Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Brendan Connolly & Douglas Davis:
Princeton raced to a 17-2 lead and never looked back in a 28 point win over Dartmouth.
"I thought defensively we were pretty good," said Tiger head coach Sydney Johnson of the way his team opened Friday night's game. "It helped that there was a missed free throw in there and maybe a missed layup on their part - it allows you to kind of build on that. To be honest, I was a bit nervous myself. It reminded me of Brown where we led early and stopped applying ourselves and stopped playing hard. I'm just glad that the guys played hard the entire game."
Unlike versus Brown two weeks ago, once Princeton crafted a sizable advantage they did not offer Dartmouth an opportunity to feel like they had the ability to compete with the Tigers.
Princeton went up by 19 at the break and would not see their lead dip under that number in the second half.
"Coming into this game, we knew we couldn't let the same thing happen that happened against Brown. We couldn't get complacent with the lead and we just had to come out and be more aggressive - both on the offensive and defensive end - and I think we did that," said Douglas Davis, who paced the way with 15 - resting for the final 12:51 of the night.
Patrick Saunders added 11 in 20 minutes.
Johnson was able to play four freshman with either senior Marcus Schroeder or senior Nick Lake for a five minute stretch of the second half until the far ends of both benches emptied. The quartet of Brendan Connolly, Ian Hummer, Will Barrett and Jimmy Sherburne generated the game's high water mark of 63-31 with 8:08 left.
No Tiger starter played more than 26 minutes and 12 different Princeton players recorded a field goal.
Center Pawel Buczak's shake move lost Dartmouth's Clive Weeden inside on the game's opening possession and a Buczak righty hook broke the night's only tie.
Dartmouth could muster just a poor shot by Robby Pride guarded tightly by Marcus Schroeder that missed the rim and led to a shot clock violation the first time they had the ball.
Saunders made two free throws after Dan Mavraides found him posting and a Schroeder three from the far corner fired over the arms of Pride, set up by a Mavraides drive, made it a 7-1 score.
Dartmouth got to the line twice early, but each time split a pair of free throws.
A diagonal cut by Mavraides drew the Big Green defense, allowing Davis to take a Schroeder pass on the same side and pop a three.
After a miss by Mbiyimoh Ghogomu for Dartmouth, Schroeder drove left, looked to shoot a jumper as he floated to the left elbow, but stopped and passed to Saunders stepping out behind the arc on the right wing for three, one of Schroeder's four first half assists.
When Davis drove and bounced off of Ronnie Dixon for a short jumper the Tigers were up 13.
As play came to a stop with 14:01 left in the half, Dartmouth interim coach Mark Graupe spent the time out yelling at his lifeless team. In a poorly attended Jadwin Gym, Graupe's scream of "bullcrap!" cut through the air, followed up with a resounding "nobody's feeling sorry for you!"
Graupe's histrionics didn't help slow Princeton down.
Zach Finley drove to his left from the perimeter, then laid the ball home with his right hand over Herve Kouna.
Finally Jabari Trotter recorded Dartmouth's first field goal 6:40 into the half, a three from the right side and the Big Green's lone basket in the first 7:41.
A posting Kareem Maddox, who has been sensational of late, drew a double team and passed to Finley under the basket. Finley could have laid the ball home quickly, but tried for the one-handed dunk and got caught under the rim, losing possession as he leapt up. A push shot from Pride off glass drew the Big Green within 10, but that was as close as Dartmouth would ever come.
A lovely :46 stretch began when Schroeder lofted a no look diagonal pass from the left wing to the opposite side of the rim, where Maddox skied for the two-handed slam.
At the other end of the floor Maddox blocked a Weeden drive and as Princeton pushed Schroeder found Finley under the basket who this time collected himself and placed the ball home.
By the time Mavraides hit on the right wing, set up by Finley from the free throw line, it was 24-7 Tigers.
Maddox scored on three difficult shots late in the half. He soared for a right-handed tip follow of a Finley miss in traffic to make it 28-10.
Following a basket by Weeden of glass, Maddox pulled up inside the free throw line for a jumper over Ghogomu. Making an impact on the defensive end, Maddox blocked a three point attempt by Pride 10 seconds later.
Mavraides stole the ball from Pride, pushed the tempo at a pace that still allowed Davis to overtake him on the left and set up in the corner for a three with 2:51 on the clock.
A difficult jumper in the paint by Maddox set the scoreboard to 37-19.
As Kirk Crecco drove past Davis into the paint, Connolly was waiting for the block. While Dartmouth was able to drive against the Tigers, Princeton's help defense was oft-impenetrable.
Barrett replaced Connolly for the final 1:28 of the half and promptly poked a pass intended for Weeden away for a turnover, then buried a long catch and shoot two at the top of the arc.
A hook shot by Matt LaBove over Barrett drew Dartmouth within 39-20 at intermission. Davis' 10 and Maddox's eight nearly equaled the Big Green's first half output.
To start the second half, Davis recorded a steal, twisted through traffic and scored. Dixon answered with a long two, faking a trey as Saunders sailed past him and stepping into the jumper - the only field goal of the game for the Big Green's leading scorer.
Down 43-24, Dartmouth switched into a zone. Touch passes from Saunders on the wing to Buczak inside, out to Davis in the far corner for three made them regret this decision.
With Princeton in control, it was time to let the freshmen class give the 1/10 full Jadwin Gym a glimpse at the future. Barrett, Connolly and Hummer replaced Saunders, Finley and Davis with 12:51 to go.
There was no drop off in effort or execution.
Hummer stepped in front of a pick-and-roll between Trotter and LaBove.
Barrett's rainbow three made it 53-26.
Guard Jimmy Sherburne, no longer saddled with either a shoulder injury or mono, subbed in for Mavraides, whose night was done.
Hummer scored with a hook over the smaller Crecco.
Connolly, who recorded all of his career high eight in the second half, showed a soft touch with a drop hook over Kouna.
Nick Lake, replacing Schroeder, passed to Barrett who shuffled a tight interior pass to Connolly for a layup.
A posting Hummer found Connolly cutting for his third straight basket, fouled by Pride from behind.
"It was a lot of fun to be out there with those guys," Connolly said following the game. "After last weekend we got together a lot and worked on our game together. We're starting to build some class chemistry. It's not perfect yet. We had some good hustle plays - Mack [Darrow] got an offensive rebound, Ian found some nice passes. Everyone contributed in different ways. I think we're just starting to put it all together."
Kouna slipped inside and Connolly hit Barrett for two.
Mack Darrow replaced Connolly at the 7:49 mark with now Princeton up 32.
John Comfort's trey try was off target. Barrett grabbed the offensive rebound and had a nifty pass to Connolly, who stayed with the play, grabbed his own miss and scored.
A nice find by Comfort to Darrow for the long-armed reverse made it a 67-38 game.
To close a comfortable win, Barrett found Bobby Foley for a layup.
Princeton scored 40 points in the paint as they dominated Dartmouth inside from pillar to post.
"I think a lot of that started with offensive rebounds," Connolly observed. "We had a lot of good passes down there too. It wasn't necessarily just post-ups, it was a lot of good team offense. A few people looked pretty sharp with their moves too. A big combination of those three, I think."
On an evening where they were mathematically eliminated from the race for the 2009-10 Ivy League title, the Tigers' freshmen showed why the future is bright after Princeton's starters made it clear they still had much to play for this season.
Notes:
-The Tigers shot an even 30-60 for the game (50.0%), 7-23 outside (30.4%) and 4-9 from the line (44.4%). Dartmouth had half as many field goals as Princeton, 15-46 on the night (32.6%), 2-7 from deep (28.6%) and 11-17 at the stripe (64.7%).
-Princeton's freshman class combined to score 19 second half points.
-The Tigers outrebounded Dartmouth 38-29, grabbing 12 offensive boards.
-Princeton converted 14 Big Green turnovers into 20 points.
-Marcus Schroeder finished with three points, three rebounds, four first half assists and zero turnovers.
-Dartmouth falls to 0-12 on the road this season. Reserve R.J. Griffin was high man for the Big Green with nine.
-Pete Carril was at Jadwin Gym on Friday night, in town for tomorrow evening's ceremony honoring Tiger great Brian Taylor.
-Congratulations to the Cornell Big Red, Ivy League men's basketball champions.
