Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson:
Postgame audio - Kareem Maddox:
One night after being out-muscled versus Yale, Princeton suffered through their worst loss at Brown since 1960, falling by 18 to the Bears - who were previously winless in Ivy play. The 61-43 decision was Princeton's fourth straight defeat in Providence and dropped the Tigers into second place behind Cornell in the race for the Ivy League title.
Center Matt Mullery led Brown’s “Iron Six” with 19 points on 8-10 shooting and six assists, one of three Bears in double figures.
Kareem Maddox had 10 points and six rebounds for the Tigers in defeat.
Brown combined timely outside shooting with high/low sets from the free throw line that allowed their big men to camp out deep in the lane for close, quality looks at the basket.
"We may have lost some confidence defensively, and that seemed to play out this weekend," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson. "Hopefully we can bounce back from that."
It took Princeton almost two-and-a-half minutes at the start of the game to make contact with the rim on offense. Adrian Williams, the son of Super Bowl MVP XXII Doug Williams, took a pass out of the post from Mullery and tossed in a three for Brown 17 seconds in.
The Tigers' first possession ended with a shot clock violation as a drive by Marcus Schroeder could only target the backboard.
Mullery, who had made just five three pointers coming into Saturday's game, gingerly sized up a three of his own from the top of the arc to double the score.
Maddox drove baseline and was locked up on a drive, then traveled shortly after play continued to give the ball back to Brown.
Pawel Bucak was off the mark on a spinning layup attempt, but at least Princeton could now say they had put the ball near the basket.
Finally, with 16:28 left in the half, Buczak, who did not score versus Yale, swooped in for a left-handed hook to bring Princeton within 6-2.
Consecutive three point shots by Dan Mavraides - coming to get the ball from Buczak straddling the curve of the arc and Maddox - using a Buczak hand-off, put the Tigers in front by two for the first time.
The Princeton lead reached 15-10 with 10:04 left when Mavraides rose up on the wing for three. Mavriades would have to come out of the game two minutes later when he picked up his second personal foul at the 7:25 mark trying to snag a high rebound. He would not return in the first half.
A lob by Scott Friske at the free throw line to Mullery inside was followed by a long jumper from Princeton's Douglas Davis off a designed inbounds play, Davis springing to the just inside the three point line and meeting a pass from Schroeder. The Tigers were having trouble finding a comfort level on offense, but they were still controlling the game beyond Brown's two early three point baskets.
Mullery tried his chances from outside a second time, his deliberate jumper nicking the front of the iron and hiccuping up and into the basket to bring Brown within two.
Buczak blew right by Mullery to his left, but his layup attempt was left slightly short.
Turn your head to the other side of the 1/10-full arena and you would see Morgan Kelly smiling. Kelly, the only player to record time off the Brown bench, banked in a three point shot from up top that he drastically misjudged. There are no style points in basketball and Brown now was up 20-19.
Maddox hung in the lane for two to briefly take the lead back into the Tigers' hand, but Peter Sullivan was fouled by Patrick Saunders on a drive and finished off the first half scoring with a free throw.
Twenty minutes had been played and the two teams had split 42 points.
Maddox was not as fortunate to start the second half, as he saw his spinning shot altered by Mullery. Friske's midrange baseline jumper was short, but Peter Sullivan stepped between two Tigers for the offensive board and was fouled by Davis as he went back up. Both free throws were good.
Buczak faked a three and took two long steps into the lane, fouled as he went up for what could be considered a dunk if you were very generous and called shots where the rim is loudly pulled down by one hand but the ball does not immediately fall through, spends some time on the iron deciding what to do and then goes in after the whistle has blown, dunks. Buczak missed his free throw and the game remained tied at 23.
Brown began to slowly create some distance. Chris Skrelja fed Mullery to his off hand in the post and Mullery turned to the glass for two. Following a Patrick Saunders travel, Williams popped outside for a three and Brown had a five point lead.
Mullery was fouled deep in the center of the low post by Buczak and made one of two at the line.
Jason Briggs, who played 16 minutes off the bench as Coach Johnson looked for a defensive spark, was fouled on a spinning drive and converted his first attempt but missed the second. Buczak slapped the rebound outside to give Princeton a chance for more points on the possession, but Briggs' next spinning drive was rightfully ruled a walk.
Williams didn't need much space in front of the Brown bench to fire up his third three over the oncoming Buczak and the Tigers were in trouble, now down 32-24 with 14:22 showing.
Neither team could take advantage of the other's misses over the next three minutes. Schroeder had plenty of time to set his feet and square his shoulders for a corner three, but it was just off the mark. Williams could not connect a fourth time and Saunders' jump hook bounced away on the right side of the rim.
Eventually Sullivan threw one in from the right wing extended as the officials called Davis for a foul. This rare four point play took Brown's lead up to 12 and Princeton would have trouble returning the game to a single digit affair.
When Mullery used a drop step to get around Buczak inside, it concluded a 15-1 Brown run that completely changed the timbre of the game.
While Schroeder found Maddox for three to make the score 40-31 with 7:35 to go, Princeton never had the ball in it's hands with a chance to cut a single digit deficit to two possessions.
"It is our first road trip where people are gunning for us and we have [poor] results in terms of how we responded," Johnson said after the game, trying to explain how Princeton could win a pair of Ivy games against Cornell and Columbia by a combined 48 points and then lose the next weekend on the road to Yale and Brown by a combined 30, averaging 45.5 points in the process.
"I thought we lacked that spark in our first five, in our second five, in our bench," Johnson added. "We weren't in a flow, we weren't hyped up in the moment, I just wanted the guys to be in the moment and have fun with that, so we have to go back to work on that."
"They out-toughed us tonight," added Maddox. "We have to be tougher all around."
The Tigers will have two days to search for toughness and a spark before Penn comes to Jadwin Gym on Tuesday night.
Notes:
-Princeton was 15-42 from the floor (35.7%), one night after shooting 35.6% in New Haven. The Tigers went 5-17 from three (29.4%) and 8-13 at the line (61.5%). Brown won behind 19-39 shooting (48.7%), 8-19 from behind the arc (42.1%), matching the most threes allowed by the Tigers in a game this season, and 15-21 on free throws (71.4%).
-The Tigers did a much better job on the boards versus Brown than they did against Yale. Princeton was outrebounded 28-27 but only allowed five second chances.
-Brown outscored Princeton 18-0 in points off turnovers.
-Princeton's 43 points were a season low.
