Filmed courtside to start, but primarily high up in the stands, showing most of the crucial plays down the stretch. That wild triple deflection with 14 seconds left still haunts me.
Cornell Athletics highlights. All Big Red plays.
Box Score
Postgame audio - Coach John Thompson III, Greg Monroe & Austin Freeman:
Mike Rosario lept up on a platform in front of the Rutgers student section and began to shimmy, doing a two step shake in front of the Scarlet Knights fans jumping up and down. Three weeks and a day after being embarrassed by 25 in Washington, DC, Rosario's team defeated Georgetown by three.
The last time Rutgers beat a squad ranked as high as the #8 Hoyas was in 1982, when the Scarlet Knights clipped #6 West Virginia by 10.
Greg Monroe had rallied Georgetown to a 66-65 lead with :51 left on a drop step move against Hamaday Ndiaye. Monroe finished with 19 points, eight rebounds, six assists, four blocks and five turnovers.
Mike Rosario, who shot 3-16 on the day, missed a step back jumper from behind the free throw line, but Dane Miller raced in from the wing for an acrobatic tip follow that gave the Scarlet Knights a one point edge with 19 seconds to play.
The Hoyas pushed the ball, with head coach John Thompson III telling his team that he would call time out if he did not like what he saw. A two-on-one advantage for Chris Wright and Hollis Thompson developed on the far side of the arc, letting Wright spring open for a clear three off the left wing that he was unable to knock down.
Wright finished with six points and Georgetown dropped to 2-6 this season when Wright fails to reach double figures.
The two teams traded a pair of free throws before Austin Freeman's three point shot from the top of the arc was long at the buzzer and the spontaneous dance party broke out.
Jonathan Mitchell had a career high 24 points for Rutgers. Miller added 13 points and 10 boards for his second career double-double.
If you didn't make it out last night and Stephen Goldsmith's photos weren't enough to capture the mood during yesterday's game against Cornell for you, here's video of the Tiger band and student section in action.
Georgetown vs. Rutgers - 4:00 pm ET - ESPN+
Minnesota vs. Northwestern - 5:00 pm ET - Big Ten Network
In addition to our recap, read about Princeton's battle versus Cornell on goprincetontigers.com, in the Star Ledger, in the Trentonian, in the Cornell Daily Sun, in the Press & Sun-Bulletin and on cornellbigred.com.
A Bleacher Report writer calls last night "a game for the ages."
Richmond (20-6) outscored St. Bonaventure by 20 in the second half of a 68-49 decision.
Uros Kovacevic had 21 points and four assists as Mercer (16-11) won their sixth in a row, 73-62 over Del Tech Stanton.
Oregon State (11-13) was victorious at Arizona for the first time in 27 years.
Despite a New York Times report to the contrary, Beaver coach Craig Robinson denies that a representative of his has approached DePaul about their head coaching position.
Denver (14-11) played well on the road but fell 64-59 at North Texas.
Princeton recruit T.J. Bray had 25 points as Catholic Memorial clipped Milwaukee Pius, 60-48.
Newman Smith won versus Highland Park, 46-39. Future Tiger Daniel Edwards had 18 points and eight rebounds in defeat.
The Reading Eagle has named Pete Carril one of Berks County's four most famous sports figures.
Georgetown visits a Rutgers team that has won three of four. Look for full coverage on the site after this game.
Minnesota plays at Northwestern.
Around the Ivy League: Harvard (17-5 / 6-2) tied the school record for road wins in a season, winning 81-67 at Brown (8-17 / 2-6). Niko Scott scored a career high 29 as Columbia (9-13 / 3-5) won at Penn (4-16 / 3-3). Yale (10-15 / 4-4) held Dartmouth (4-18 / 0-8) to 18.8% shooting in the second half, rallying for the 69-56 triumph.
A jump step and an alley oop helped the Spiders blow by St. Bonnies in the second half.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Zach Finley & Douglas Davis:
Douglas Davis’ tying try from the top of the arc sailed beyond his target at the horn and Cornell gutted out a 48-45 win over Princeton to move back into a first place tie atop the Ivy League.
"I let it go and it felt a little long but I knew it was on line. I needed the backboard [for] it to go in," Davis said of one of his few second half misses. "I was praying that it would go in somehow, some type of way, but it didn't."
Ryan Wittman’s catch and shoot three with 1:38 remaining - his only triple of the night - looked like it had iced the game for the Big Red and silenced the packed house at Jadwin Gym, sending Cornell up 44-38, but Davis scored the Tigers’ last 11 points, putting them in the position to force overtime.
David finished with a game-high 20 on 6-10 shooting.
Wittman had 13 for Cornell and fellow senior Jeff Foote added 11 inside, perfect from the field.
"I thought it was a terrific basketball game. It was pretty physical. There was a fair amount of stuff going out there that wasn't smooth and pretty but I thought it was pretty intensely played," Princeton coach Sydney Johnson summarized. "I thought these guys really put their heart out. I was really happy with the effort of our team and certainly they should feel good about their effort. It's just a shame we couldn't win the game."
His first two seasons at Princeton, Kevin Steuerer wore it.
As a junior, it went to freshman Zane Ma.
Finally as a senior, Zach Finley could have it.
For his final year as a Tiger, Finley made the decision to switch uniforms from 30, which he had donned in his first 82 collegiate games, to his high school number of 24.
The reason why Finley wanted this integer is the same reason his brother Rhett wore it before him at St Thomas Moore High School in Rapid City. A tribute to South Dakota basketball legend Derek Paulsen, who died in a automobile accident on July 30, 1999.
Paulsen - who wore 24 when playing at home for the Custer Wildcats - and his girlfriend Eva Wahlstrom were hit head on by a car going the wrong way in the wrong lane a few months after he had led his team as a junior to a third place finish in the state tournament.
Both had their seat belts on. Both were killed.
Paulsen's too brief life touched many throughout the state, including both Finley boys. Since 2001 the Derek Paulsen Inspiration Award has been handed out each year to a member of the Dakota Schoolers Basketball Club.
This tragedy was the subject of a 2000 Sports Illustrated piece by E.M. Swift, one that mentions Paulsen drew recruiting interest from both Northwestern and Princeton.
Finley and Paulsen were each MVPs of the Lakota Nation Invitational, eight years apart.
A life cut short over a decade ago, honored for a season 1,743 miles east of Custer. A small, meaningful gesture happening every game this year, unbeknownst to everyone but Zach Finley.
Today's Game: Cornell (20-4 / 6-1) vs. Princeton (14-5 / 5-0)
Location: Jadwin Gym - Princeton, NJ
Time: 6:00 pm ET
Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB
TV: Verizon FiOS 1
Internet: goprincetontigers.com
Series History: Princeton leads 134-76.
Last meeting: Cornell 60 Princeton 51 - 3/7/09.
| Cornell | Princeton | |
| 9-1 | Home Record | 6-1 |
| 8-3 | Away Record | 8-4 |
| 3-0 | Neutral Record | 0-0 |
| 64 | RPI | 124 |
| 52 | Sagarin | 129 |
| 72 | Pomeroy | 114 |
| 76.2 | Points / Game | 59.3 |
| 64.3 | Points Allowed / Game | 52.5 |
| .471 | FG% | .432 |
| .719 | FT% | .736 |
| .412 | 3PT FG% | .362 |
| 35.8 | Rebounds / Game | 29.9 |
| 11.3 | Off. Rebounds / Game | 8.3 |
| +3.7 | Rebounding Margin | +0.1 |
| 17.1 | Assists / Game | 11.7 |
| 12.7 | Turnovers / Game | 13.8 |
| 4.0 | Blocks / Game | 3.4 |
| Wittman: 17.2 | Points | Davis: 13.4 |
| Foote: 8.7 | Rebounds | Mavraides: 4.8 |
| Dale: 5.1 | Assists | Schroeder: 3.3 |
| Dale: 1.6 | Steals | Schroeder: 2.0 |
| Foote: 1.9 | Blocks | Maddox: 0.9 |
| Foote: .601 | FG% (Min: 10 FGM) | Finley: .611 |
| Wroblewski: .917 | FT% (Min: 10 FTM) | Schroeder: .889 |
| Groebe: .583 | 3PT FG% (Min: 5 3PTM) | Saunders: .472 |
Richmond vs. St. Bonaventure - 2:00 pm ET - CBS College Sports
Del Tech Stanton vs. MCCC - 3:00 pm ET
Denver vs. North Texas - 8:00 pm ET
Oregon State vs. Arizona - 9:30 pm ET - FCS Pacific
Columbia vs. Penn - 7:00 pm ET - The Comcast Network
Dartmouth vs. Yale - 7:00 pm ET
Harvard vs. Brown - 7:00 pm ET
In addition to our recap, read about Princeton's rally past Columbia on goprincetontigers.com, in the Trentonian and on gocolumbialions.com.
Frank Sowinski is the subject of a Home News Tribune piece about his work with the Pingry School basketball team.
The Princeton Packet posted their article about the Tigers' sweep of Harvard and Dartmouth.
Richmond looks for win number 20 at St. Bonaventure.
North Texas is where Denver can be found.
Oregon State visits Arizona.
Around the Ivy League: Penn (4-15 / 3-2) shocked #22 Cornell (20-4 / 6-1), 79-64. The Quakers started the second half on a 15-0 run. Harvard (16-5 / 5-2) escaped New Haven with a wild 82-79 overtime win versus Yale (9-15 / 3-4). Brown (8-16 / 2-5) shot 33-37 from the free throw line and defeated Dartmouth (4-17 / 0-7) by 15.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Zach Finley, Kareem Maddox & Ian Hummer:
All Princeton wanted was to get to Saturday with a puncher's chance.
Eclipsed by Jeremy Lin's story and Cornell's rise to the Top 25, the Tigers have won 12 of 13 about as quietly as a basketball team can.
The Big Red's shocking loss at The Palestra on Friday night combined with the Tigers' defense-driven rally over Columbia up the road has changed the complexion of tomorrow night's title fight.
To reach this position as the only remaining unblemished Ivy team, Princeton had to shut down the Lions for the last 13:00+ of the second half, allowing just one meaningful field goal as they reversed a four point deficit with an 18-2 run.
"I'm proud that we took a couple punches but we didn't fall down, we didn't stumble," said Tiger head man Sydney Johnson. "We just kind of cleared our head and got back to doing what we do. It was pretty effective."
