take control on Staten Island by scoring 36 points in the paint and 16 more at the free throw line.
Princeton used a 19-5 first half run to break open a 16-16 ballgame and kept Wagner at bay for a 69-57 win, the Tigers’ sixth straight.
Coming into the 2010-11 season, there were only eight games in the past 25 years in which a Princeton player scored 30 or more points.
The previous five times out, senior Tiger forward Kareem Maddox has eclipsed this mark twice.
Tulsa rallied from a six point deficit with two minutes to go in regulation, then made two free throws with 10 seconds left in overtime to force a second extra session - but with the Golden Hurricane up 76-73 and 1:30 remaining, it was Princeton who had the final surge in an epic game, outscoring the home team 9-2 for their fifth straight win.
Postgame audio - Coach John Thompson III, Jason Clark & Chris Wright:
Watching Georgetown endeavor to catch Temple at the Liacouras Center on Thursday night, unable to pull in front of the Owls for the duration of the game, I was reminded of a moment shared with then-Princeton assistant Mike Brennan after the Tigers defeated Columbia 49-48 on the road to earn a share of the 2001-02 Ivy League title.
In that contest, Princeton trailed for the entire evening before a wheel play to Mike Bechtold set the Tiger guard up for a deep three point shot from the top of the key that placed Princeton in front for the first and final time with 33 to go.
Seeing a relieved Brennan after the game, I said "well, if you've only going to lead for 33 seconds, might as well make it the last 33 seconds."
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Kareem Maddox & Douglas Davis:
Princeton did not trail for the final 37:25 of Wednesday night's game at Monmouth, but the last three minutes of the second half saw the Tigers barely hold off a frantic Hawks comeback that nearly rallied the home team into the win column from down 15.
The long arms of Kareem Maddox forced Monmouth's James Hett into a less-than-ideal double clutch three point attempt with three seconds left and this tying try came up harmlessly short and wide of the rim over the baseline.
In the box score it went down as the Tigers' 11th block of the game, equaling a school record, but possession was given to the Tigers, implying the shot was altered but not deflected.
Princeton escaped their trip to West Long Branch with a 64-61 victory.
The Tigers were 1-5 from the free throw line in the final 31 seconds of the second half, similar to their ugly 1-4 performance at the stripe in the final four seconds of the first half.
Douglas Davis was set up six times on the perimeter for three point shots, leading to a game-high 18. Maddox added 13 with nine rebounds, five assists and three blocks. A two-handed offensive board by Maddox with the lead down to two allowed Princeton to run 17 seconds off the clock before Dan Mavraides split a pair of late free throws.
Eight of Mavraides' 12 came in the game's first four minutes. Ian Hummer contributed 10 on 5-10 shooting. These five were the only five Princeton players to score.
"You see so many kids on our team making plays that helped us," said Tiger head coach Sydney Johnson. "I was glad to see that because it really was a team effort."
7'0" center Phil Wait had 12 points off the bench for Monmouth and Hett also went for 12.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Douglas Davis & Ian Hummer:
14 days ago at James Madison, Princeton impressively assembled a 20 point first half lead, only to see the Dukes make a run right before intermission, lock down the Tigers in the second half and pull out a one point victory.
Against Saint Joseph's on Sunday afternoon the Tigers built a 44-19 opening half advantage, but with the awareness of what had transpired in Harrisonburg still in their minds, held off several charges by the Hawks for a nine point victory.
"I think they were calling on that memory," acknowledged Princeton head Sydney Johnson about his team. "There was a little bit of a sense of urgency there that we didn't have down in Virginia."
Leading by 18 at the break, the Tigers saw the Hawks cut their deficit to 10 on two occasions midway through the second half, but unlike at JMU, Princeton was able to take care of the ball against the St. Joe's pressure and made enough plays on offense for their third straight win.
Once the lead was down to 52-42, the Tigers had just two turnovers - both late offensive fouls - in the final 11 minutes against the Hawks' 1-2-2 press.
A free throw by St. Joe's Ronald Roberts with :00.4 remaining drew the visitors from Philadelphia within double digits for the first time since it was 19-12 seven minutes in.
Ian Hummer led five Tigers in double figures, joined by Patrick Saunders with 14 (including three shots behind the arc in the game's first five minutes), Douglas Davis' 12 and 10 each for Dan Mavraides and Kareem Maddox.
Carl Jones scored 15 of his 24 in the second half for the Hawks.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Ian Hummer & Dan Mavraides:
Princeton shot 75% from the field in the second half, including baskets on their first five possessions after intermission in Easton and held Lafayette at bay for an 82-64 decision. The Tigers only missed two times from inside the arc in the final 20 minutes.
Ian Hummer led the way with 22 points on 10-12 shooting. Dan Mavraides scored 15 of his 17 in the first half and Douglas Davis connected four times from the perimeter for 16.
Jared Mintz and Jim Mower each tallied 17 for the Leopards.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Kareem Maddox, Dan Mavraides & Ian Hummer:
It was looking like a loss, a loss full of positives such as improvements on interior defense, collective free throw shooting and overall team toughness.
It was looking like a loss, a loss to the best team that will visit Jadwin Gym this season, determined by a late 8-0 Siena Saints run.
It was looking like a loss, a loss after Princeton had gone up two in the final three minutes and a trio of unfortunate bounces did not reward Tiger defensive hustle.
Then Dan Mavraides changed everything.
The Princeton senior tri-captain hit two three point shots in the final 10 seconds of regulation, including a tightly contested jumper with :0.08 on the clock as the Tigers rallied to force overtime from down six with a minute to play.
"I've had a couple looks at the ends of games throughout my career here and I don't think I've made one of them. Maybe one," Mavraides said with a hint of relief. "It was good for one of those to finally drop."
Princeton scored seven of the extra frame's first eight points, capped off by Kareem Maddox's third dunk of the day to take control and converted nine of their final 10 free throws for an unexpected, significant victory.
Maddox was one of four Tigers in double figures, coming off the bench 71 seconds into Sunday's game for a career high 30 points and 10 rebounds.
Mavraides' heroics were part of a 19 point afternoon.
Center Ryan Rossiter was limited to 14 points on 5-12 shooting for the Saints, but grabbed a ridiculous 21 rebounds in defeat.
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
