Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Ian Hummer & Dan Mavraides:
Two of the greatest guards in the history of the Ivy League manned the sidelines against one another for the first time on Tuesday night in the 221st hardwood meeting between Penn and Princeton.
It was an evening where both men, each coaching at their alma mater, made it clear where their allegiances stood. Their fashion displayed their passion.
For the first time this season, Sydney Johnson wore a tie from the Princeton Club of Philadelphia embroidered with orange and black crests.
Not to be outdone, Jerome Allen donned a maroon sweater with a dark blue "P" flush in the center.
This first face off for the two went better for Johnson's Tigers than he remembered the pair's on-court encounters in the mid-1990s.
"It was a nightmare," Johnson said of facing Penn's Allen, Shawn Trice and Matt Maloney.
"We competed," Johnson was quick to add about his teams. "We were proud in what we put out on the court. We had our own time. "That's what I'm trying to tell these guys. Just keep grinding and maybe we'll get our own time."
Princeton kept grinding against Penn, never trailing, but never able to push their lead into double digits.
Their leading scorer, Douglas Davis - for the first time in his collegiate career - went scoreless.
Yet at the end of the night, the Tigers had won their second straight at the Palestra behind a career high 24 points from junior Dan Mavraides and 23 points off the bench from the interior combination of Zach Finley and Ian Hummer.
Shooting a tidy 19-38 from the floor, the Tigers kept the Quakers at bay, holding their top offensive weapon Zack Rosen to a 3-13 stat line.
"He's so key to what they do," said Johnson of Rosen, who finished with 15 points. "He plays a lot of minutes for them. He's a terrific player. As much as anything we just try and slow him up. Always have a guy in front of him. Four other guys always know where he is and see if they can help in a smart way."
Mavraides made nine of 10 free throws in the second half and was 8-8 at the line in the final minute as Penn was forced to foul.
The Quakers have struggled with early deficits this season, and Tuesday was no exception. Playing an extended pressure defense, Princeton scored the game's first four points and took a 13-4 lead.
Dan Mavraides' step back left baseline jumper over Jack Eggleston was followed by a Marcus Schroeder steal, but Mavraides' layup attempt in transition was blocked short of the rim by Eggleston.
Davis and Patrick Saunders played a two man game, with Saunders setting a screen for Davis and then sliding to the left wing, hitting a deep jumper with his foot on the three point line.
Mike Howlett's weak side follow of a Darren Smith miss got Penn on the board and Eggleston tied it with a pump fake at the free throw line and a short jumper.
Pawel Buczak picked up his second personal foul 3:08 in to the game, bumping Rosen on a drive. He was immediately replaced by Finley.
Rosen came open on the left wing but his jumper spun out. Schroeder found the mark drifting to his left for a long two and the Tigers had the lead to stay.
Mavraides' hesitation drive came with a foul from Howlett and when Mavraides attacked the right baseline the lead was seven. Ian Hummer was surprised to see he was open on the left side inside the arc, faked a jumper, stepped into the lane and left the ball for Finley under the hoop. Allen called time out with 12:49 showing.
Penn finally found some offensive consistency through drives and a midrange game. Dan Monckton penetrated and attracted attention, leaving the ball for Eggleston, who canned the short jumper. Finley found Hummer for a layup before Rosen drove and left the ball to Eggleston for the bank off the glass.
After the Tigers' first shot clock violation of the night, as Will Barrett's corner three missed the rim, Rob Belcore hit from outside on the left wing and the Quakers trailed 15-11.
Penn showed a bit of zone and Princeton surveyed the landscape before Davis found Saunders in the far right corner for a three.
Rosen got inside the arc, who passed to Eggleston in the center of the lane. Eggleston was aware enough to get the ball to Monckton racing down the left baseline, who dunked with two hands, bringing a dash of life to the less than half-full Palestra.
Not to be outdone, on Princeton's next possession, Schroeder from the top of the arc threw a diagonal lob to Kareem Maddox, who went high above the iron for an enthusiastic dunk of his own.
Momentum, what there was of it, looked set to switch when Barrett was unable to finish at point blank range on an inbounds and Rosen led a one-on-two push the other way. Rosen attacked Saunders, scored his first hoop of the night and earned the referee's whistle.
The Quakers seized another breakout and Maddox looked to have a gigantic block on Monckton, but Monckton crumbled to the ground and got the call. Two free throws later and Penn trailed 20-18.
Mavraides was off on a jumper, but Hummer controlled, hesitated and went back up, fouled by Monckton. Hummer made one of two at the line.
Belcore slipped and Mavraides took it himself on the advantage. A posting Maddox drove and dished to Finley on the reverse to rebuild a seven point lead with 2:08 showing.
Rosen's drive was blocked by the rim and a posting Hummer turned and banked off glass for a 27-18 score.
Eggleston drove and was bodied by Hummer, converting both free throws.
Hummer got those points back, his short push off an inbounds from Schroeder bouncing home.
Rosen missed a layup, rebounded his miss and Penn reset for the last possession of the half, with Eggleston getting deep position in the post and scoring to make it 29-22 after 20 minutes of action.
18 of Princeton's 29 points came in the paint. The Tigers were just 1-3 outside the arc. Mavraides led all scorers with nine before halftime. Rosen shot 1-7 in the first half, scoring three.
When the action resumed, Rosen accelerated to the glass at Finley but could not score. Mavraides did not connect from outside, but Smith had a similar fate for Penn. The Quakers retained possession and could not get a shot off before the clock expired, Smith's runner coming up short of the rim.
The lone Rosen steal of the night was of Davis. Rosen dribbled ahead, went behind his back to avoid traffic and was fouled by Schroeder as he sailed up. He would make both free throws.
Davis swung the ball to Mavraides in front of the Princeton bench for a three to answer.
The Tigers played solid defense for 34 seconds, before Rosen rose and fired, his three point shot spinning twice around the rim and down as the clock buzzed.
Inbounding under the Princeton basket, Schroeder caught Belcore napping on the sideline and zipped a no look pass left to Mavraides in the far corner for his second three in as many possessions. The Tigers had a 35-28 edge.
When Davis used a spin move to lose Rosen, got into the paint and could not finish, Hummer cleaned it up and was fouled by Smith on a hook. Hummer made one of two and the lead was nine again.
Trying to get the lead they had been nursing into double figures, Davis traveled after a Hummer steal.
Buczak, who started the second half on the bench in place of Finley, returned to the lineup and Justin Reilly went right at him with a hook.
Schroeder's inbounds pass to Buczak was too low and it bounced out of bounds into Johnson's hands. Johnson slammed the ball on the court in frustration, his team up by seven.
Rosen ducked behind a pair of screens for a three in front of the Penn bench that made it a 38-34 score, but as they had done all night, the Tigers put a pair of possessions together that increased their advantage.
"Our players are getting some confidence in terms of what they're doing, and if they get a stop they're coming down and converting," said Johnson of his resilient squad. "Sometimes, when we're not getting a stop, we're still sticking to what we do offensively. They're playing better than they were earlier in the season, there's no doubt, and they've built that. That's just their chemistry, their hard work and its just fun for me to watch."
Davis drove and left the ball for Finley, who saw his outstretched arm slapped down by Reilly with the shot clock at two. Finley made his first try but missed the second.
Rosen was long on a drive at Finley and Schroeder slipped baseline past Rosen off the glass for two. When Reilly fouled Finley on a reach, it put Princeton into the first bonus and the Tigers were back up nine when Finley made both attempts.
Finley stepped in front of a Belcore pass to give Princeton the ball and another chance to get over the double digit hump, but Belcore slapped the ball out of Mavraides' hands on the wing and was fouled by Mavraides as he broke to the hoop.
The Quakers did most of their slivering of the Tiger lead at the free throw line. Rosen drove around Maddox, who did a great job otherwise staying wide and not allowing the Penn guard to get past his long arms, circumvented Buczak and was fouled by Finley.
Two Rosen free throws at the 6:03 mark, fouled by Finley, made it a 43-40 game. It was Finley's fourth foul of the contest.
Princeton responded with five straight. Davis' stepback jumper became an inadvertent pass to Hummer for a layup off glass. A diagonal pass inside from Mavraides to Hummer unchecked on the left block after a miss from Eggleston suddenly took the lead up to seven.
A clean look from Eggleston outside was off the mark and Monckton was similarly open after a Rosen drive but his shot sailed long.
Mavraides drove from the top of the arc and was fouled by Rosen, his fourth. Mavraides missed the first but made the second.
Buczak fouled out on an entry pass to Howlett with 3:25 showing. Howlett made one of two at the line.
Davis, perhaps too unselfishly, passed up a jumper in the lane, passing to Hummer cutting, his shot blocked by Howlett.
Mavraides and Belcore traded missed threes as time began to dwindle. The deciding blow may have been with 1:10 left when Mavraides drove, lost the ball going up and Hummer was quick to react and lay things home.
Last season, Hummer was in the stands watching Princeton win at Penn for the first time in five years. On this occasion he was a factor in why they won. "I'm glad that I was part of another win," Hummer remarked. "My dad always said that to play at The Palestra is a special thing."
It was surprising that Penn, who had looked to foul Hummer (2-5 at the free throw line) when he had the ball before he passed it away on the prior possession, chose to not foul Hummer when he had the ball outside the arc and instead played defense for a full possession.
Attempts by the Quakers to make it a one score game were foiled by Mavraides. Four times Penn fouled Mavraides in the last minute and four times Mavraides walked to the other end of The Palestra, took his time, and made each pair of free throws to assure the outcome.
Sydney Johnson's teams never beat Jerome Allen's teams when the two played against each other, but a decade later Johnson now holds a 1-0 record versus Allen in the first meeting of what could become a similarly intense series between two competitors whose pride still drives them to wear their school's logos across their chests.
Notes:
-The Tigers finished 19-38 for the game (50.0%), 3-7 from deep (42.9%) and 17-23 at the line (75.0%). Penn shot 16-50 (32.0%), 4-18 outside (22.2%) and 15-18 from the stripe (83.3%).
-Princeton's seven three point attempts were the second-fewest by a Tiger team since 1996-97. The Tigers were able to take advantage of Penn's weak interior and did not attempt needless jumpers.
-The rebounding battle went to Princeton, 33-27. Finley and Hummer evenly split 12 boards, with five of Hummer's on the offensive end.
-Princeton recorded two assists and eight turnovers in the second half compared to eight assists and seven turnovers in the first half.
-Mavraides now has a team best 54 free throws this season and improved his percentage at the line this year to 81.8%. Four different Tiger starters are over 81% on free throws.
-Buczak went scoreless for the third straight game.
-With the win, Princeton is assured of their first winning season since 2004-05.
-Both Jimmy Sherburne and Bobby Foley did not dress, but traveled with the team.
