Postgame audio - Coach John Thompson III, Chris Wright & Greg Monroe:
Three hours after Saint Mary's won their first NCAA Tournament game in 59 years, Ohio ended a slightly shorter 45 year drought with a bigger shock on the same floor, stunning three seed Georgetown (23-11) in Providence, 97-83.
The surprise in the final score was equaled by the ease with which the Bobcats were able to score offensively and race by the Hoyas.
Ohio's backcourt tandem of Armon Bassett (32 points on 9-17 shooting) and spindly freshman D.J. Cooper (23 points and eight assists) torched the Hoyas, putting up video game numbers as Ohio shot an uncanny 13-23 from behind the arc for the game.
That's what a 14 seed who started 0-4 in their conference rarely does versus a bigger and stronger Big East foe, but the Bobcats were the clearly the more poised, aggressive and confident team all night - scoring at will as they put up 48 points in the first half, the most allowed by a Georgetown team all season.
Leading 18-17 on a three point shot by Chris Wright, Ohio ran off 13 of the game's next 15 points and made three straight triples to go up double digits.
A Bassett drive completed the first of what would be several Bobcat runs.
"They were spectacular," said Hoya coach John Thompson III of Bassett and Cooper. "They handled everything that we threw at them tonight. We guarded ball screens different ways and no matter how we guarded it they were able to find a way to score."
Ohio led by 12 at the break and Georgetown couldn't significantly dent Ohio's advantage because of Bassett and Cooper.
The Hoyas sliced what grew into a 19 point second half deficit down to seven with just over four minutes left, but Jerelle Benimon missed the front end of a one-and-one at the line and Cooper subsequently launched his fifth trey to take his team back up 10, the assist to Bassett.
"We're at the short end of it tonight, but that is what athletics is all about," Thompson added. "You can sit and talk tactics and strategy and at the end of the day sometimes it just comes down to players making plays. Those two kids, over and over again made plays regardless of how we approached it."
Repeatedly penetrating with dribble drives into the lane that set up easy jumpers and slashing cuts, the Hoyas just could not match the Bobcats score for score or record multiple stops in a row. Georgetown had 1.107 points per possession and got blown out of the Dunkin' Donuts Center due to Ohio (22-14) putting up 1.368 points per possession.
"It was tough to defend because they use millions and millions of ball screens," analyzed Wright, who led the Hoyas with 28 points. "When guards like that, they get a head of steam, it is kind of hard to contain them coming off ball screens. They got to the middle of the paint and made plays."
The Bobcats' offensive numbers come the buzzer were staggering. 32-55 from the field (58.2%), 13-23 from three, 5-7 in the second half and 16-20 at the line. Georgetown came into Thursday with the number 33 defense in the nation, but the flatfooted Hoyas were repeatedly outworked on the glass and outhustled for loose balls.
Ohio's effort was exceptional, their execution equal and for the first time since 1997 Georgetown was heading home after the first round of the NCAAs, the third branch of the Carril coaching tree to snap in Rhode Island in the past 24 hours.
Postgame audio - Coach Chris Mooney, Kevin Anderson & David Gonzalvez:
They won with selfless passing, uncanny three point shooting and by sharing the basketball.
Richmond?
No, Saint Mary's.
The Spiders (26-9) were unable to stop 6'11" the Gaels' bulky senior center Omar Samhan, who scored 29 points inside and grabbed 12 rebounds in just 28 minutes of play.
"A big part of the game was we couldn't guard Omar," said Richmond head coach Chris Mooney, who remains winless in the NCAA Tournament as a player, assistant coach and head coach. "Even when he got into foul trouble and came out a couple times, in the first half we were able to establish our speed a little bit, in the second half not as much.
"Our inability to guard him led to some other problems," Mooney added. "They made some timely three point shots. Obviously, they really hurt us on the backboard. I thought it started with him."
With four ace shooters set up on the perimeter, Mooney chose not to double team Samhan, who was able to get his soft inside shots over the Spiders' smaller Ryan Butler and Justin Harper. Samhan found advantageous interior position time and time again in scoring situations.
Richmond took an early 9-2 lead on a push in the lane by Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Kevin Anderson, but Samhan had his team's first 10 as the Gaels moved in front 10-9 on a feathery spin move in the paint.
Samhan picked up his third personal foul with 6:40 left in the first half and the Spiders leading by a pair. With Samhan on the bench, Richmond was not able to build their lead and went to the half tied at 36 as Saint Mary's Mickey McConnell snapped a three point shot with 10 seconds to play.
Going deep into their bench and calling on little-used freshman forward Beau Levesque, who played a style that mirrored Richmond at De La Salle High School - alma mater of Marcus Schroeder and Lincoln Gunn - the Gaels zipped touch passes with Samhan unavailable and swung the ball inside, outside and around the horn, 8-19 from three.
When Samhan committed his fourth personal at the 9:13 mark of the second half, Saint Mary's had extended their advantage to 59-50.
Samhan wasn't needed. The Gaels again increased their edge, building as much as a 17 point lead before a flurry of Richmond three pointers in the final five minutes.
For much of the game Samhan had as many rebounds (12) as the entire Richmond team. Saint Mary's grabbed 11 of the game's first 12 boards and had a 16-6 advantage at halftime. The game finished with Richmond -23 on the glass.
The Gaels had more offensive rebounds (19) than Richmond's combined rebounding total.
McConnell hit five times from deep on his way to a 23 point performance for Saint Mary's (27-5), who recorded their first NCAA Tournament triumph since 1959, when they defeated Idaho State by the same score as today's final.
David Gonzalvez paced Richmond with 18 points in his last collegiate game. Anderson added 16, 11 of those coming in the first half.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Douglas Davis, Ian Hummer & Kareem Maddox:
Careless.
Sloppy.
Lifeless.
Nonchalant.
Princeton was all of those things and worse against Duquesne in the first eight minutes of the Tigers’ CBI opener on Wednesday night, but behind the stellar play of Douglas Davis, Ian Hummer and Kareem Maddox off the bench, the Tigers dug themselves out of a 20-11 deficit to lead by five at the break and pull away from the Dukes in the second half.
"There is a part of us that maybe wasn't quite ready to play," admitted Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson. "I think we refocused at some point, the guys got their energy level right and we were able to come back from that."
"We've had times this season where we started out slowly and just kind of figured it out, so I felt like we were going to," Johnson continued. "It probably took a little bit longer than I wanted it to, but I'm just glad we were able to do that and start to play our style of basketball."
Duquesne closed within one early after intermission, before a top flight stretch that saw Maddox feed Zach Finley for a one-handed dunk, gracefully score twice inside and then throw it down with two hands boosted the lead back to eight.
Once Princeton went up double digits with 12:19 left on two Maddox free throws, the Tigers maintained a double figure advantage the rest of the night, with Nick Lake dunking on a backdoor cut to punctuate Princeton’s first postseason victory since 1999.
Davis, his nasal bridge covered in white tape due to a broken nose suffered in practice on Monday, hit four times from outside and had a game-high 16. Maddox added 15 and Hummer provided a much-needed spark with 14 points in 17 minutes, including a 6-6 performance at the free throw line.
Damian Saunders tallied 14 to pace Duquesne.
Princeton advances to play IUPUI on Monday evening in Indianapolis in the quarterfinals of the CBI.
Duquesne's second-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, Bill Clark, has been suspended from the team and will not accompany the Dukes to Princeton.
Mercer (20-13) lost to Kishwaukee, 82-73. The Vikings next play on Thursday in the consolation bracket of the NJCAA Men's DII Basketball Championship. Paco Boussougou scored 21 for Mercer, who were unable to stop the Kougars in the second half. Kishwaukee was an unfathomable 18-22 from the field after intermission.
Tigers head coach Sydney Johnson and princetonbasketball.com editor Jon Solomon were able to find a free morning in their respective busy schedules to tape a 20:00+ one-on-one interview in advance of tomorrow night's CBI game.
Johnson and Solomon break down Princeton's last three games of the regular season against Dartmouth, Harvard and Penn, then delve into how the team spent their five days in limbo before receiving word about the postseason and conclude by talking about what to expect when the Duquesne Dukes visit on Wednesday.
Tuesday, March 16th
MCCC vs. (6) Kishwaukee - 7:30 pm ET NJCAA Division II Tournament
Wednesday, March 17th
Duquesne vs. Princeton - 7:00 pm ET - HDNet CBI Tournament
(7) Northwestern vs. (2) Rhode Island - 7:00 pm ET - ESPNU NIT
Boston vs. Oregon State - 10:00 pm ET - HDNet CBI Tournament
Harvard vs. Appalachian State - TBA pm ET collegeinsider.com Tournament
Thursday, March 18th
(10) Saint Mary’s vs. (7) Richmond - 2:50 pm ET - CBS NCAA Tournament
(14) Ohio vs. (3) Georgetown - 7:25 pm ET - CBS NCAA Tournament
Friday, March 19th
(12) Cornell vs. (5) Temple - 12:30 pm ET - CBS NCAA Tournament
The postseason starts tonight, with Mercer kicking off round robin play in the NJCAA Division II Tournament against Kishwaukee. You should be able to watch the game here.
Tickets for Wednesday's Princeton/Duquesne game are now available.
Our Facebook invite for the game has over 130 positive RSVPs. Let people know you're going to Jadwin!
In advance of Wednesday night's CBI first round home game against Dusquesne, Princeton held a press conference at Jadwin Gym this afternoon with head coach Sydney Johnson and the Tigers' senior class answering questions from the media about the school's first postseason trip in six years.
Audio - Pawel Buczak, Nick Lake, Marcus Schroeder & Zach Finley:
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
