Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson & Douglas Davis:
The opening possession was a harbinger of the rest of the night.
After winning the opening tip from Princeton forward Kareem Maddox, Yale's Ross Morin got the ball inside and missed at point blank range, his shot was rebounded under the basket by the smallest player on the floor, 5'9" Bulldog Chris Andrews.
An undaunted Morin missed again, but this time Yale center Garrett Fiddler took the ball away as it went up for grabs. The action stuck down at the far end of the John J. Lee Amphitheater, Alex Zampier was off the mark for three. Morin snatched his second board, but still could not score in the paint, Fiddler controlling before the ball went out of bounds off Princeton.
Morin passed out to Andrews just inside the three point line for a jumper over an oncoming Marcus Schroeder, which opened the scoring and ended a sixty second stretch with the ball continuously in Yale's hands.
Those four offensive rebounds were a quarter of the 16 the Bulldogs would grab as they overpowered Princeton inside on their way to a 60-48 victory, sending the Tigers to defeat for the first time in five Ivy contests.
"It was a physical game," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson. "The physicality seemed to favor them."
The final score was deceptive. The Tigers trailed by 24 with under seven minutes to go and finished on a 15-3 run.
Freshman guard Douglas Davis led Princeton with 11.
Alex Zampier had a game-best 13 for Yale, with Ross Morin and Travis Pinick each adding 10 while combining for 18 rebounds (10/8), five less than the entire Princeton team.
35% of the Bulldogs' points came on second chances, 32 of the 60 in the paint.
Yale picked up offensive rebounds five and six on their second possession, which ended when Andrews found Pinick running down the baseline for a layup while being jostled by Princeton center Pawek Buczak.
Schroeder answered with a late release layup to tie the score at four.
Outside shooting kept the Tigers in the picture. Princeton took a 13-10 lead with 13:35 left in the first half when Davis darted baseline, dished to Maddox up high, who swung the ball to Dan Mavraides in the corner for three.
Six straight by Yale's Michael Sands - a lob leading to a bank shot in close, a layup when there was a communication breakdown as the Bulldogs inbounded underneath their own basket and a putback of his own miss as he hustled from the weak side to the strong side to score gave Yale a three point lead.
Jordan Gibson penetrated into the lane and dished to a cutting Fiddler for a dunk that made the advantage five.
Princeton's deficit soon reached nine. A Zampier three on a possession kept alive by yet another offensive board was followed by a Porter Braswell breakaway as Davis and Nick Lake did not execute a hand-off play on the wing and the ball bounded loose at midcourt.
Zach Finley and Schroeder played high/low, with the former laying home a pass by the latter to bring the Tigers within 25-20, as Princeton attempted to return normalcy to the night.
Braswell missed a three and a backdoor to Saunders looked sure to take the Yale lead down to three, but a beaten Gibson did not give up on the play and blocked Saudners from behind off the front of the rim.
Miscommunication on a pick-and-roll between Finley and Saunders freed Fiddler for a dunk, throwing down a bounce pass by Pinick between the two Princeton defenders to make the score 29-20
At the other end Finley had the ball ripped out of his possession by Morin in the paint. Finley committed three turnovers and missed a jump hook in the last 2:41 of the first half.
It was only fitting that Yale's 12th offensive rebound would lead to a Pinick drive that closed out the opening frame with Princeton down 31-20. The Tigers' 20 points were a first half season low.
Coach Johnson substituted frequently in the first 20 minutes, trying to find a combination of players that could put multiple decent offensive possessions together, box out to close defensive stands and push Yale out of the paint. A lineup that could do more than one of the things on this short list was never found, and each member of the nine man regular rotation was complicit in the Bulldogs' halftime lead.
At the start of the second half, Morin somehow got a push shot in the post to go down turning right in the post, while Buczak could not hook his attempt in.
A lefty drive by Pinick ended in Mavraides' third personal foul and two free throws later Princeton was down 15 and Yale was able to nurse this double digit advantage.
Nick Lake was found diagonally by Schroeder one step from the basket for an easy layup that drew the Tigers within 39-27. Andrews missed from outside and Princeton had a chance to get the game on the outskirts of interesting, but Mavraides' pull-up jumper on the baseline sailed over the rim into Pinick's hands and Zampier faked a three and stepped by Saunders into two to push matters back up to 14.
Two other times Princeton could have crawled within 10. Lake was open for three on the wing with 14:53 to go but could not connect and following a Douglas Davis three pointer off an inbounds pass by Schroeder, Davis' third of the game, Saunders was blocked emphatically as Paul Nelson came over to help on a baseline drive and Kareem Maddox then had the ball taken away on the same possession in mid-air by Gibson as Maddox tried to soar to the hole.
45-33 quickly became 55-33 and the result went from likely to assured. A Zampier three on the left wing started the run, but all of the other points came in the paint or at the free throw line.
Princeton reserves John Comfort, Bobby Foley, Max Huc and Michael Strittmatter made the final score respectable, but the Tigers were leaving New Haven bumped, battered and beaten.
Yale is a poor three point shooting team, 328th in the country in three point percentage - but the Bulldogs have a decent-sized front line and it was apparent that their m.o. on Friday was to go inside repeatedly to try and create defensive switches that would allow their bigger players to post smaller Tiger defenders.
"The other team brought it and it was hard for us to adjust to the way the game was being played," said Davis following his first Ivy League loss.
38 of the Bulldogs' points came from their frontcourt, while Princeton's two big men, Finley and Buczak combined for two points and six turnovers. Fiddler played (8 points on 4-5 shooting) while Princeton's centers burned. It was the first time Buczak had not scored in a game since the season opener versus Central Michigan.
Notes:
-Princeton finished 16-45 from the field (35.6%), 7-14 from outside (50.0%) and 9-13 at the line (69.2%). Yale was 23-51 (45.1%), 2-11 from deep (18.2%) and 12-19 from the charity stripe (63.2%).
-Our condolences go out to the friends, family and co-workers of Princeton Athletics Friends Manager Lorin Maurer. Maurer was killed in the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 outside Buffalo on Thursday night. A moment of silence was observed in her memory before tonight's game.
