Richmond (22-6) remained in first place in the Atlantic 10 with a 74-70 win over George Washington. Kevin Anderson made a midrange jumper with 1:22 left to put the Spiders in front to stay.
Stop the presses! Denver (16-11) won on the road in the Sun Belt Conference! The Pioneers defeated New Orleans 53-45 after building a 20-10 halftime lead.
Princeton recruit Chris Clement scored 14 as Stony Point beat Georgetown, 52-45.
Chris Young is throwing like his setbacks are behind him.
Around the Ivy League: Cornell (23-4 / 9-1) took over sole possession of first place with an 88-70 win at Dartmouth (5-19 / 1-9). Harvard (18-6 / 7-3) blew out Columbia (9-15 / 3-7) by 20. Penn (5-18 / 4-5) made six straight threes in the second half, knocking off Yale (10-17 / 4-6) by an 81-69 score.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Marcus Schroeder & Kareem Maddox:
Princeton coach Sydney Johnson was not shocked.
"I thought our energy was pretty bad. Although I'm disappointed by how we played, I don't think I'm very surprised by the end result."
The end result was a three point home loss to Brown in a game that a flat Tigers squad never took physical or emotional control of despite leading by six at halftime.
"When you're a basketball player, no matter if you win or lose, you want to hold your head high just because you played hard and gave the best effort you could," said senior co-captain Marcus Schroeder. "Tonight we just didn't do that, so it is very tough."
Schroeder scored a game-best 17 on 7-16 shooting as Brown keyed on the Tigers' other perimeter weapons. While Schroeder matched his career high, he was 2-9 behind the arc.
"They were doubling the post off me a little bit, sticking on some of our better shooters like Dan [Mavraides] and Doug [Davis] and Pat [Saunders]," added Schroeder, who fell prone to the floor with his hands over his face at the final buzzer. "There were just shots there for me and I wish I made a few more."
Chris Young says he's feeling good following his first bullpen session of spring training.
Princeton recruit T.J. Bray had a stellar stat line - 24 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and six steals as Catholic Memorial dominated Arrowhead 65-41, securing the Classic 8 Conference title for the Crusaders.
In the Italian Cup Final Eight, Mason Rocca had 13 points and 10 rebounds for AJ Milano during a 59-55 loss to Air Avellino.
The Princeton Athletic Department web site writes about the crowd at Jadwin Gym last Saturday night.
Around the Ivy League: Cornell (22-4 / 8-1) swept the season series with Harvard (17-6 / 6-3), winning 79-70 at Lavietes Pavilion. Dartmouth (5-18 / 1-8) won their first conference game of the season, 48-44 over Columbia (9-14 / 3-6). The Lions trailed 9-0 after nine and a half minutes of play. Matt Mullery scored 22 points as Brown (9-17 / 3-6) picked off Penn (4-18 / 3-5) by an 80-73 score.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Pawel Buczak & Patrick Saunders:
When the worst thing you can say about Princeton's performance is that they were 1-5 on dunk tries, it is a pretty good night.
The Tigers made 11 of their first 15 three point attempts and blew out Yale by 24 on Friday at Jadwin Gym. It was the highest point total for a Tiger team against the Bulldogs since 1973.
"We haven't had a game like that, but we were fortunate," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson. "I thought Yale brought a lot of energy and I know Coach Jones had them ready to play. It just seemed that we didn't miss a lot of shots."
Grabbing 16 offensive rebounds (the most versus a Division I foe since Rutgers in December 2001), dishing out 25 assists (the most versus a D-I foe since 28 against Brown in March 2000) and holding Bulldog leading scorer Alex Zampier to 3-12 shooting, Princeton led by 16 at the break and hit their first three treys of the second half to build an advantage that they sustained to the buzzer.
Dan Mavraides had 20 to lead all scorers, 4-7 outside the arc.
Winners of seven straight, Mercer County Community College was unable to slow down 24-0 Harcum on Tuesday night. The Bears from Bryn Mawr, ranked #1 in the NJCAA Divsion I men's basketball poll, raced to a 14-2 lead and the Vikings were unable to play the game at the pace they needed to stay close.
"You can't replicate what they do in practice, that's for sure," said Mercer head coach Howie Levy. "We've had a terrific year, we've played real well, but we've never faced anything like that."
By the time the Vikings settled down on both ends of the floor, the deficit was significant. Two baskets and two free throws following a technical foul on Harcum's Jeremiah Bowman drew Mercer within 33-25, but the Vikings could not get a stop - slapping out a defensive rebound did not create a transition opportunity that might have pulled Mercer closer. Instead a Harcum forward happily accepted the ball at the top of the arc and sized up a three that took the lead back to double figures.
As the Bears sent wave after wave of players into the rotation, Mercer was unable to contain all of Harcum's weapons and slow the Bears' repeated breakouts. In addition to a cadre of quick guards flying all over the court, Harcum also boasted the interior presences of 6'11" Diyaaldin Kelley and 6'10" Dutch center Berend Weijs.
A basket by Mercer's Paco Boussougou, fouled by Wilbur O'Neal on the play, made it a 64-52 score midway through the second half, but a swift 13-2 run cued by Harcum's swarming defense erased any thought of a comeback.
"It's pressure that [we] haven't seen all year and hopefully won't see again," Levy said of the Bears' active full court attack.
Mercer (17-12) will open Region XIX Tournament play on Wednesday night. The location of this game and the Vikings' opponent will be known on Monday.
Photos from today’s game courtesy of Stephen Goldsmith after the jump.
Tigers head coach Sydney Johnson and princetonbasketball.com editor Jon Solomon sat down on Thursday afternoon at Jadwin Gym for their weekly one-on-one interview. This Q&A is 17:00+ in length.
Johnson and Solomon break down Princeton's comeback victory over Columbia, discuss the Tigers' close loss in front of an energetic crowd the next night against Cornell in detail and review the team's successful trip to Penn on Tuesday. The pair also preview this weekend's Ivy games versus Yale and Brown.
Penn State won its first Big Ten game of the season, 81-70 at Northwestern (17-9). The Wildcats' only hope to make the NCAA tournament is to claim their conference's automatic bid. Doesn't look good.
Two Town Topics articles went live yesterday, one on the Cornell/Princeton game and the other profiling Tiger assistant Brian Earl.
The Daily Princetonian has an article on Ian Hummer .
Princeton recruit T.J. Bray scored his 1,000th point in Catholic Memorial's 84-57 win over Brookfield Academy.
Mercer has clinched first place in the Garden State Athletic Conference. Tonight they have a make-up game against top-ranked and undefeated NJCAA Division I Juco powerhouse Harcum.
Former Tiger Mike Bechtold will participate in an all star game featuring Lancaster-Lebanon League greats on July 16th.
Princeton moves up to the fifth slot in this week's Schuylkill 16. Serves me right for voting Penn State last. Ugh.
The Harvard Crimson reports that Andrew Van Nest and Keith Wright will not play this weekend.
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
