Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Douglas Davis & Dan Mavraides:
All Drew Housman could do was slap the floor.
Housman’s long three point shot at the buzzer from the Princeton crest on the near side of Jadwin Gym sailed just wide the mark, giving the Tigers a 58-55 win. The victory ended Princeton's three game losing streak.
Princeton did not record a field goal in the final 6:13 of the second half, but won the game at the free throw line, where they were 12-14 in the final four minutes - allowing them to hold off the Crimson.
Harvard has not won at Princeton since 1989.
Douglas Davis was the Tigers' lone double figure scorer, tallying 12 on 5-7 shooting. Princeton's leading man in Ivy play, Dan Mavraides, recorded six points - all of which came at the free throw line and all of which came in the final :32 of action.
Bouncing back from his scoreless 37 minutes on the bench versus Penn three nights ago, Kareem Maddox scored eight and grabbed four boards. All came in the second half.
"This wasn't a pretty win for us by any stretch, but I think it is a mark for us to not play well for 40 minutes and still pull out a win," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson. "We don't expect that the rest of the season but we'll take it for now."
Housman had a game-best 16 to pace Harvard.
After starting Ivy play 4-0, Princeton was slumped shoulders and self-doubt following three straight defeats at the hands of Yale, Brown and Penn. The Tigers' season faced a crossroads in the Harvard game, and Coach Johnson knew it.
"We took a hit [because of the losing streak], we have to be honest about that, but it is really about how you respond," Johnson said. "I don't try to be too corny with these guys but it is a game that gives you some challenges that you might see later on in life. You can curl up in a ball and feel sorry for yourself, or you can grind out a solid win."
The Tigers chose the latter option.
Zach Finley, making his second straight start at forward, spun left in the paint and went glass to open the scoring. Princeton was up 8-4 at the 15:32 mark when Marcus Schroeder and Coach Johnson both realized that Harvard's defense was not set up properly with the Tigers inbounding under their own basket, leaving Finley inside with the 6'0" Housman between he and the basket. Finley look advantage.
When these two teams met in January, the first half saw both defenses cut apart by drives into the lane. Perhaps remembering what took place at Lavietes Pavilion, Johnson used defensive specialists and co-captains Jason Briggs and Nick Lake off the bench early to slow down Jeremy Lin's drives and not bite on his ball fakes and shimmies. This duo and Schroeder were able to keep Lin in check for a while. Lin still finished with 13 points, but this stat line had 5-13 shooting in it and included no assists and four turnovers.
Patrick Saunders, sporting gauze under his right eye hiding several stitches he received after being elbowed in the face versus Penn, was the first Princeton player to connect from outside. Saunders took a Davis pass and launched from just to the left of the top of the key, making the score 11-7 Tigers.
The officials on Friday night called the game tight, which meant that when Harvard started to drive, whistles were going to sound as Princeton attempted to use their bodies to keep Crimson guards out of the lane.
Mavraides bumped Housman with 7:22 left to send the Tigers into the bonus. Following a Lake turnover where he jumped in the air to take a closely contested shot and then thought better of it and traveled as his feet reconnected with the hardwood, Housman drew contact from Briggs, two makes brought Harvard within one from the line.
Big Keith Wright called for the ball inside after passing to the wing and when Harvard refed the post, Wright was fouled by John Comfort as he went up.
Harvard switched to a 1-3-1 zone trailing by one, and Princeton had trouble finding gaps to capitalize on.
Wright put his team on top when he spun on Finley inside following the Crimson's offensive rebound of a missed Wright free throw.
When another offensive rebound ended up in Andrew Pusar's hands under the hoop and Pusar went back up for two, the Crimson had a 20-16 lead.
Davis brought Princeton within two - a bucket from the top of the arc on a Finley assist, but Lin closed out the first half - scoring on a drive with five seconds before halftime after taking a handoff from Housman.
it was a similar storyline to Tuesday's bitter defeat halfway through. Princeton committed 11 first half turnovers, three belonging to Mavraides in nine scoreless minutes of action. 11 of Harvard's 28 points came off Tiger miscues.
To start the second half, the ball went inside to Princeton starting center Pawel Buczak, who had been scoreless to this point. Buczak scored over Wright, his only bucket in as many attempts.
Lin traveled to give the ball back to Princeton, but Buczak shuffled his feet and possession was Harvard's.
Max Kenyi's line drive three point shot floated through the rim as the shot clock buzzed, and Harvard had matched their biggest lead, 31-26.
Mavriades had the ball under the Princeton basket, where he threw a pass down the baseline to Davis in the corner. Davis did not force the issue, kicking the rock sideways to an open Schroeder who made his second flat-flooted three and Princeton was down one.
The two teams were even at the 13:52 mark after Davis slashed down the left side and switched hands in mid-air for the righty layup off glass. Johnson called time to map out the rest of the night.
It was the start of a 9-0 Princeton run. Kenyi's attempt on the baseline was long and Comfort rebounded. Finley found Maddox inside and Princeton was on top.
Following a Maddox steal, snagging a lob pass by Pusar, Schroeder got the ball in Comfort's hands and the slight freshman with the sweet stroke was on target for the second time from behind the three point line.
Davis' pull-up in the paint fading away on a drive made the lead seven.
While up in Cambridge neither team led by more than six points throughout, tonight's biggest lead was just one point larger in size.
Harvard ran off nine of the game's next 11 points, pulling within two on Lin's only three of the contest and going all square when Oliver McNally made both chances after being fouled by Maddox on a drive.
The Crimson tinkered with a 3-2 zone during this stretch, which momentarily threw the Tigers off.
Lin drove into Saunders and got a favorable whistle before he made both sides of his one-and-one to push Harvard up 45-43 with 6:30 remaining.
Schroder swung the ball to Davis for three on the left wing to stop the run and Princeton was back in front.
Housman answered with a long two to flip the scoreboard in Harvard's favor.
Buczak made a nice catch to not lose possession of a pass to the center of the paint and lobbed a feed to Finley, who could not complete the play at point blank range, but Buczak raced to the weak baseline and tracked down the offensive board. With Finley better-positioned, he was able to foul out starting Harvard center Evan Harris in the paint.
Finley made both attempts and now Princeton was up one.
Not for long. Housman drove on Davis and scored. 49-48 Crimson.
Mavraides missed a pull-up at the free throw line, but it didn't cost Princeton as Lin's triple spun out and Maddox grabbed the board with two hands, fouled by Peter Boehm.
It was the Crimson's eighth team foul and Maddox made both ends of the one-and-one.
An entry pass intended for Wright by McNally was poked away by Buczak and into Davis' hands. Schroeder saw Maddox sliding to the post and got him the ball, where he was able draw contact while going for a hook. Maddox again was perfect at the line and the Tiger lead was 52-49 with 1:43 showing.
Johnson was eager to praise Maddox's play after the game. "He's coming from the bench and giving us a defensive spark," said Johnson of his former sophomore starter. "I'm impressed by his mental approach and it is something we need every time out. We're fortunate that we got it today. Whether he's coming off the bench or starting, it's just about the effort and going hard."
Schroder looked to stop Housman's penetration and cut him off in the low block, but Housman found Wright on the other side of the basket as Buczak came over to double.
If you're looking for a fortunate bounce of the night, may I present the following?:
With under a minute to play, Maddox had the ball ripped out of his hands by McNally on the baseline, but as McNally tried to save the ball off Maddox's frame it deflected into McNally's body already standing out of bounds.
Princeton not only retained possession, they also were aided by the officials resetting the shot clock once they confirmed that McNally had controlled the ball. The Tigers looked to inbound with :37.1 blocking them from victory.
The Tigers were throwing in from the sideline corner, at the far end of the Princeton bench, a difficult position from which to get the ball into play. Schroeder threw the ball to Mavraides, and the officials whistled a jump ball before a foul could occur. The possession arrow belonged to Princeton and the Tigers were now inbounding from the middle of their bench.
Schroeder found Mavriades, whom Lin fouled. Scoreless so far, Mavraides was true two times and the lead went up to three with :32.5 on the clock.
Princeton took their final time out and when play resumed the Crimson went for the quick two instead of the tie, but Boehm left his lefty layup short of the target. Mavraides controlled and was fouled by Lin.
The Tigers had been a perfect 11-11 on free throws to this point, but Mavriades broke the streak by leaving his first attempt short. The second try was perfect and Princeton was in the lead, 55-51 with :19.9 still to unfold.
Again Harvard drove instead of trying to tie, Housman bodied by Schroeder on his way. Housman made both with :12.8 to go and the Tigers were up two.
Mavraides was held by McNally before he could get a chance at another inbounds pass and went back to the line, where he was on the money with his first free throw, catching the front rim and dropping in. The second was no good and Harvard had the ball with another chance to draw even.
A third drive for two. McNally raced to the rim and Harvard took their last time out with just over five seconds waiting before the end of regulation.
Mavraides was able to run a second off the clock heading up the court before he was fouled by McNally and this time Mavraides was perfect from the stripe.
The inbounds came to Lin, who passed diagonally to his left, meeting a streaking Housman, who could not get his tying 30' jumper home.
"It worked out," said Mavraides looking back on how Princeton was able to stop their losing streak at the line. "Everyone was making free throws. I was the only one who missed a free throw on the team."
"That's not good for my personal morale," he added with a smile.
Notes:
-Princeton finished 18-39 from the field (46.2%), 7-17 from three (41.2%) and 15-17 at the line (87.5%). Harvard countered with 17-41 shooting (41.5%), 2-6 from outside (33.3%) and 19-24 from the charity stripe (79.2%).
-Of the Tigers' 15 turnovers, just four came after intermission. Some coaches see aggressiveness as a cause of giving the ball away, but for Johnson at halftime it was the opposite approach. "We stressed instead of being on your heels, step up. I think a lot of our turnovers came from [indecision]," Johnson admitted. "We have a lot of trust in these guys and it was more like 'hey, just make a play.' Whatever the play is, you decide it, make it. We'll go from there."
Mavraides agreed when asked about the difference between the two halves - "I think that we were playing more aggressive and just running our offense in the second half," he said. "I won't say we were timid in the first half but we were a little iffy on some of our passes. In the second half we were just whipping the ball around and finding the open man and just playing more confident and a little more aggressive."
-Harvard had but five assists, four by Housman.
-Princeton looked to double the post when Harvard was inbounding from their baseline, taking away an option in play. With the exception of Housman trying to sneak a pass off Schroeder's backside for a layup, it was an effective strategy.
-Remember that Saturday night's game versus Dartmouth starts at 6:00 pm ET. The Carril Court dedication will take place at halftime.
-Finally, to those of you who stopped my dad to wish him a happy birthday tonight, thank you so much. My keyboard lacks enough "verys" for me to properly indicate how sweet that was.
