Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Dan Mavraides, Douglas Davis & Pawel Buczak:
The Princeton team that started 2010 on Hawk Hill against St. Joseph’s looked little like the squad that struggled to crack 40 in the last two games of 2009 versus Monmouth and Wagner.
On the road for the first of three consecutive tilts away from Jadwin Gym, Princeton made its first four three point shots and opened up an early 12-4 advantage.
Senior center Pawel Buczak, who labored to get position in the post and had difficulty scoring when he caught the ball down low to close last year was a perfect 5-5 from the field, scoring a season best 14.
Douglas Davis connected four times from outside the arc on his way to a game-high 17 points and Dan Mavraides added 16 points and seven rebounds as Princeton led for the final 37:53 of an eight point win.
Mavraides set up Davis for jumpers on consecutive drives and dishes with just over four minutes remaining to boost a tenuous Tiger lead to a 58-48 edge.
“Those were some excellent kicks from Dan,” Davis said with the smile after Princeton’s fifth straight victory. “He drove to the basket and I was able to find an open spot where he could see me.
Princeton outrebounded the Hawks by nine, the team’s largest advantage on the boards since last February’s home game versus Columbia. All eight Tigers who played 10 minutes or more each grabbed at least four rebounds.
An 11 point lead in the final minute was swiftly cut down to two by St. Joe’s, but Princeton made six straight at the free throw line to avoid the complete collapse.
Carl Jones had 17 for Saint Joseph’s, eight coming in transition early after intermission.
Idris Hilliard drove baseline on Princeton's Patrick Saunders to open the afternoon's scoring.
Buczak went into the lane and dished outside for Davis. Carl Baptiste could not find the target from deep and Davis stepped behind a Saunders screen, received a pass from Marcus Schroeder and connected from behind the arc.
Darrin Govens tried a three with Schroeder's hand in his face that Davis rebounded.
When Schroeder drove left and passed back to the top of the key where Buczak was ready to size up, the Tigers built an eight point edge.
Govens got Mavraides in the air faking a long jumper, stepped inside the line and scored, fouled by Schroeder coming out to help. The Tigers had a 12-7 lead at the 15:09 media time out.
With the lead down to four, Buczak came out in place of freshman forward Ian Hummer. Hummer struggled in the first half, beginning with a lefty layup at Todd O'Brien that he left short off the glass. On Princeton's next possession Hummer shuffled his pivot foot in the post.
Up two, the Tigers found their first points from inside the arc. A crossover got Davis into the lane and his teardrop kissed the roof before it fell home.
Mavraides posted Garrett Williamson down low and spun to the basket for two, putting Princeton up 16-10.
Hummer's poor play continued. After two Williamson free throws Mavraides found a charging Hummer for what would have been an incredible two handed dunk had Hummer not over-estimated and slammed the ball off the back iron. Buczak tracked down the ball, but Justin Crosgile stripped Hummer to give possession back to the Hawks.
Following a third Hummer turnover, unable to match a pass with Davis' hands, Carl Jones knocked down St. Joe's first three point shot of the day over Mavraides and the Princeton lead was down to one.
Buczak found a cutting Mavraides, and his shot bounced down the cylinder.
Mavraides tipped the ball out of Chris Prescott's hands just over half court, batted the ball to himself in the air and broke ahead to the basket for a layup that made the lead 20-15 Tigers.
Davis wisely passed up a defended three point shot and passed right to Schroeder for an open three that was on the mark.
While Princeton's lack of a post presence has been a concern since the third game of the year against Army, the next minute was Buczak's time to reemerge. His spin move in the lane made it 25-17. At the other end of the floor, a Williamson basket was waved off as Buczak took a charge. His confidence rising, Buczak went to his right with a hook on Princeton's following possession and St. Joe's called time down 27-17.
"I think he had a sense of urgency to start the game," Tiger coach Sydney Johnson said about the resurgence of his starting center. "With our post guys, I think they need to start the game and be aggressive and think about finishing strong and converting the looks that they have."
"The first couple drop in and all of a sudden they feel much better. If the couple don't drop in sometimes they lose that confidence," Johnson added. "[Buczak] just started aggressively and started off well and that kind of snowballed for him."
The snowball continued to grow when play resumed. Buczak popped for a quick three on the deep right wing, set up by a Schroeder drive.
"The ball went in the basket tonight," Buczak remarked. "I've done a lot of work to try and get it to that point and I am happy it paid off."
Govens could not hit from outside and a lob by Will Barrett to Hummer over Hilliard was laid home by Hummer as Hilliard fouled him from behind.
The lead had extended to 34-21 at the final media time out, with a free throw to follow.
Hummer was off target when play resumed and Hilliard rebounded.
A sloppy two minutes allowed the Hawks to close the gap, but they could have been down by less than nine at halftime.
Bryant Irwin's free throw jumper cut the lead to 11.
A pass to Zach Finley, spelling Buczak, went through his hands and out of bounds.
Mavraides' layup try came up just short of the mark and Buczak's attempt to slap the ball out to the top of the key accidentally created a fast break for Justin Crosgile.
Bringing the ball up for Princeton, Davis had the ball slapped out of his hands by Williamson. The ball rolled off Davis' leg and across the baseline, giving possession back to St. Joe's.
Govens was long out of the corner and Mavraides rebounded, trying to push the ball to Schroeder before time expired. Mavraides led Schroeder too far and the ball sailed into the stands. The Hawks had a second chance to slice the Tiger lead under nine, but Jones' deep three was well defended by Schroeder and the ball hit backboard but not rim.
Playing their strongest offensive first half since the opening 20 minutes at Central Michigan, Princeton led 34-25. Buczak had 10 points and three assists at the break.
The Tigers outrebounded St. Joseph's 19-11 in the first half and the Hawks did not have an offensive rebound.
Immediately after play resumed Buczak's attempt to hook a pass to a cutter was picked off by Govens, but Jones dribbled the ball off his foot and Schroeder controlled.
He didn't have much daylight, but Mavraides still found enough space to launch his first three of the day. Buczak got a touch in the low left block and was fouled by O'Brien going to the right block. Both free throws were good and Princeton's 14 point lead was their biggest of the day.
The Tigers lost a touch of composure and the pace of the game quickened. St. Joseph's was able to get out in transition.
A reverse layup by O'Brien should have been answered by a beautiful backdoor, but a wide open Mavraides spun the ball too hard off the glass after receiving a bounce pass from Buczak and the ball sailed over the front rim.
Quickly the Hawks sailed the other way and Jones scored under the arm of Buczak, drawing the foul. The lead was down to nine.
A three by Davis was short, but two Hawks tried to rebound one basketball, which deflected to Buczak for a surprise layup.
Jones drove fast and was fouled by Mavraides to made it a 41-35 game and after a missed jumper by Mavraides at the free throw line Jones scored again on the drive, able to muscle the ball up in one motion as Schroeder momentarily slapped the ball out of his hands.
Princeton called time with 15:41 to go, their lead cut to 41-37 on a 12-2 run.
The Hawks pulled within two on a Williamson bucket and had the ball with a chance to tie after Davis tried to slice between two defenders and dribbled the ball off his foot.
Williamson was unable to knot the score and Princeton doubled their advantage on a well designed play where Mavraides found Hummer in the right block out of a "chin" set and Finley, in for Buczak after he picked up his third foul, dove to the left block and laid Hummer's pass home on the reverse. These were Finley's first points since December 3 at Rutgers.
Mavraides explained how Princeton was able to stave off the St. Joe's run: "I think we just slowed it down on offense a little bit. They're a team that likes to get up and down and when they're doing that they're pretty good. There were a couple shots on offense that weren't bad shots but a little rushed - not what we were doing in the first half. That led to their transition and some easy buckets and got the crowd into it. We kind of just slowed it down and maintained that composure and just ran our offense."
Irwin tipped a Hilliard miss home over Hummer to bring the Hawks within two a second time.
A shot by Hummer in the post was off the mark and the rebound found its way into Barrett's hands. Barrett was fouled going back up and made one of two free throws.
Hummer put his travails behind him and suddenly became a force inside for the rest of the day. Hummer attacked down the left baseline and scored to give Princeton a five point lead.
While he was initially unable to catch a pass from Mavraides, Hummer controlled and scored to make it 48-43. After Irwin went long on a jumper Hummer got low position in the post and converted a jump hook with his right hand while drawing contact from O'Brien. The Tigers had a seven point lead heading into the 7:58 media time out.
Johnson praised his freshman forward's ability to not dwell on what had gone wrong earlier in the game. "I don't know how he does it," Johnson said with pride. "He's just really good at going to the next play. I think that's what we saw in the second half. It is amazing as a freshman to see that kind of composure."
Penetration by Crosgile opened up space for Hilliard to score inside and St. Joe's was back within three with less than seven minutes to go.
Hummer scored on a hook with his left hand to make it a two possession game, taking him into double figures for the afternoon.
A pair of two man plays involving the combo of Mavraides and Davis opened up the game in Princeton's favor.
The first time with the ball, Mavraides drove diagonally into the paint and found Davis on the left wing for three.
The next time down the floor, Mavraides again attacked the interior and drew the defense with him. Davis was able to take an extra fraction of a second to make sure his feet were set in the left corner and his fourth three point shot of the game made it a 58-48 score.
"They were pressuring up on us, trying to make us give up the ball." said Mavraides of these critical back to back possessions. "My guy was on me so I drove and they collapsed and I saw Dougie open and there's no better guy to kick it to than Dougie open."
Leading 60-50 after Mavraides pulled up on a drive with 1:46 to go and then up 11 with 73 seconds showing when Davis made one of two free throws, it looked like the game was in the bag. Fans began packing up their belongings. A few smiles were shared briefly on the Princeton bench.
Jones missed a three and the long rebound came to Mavraides. Instead of running time off the clock, Mavraides lobbed the ball ahead for Davis on the run. As Davis went up for a layup that would have taken the lead to 13, Govens slapped the ball off Davis' knee and took it away.
The mood changed dramatically when Hummer fouled Govens on a three pointer that dropped home for the four point play. It was only St. Joe's second triple of the game.
Kareem Maddox was fouled by Govens in the backcourt and Maddox missed the front end of his one-and-one. Buczak slapped the ball out to Schroeder on the miss, who got the ball to Davis. The usually reliable Davis also missed the front end of his one and one and Jones quickly drove into the paint and scored while fouled by Buczak, his fifth and disqualifying foul. The free throw was good and the lead was four.
Mercifully into the double bonus, Davis hit two at the line to create a 63-57 score.
Williamson's floater just above the hand of a leaping Maddox went down and the Hawks called time.
Mavraides was fouled by Govens and Mavraides fired long on his first try. The second was on the mark and the lead went to five.
Irwin sized up a deep three and Princeton's lead had been reduced by nine in 49 seconds.
In the final :23.7, the 15th best team in the land at the free throw line returned to form. Schroeder inbounded to Mavraides, who turned and dribbled up the floor, running three seconds off the clock before he was fouled. This time both shots were in. Williamson came up short on a drive and Finley rebounded.
Finley, who missed his previous two free throws poorly, had no trouble with his next two trips.
Two free throws by Marcus Schroeder made it a three possession game and restored normalcy out of unexpected chaos.
"We probably didn't show enough knowledge and IQ down the stretch," said Johnson after his team had survived Saint Joseph's final push. "It shouldn't be that close down the stretch. It was. Thankfully we were able to close it out."
When asked about his team's rally, Hawk coach Phil Martelli disagreed there even was one. "There was no comeback. That's bogus," Martelli said curtly.
Behind timely outside shooting and a rejuvenated inside game in the first contest of the new decade, Pawel Buczak and the Tigers started to look like their old selves again.
Notes:
-Princeton finished 24-51 from the floor (47.1%), 9-17 from three (52.9%) and a season-worst 13-22 at the line (59.1%). The Tigers were 3-5 from behind the arc in the second half.
-Saint Joseph's shot 22-59 (37.3%), 3-18 outside (16.7%) and 15-22 from the stripe (68.2%).
-The Tigers had 15 assists and 15 turnovers. Three of these assists were by Marcus Schroeder. None of these turnovers were by Marcus Schroeder.
-Schroeder added three steals, giving him 15 over the last three games.
-The Tigers had a 41-32 edge on the glass but St. Joe's grabbed eight second chances in the second half. "I think we focused as much as anything on trying to keep them off - trying to make sure that they didn't have to many offensive rebounds," said Johnson of his team's gameplan. Princeton's 31 defensive rebounds and 41 total rebounds were season highs.
-Princeton improved to 4-0 when leading at halftime.
-For the first time in his coaching career, a Sydney Johnson team is three games over .500.
-Mavraides went down hard in the middle of the second half, accidentally knocked to the floor by Hilliard as he grabbed a defensive rebound. It was unclear if Mavraides was hit in the jaw on the play or if he fell on some combination of his back/knee/head. The junior from San Mateo was prone for a couple minutes, eventually treated by Princeton's trainer, Jenn Lister. Suddenly, Mavraides bounced up and ran to the Tiger bench as the Hawk faithful gave him a loud round of applause. While it initially looked like Mavraides might not return, he only sat on the bench for two minutes before checking back in.
