Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson:
Postgame audio - Douglas Davis & Patrick Saunders:
The difference between the effort Princeton put forth on Friday at Columbia and the effort exerted on Saturday at Cornell was like night and day. Unfortunately, the result was the same.
The Big Red completed an undefeated home schedule with a 60-51 win over the Tigers. Princeton was within six with under a minute to go, but Cornell held off the Tigers from the free throw line. The victory was the Big Red's 21st straight at Newman Arena.
Princeton freshmen Douglas Davis and Patrick Saunders scored 16 and 13 off the bench respectively. Saunders also grabbed a team-best seven boards.
Ryan Wittman had 12 on 4-12 shooting, one of four Cornell players in double figures.
While the Tigers were knocked out of contention for the 2009 Ivy League championship with their flat 14 point loss at Columbia, that did not dissuade Princeton from playing inspired basketball the next night against the Big Red.
"Tonight was a good effort. Not good enough, and we're not happy about that, but it was a completely different effort than last night," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson. "I'm scratching my head. We didn't get after it [on Friday], Columbia outplayed us and we lose. Tonight we got after it, Cornell made enough plays and we lose, but the type of effort we gave tonight will win ballgames."
Cornell had an early 7-2 lead on defending Ivy League Player of the Year Louis Dale's lefty move off the glass, but a skip pass by Marcus Schroeder to Davis for a three in the far corner and a backdoor bounce pass by center Pawel Buczak to Saunders cutting left and finishing with his right around the rim evened the ledger after six minutes of action.
Cornell answered with seven straight, Jeff Foote dropping the ball down over Buczak inside to finish the run.
While Adam Gore was able to pop a deep three early in the first half for Cornell, Princeton was able to take away the Big Red's outside attempts in the first 20 minutes. The Big Red went 1-6 behind the arc as the Princeton coaching staff repeated the mantra of "no 3s!" during every stop in the action.
Jason Briggs faked a three at the top of the key, stepped left and passed up a contested jumper, throwing the ball left to Schroeder in the far corner for a line drive three that made it 18-12 Cornell.
The Tigers were within six at the 4:52 mark when Buczak used a drop step and scored off glass over Alex Tyler.
Cornell scored six in a row, Foote grabbing an offensive board after Dale missed a three, setting up a Dale drive in the lane.
Saunders drove and dished to Davis for three to cut the lead down to nine, which was Princeton's deficit at intermission. While the Tigers trailed 26-17, their play was much improved in the first half against Cornell versus their showing at Columbia.
"We had much better focus," said Johnson of his team's performance. "Tonight, for whatever reason, we thought we were a good team and we played like it. We respected ourselves and we respected the game and we had a chance."
That chance didn't look good early in the second half when Wittman rolled the ball to Brian Kreefer for two and Wittman finally hit from deep to make it a 35-20 game.
Trailing by 10 with 12:26 to go following a stepback three from Davis, Zach Finley blocked a Wittman drive to put the ball back in Princeton's hands.
Davis was poked in the eye by Cornell's Chris Wroblewski, losing the ball and falling to the ground as the Big Red raced down the floor. The officials blew the whistle late, stopping the action and cutting short the Cornell advantage. After a discussion, the officials decided that a foul should have been called on Wroblewski. An angry Cornell head coach Steve Donahue protested, arguing that a fast break had been taken away from his team. Donahue slammed a clipboard down loudly in the huddle after arguing with the officials, drawing a technical foul.
Dan Mavraides made one of his two shots at the line and the Tigers were within nine.
When Princeton inbounded, Finley was called for a mysterious offensive foul, giving the ball back to Cornell.
Forgetting that they were inbounding after a turnover, not a made basket, Brian Kreefer ran the baseline, a violation. The ball immediately returned to the Tigers.
Schroeder fed the ball from deep under the Princeton basket to Saunders at the top of the arc and Saunders' rainbow cut the lead to 42-36.
Foote found a cutting Tyler out of the post to build an eight point Cornell lead, but Buczak's deep hook over Foote made it a two possession game.
A diagonal alley-oop by Dale to Foote was laid home halfway through the second half and Princeton ended the trading of baskets when Schroeder's three went long.
Dale drove on Nick Lake and was fouled by Buczak as he scored off glass to extend Cornell's lead to 11.
Saunders put back a Mavraides drive and was fouled by Wroblewski heading into the final media time out and after Saunders' free throw the score was 51-44.
Dale's teardrop came up short and Princeton had a chance to pull closer, but Davis could not finish a drive and Mavraides' three was off the mark.
Gore's drive gave Wroblewski space to dial one up from outside and while Princeton was able to get within six after two Davis free throws, they could not inch any closer with Cornell a perfect 6-6 at the line.
When asked to contrast his team's performance on Saturday up against his team's play on Friday, Saunders saw no similarities.
"I don't think you can really compare the two [games], it was a totally different team tonight than last night, which is kind of a problem, seeing as we were fighting for the championship last night and we have to be up every game, no matter what," Saunders said. "It was definitely a lot better tonight, but we have got to fix it so it is like that every night."
Johnson praised his freshman forward's play over the weekend. "The kid goes hard, he's a tough kid," said Johnson. "The effort was there and I'm happy for him. Something to build on."
Princeton will look to conclude their season on a high note and end the year tied for second place in the Ivy League with a win over Penn on Tuesday night.
Notes:
-Princeton finished 17-48 from the field (35.4%), 7-26 from three (26.9%) and 10-13 at the line (76.9%). Cornell shot 24-47 (51.1%), went 4-10 outside (40.0%) and an uncharacteristic 8-13 from the stripe (61.5%).
-Forward Kareem Maddox played one ineffective minute off the bench, removed after tossing a pass into press row, throwing the ball where he thought Davis would be, not where Davis actually was.
-Cornell outscored Princeton in the paint 30-12.
