Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Douglas Davis & Dan Mavraides:
Inherently, not being able to hold a 20 point lead against a quality opponent on their home court is frustrating.
In addition to those inherent frustrations connected to what transpired there will be four separate elements of Princeton's 65-64 loss at James Madison that will gnaw in the gut of any Tiger fan between now and tomorrow afternoon's game against Bucknell.
1. You didn't see it coming.
Often, a team will be able to build a lead despite reverting to bad habits because the ball continues to find its way into the basket. Up 45-25 in the first half, the Tigers were marvelous on offense, sharing the basketball beautifully and ending almost every possession with an open shot in rhythm. It was not occurring too easily either, as can sometimes be the case. Princeton made good decisions and rewarded players in the right positions.
2. They were still where they wanted to be when they wanted to be.
After being on the wrong end of a 28-5 run and going the first 10 minutes of the second half without a basket, Princeton somehow sat in a position to win. While the Tigers fell behind by as many four in the final four minutes, Kareem Maddox's one-handed offensive rebound of a missed Ian Hummer free throw and incredible one-handed rifle pass down the baseline to Douglas Davis setting up in the far left corner actually put Princeton back in front by one with :47 left in regulation. It was the third of Princeton's three second half field goals and their only made jumper in the second half.
3. The call.
Now down one, the Dukes' stellar center Denzel Bowles got the ball on the left elbow with Maddox guarding him. Bowles turned his torso away from Maddox and made incidental contact with Dan Mavraides standing nearby. At no point did Mavraides attempt to reach in and steal the ball. His body just happened to graze Bowles'. No matter, this was enough for a foul to be called 15 feet from the basket, fouling out Mavraides and sending a significant inside threat who had not scored from anywhere but point blank range to the line for two conversions that returned the lead to JMU.
Bowles finished with 29 points on 11-14 shooting and 10 rebounds. All other Dukes combined to make 12-42 from the floor (28.5%).
A furious Sydney Johnson threw his hands up in the air, removed his jacket and emphatically slammed it down on his seat. As his anger built he had to be restrained by his assistant coaches.
After the game the usually reserved Johnson was still frustrated with one official's take on what had transpired at a critical juncture.
"I've played basketball myself, not only at Princeton but overseas and it is a crying shame when a situation like that occurs where the players aren't allowed to decide the game," said Johnson. "For that call to be made...I think if you have been in those situations as a player you would understand how disappointing that is to see that happen. If you've never been there, you wouldn't know. I think our guys played just as hard as them, and for that to happen when those two teams are competing like they are is very, very disappointing."
4. The last possession.
Calling time out just over half court with :24.8 showing, Princeton's final offensive effort of the game was a disjointed mess. What began with Davis isolated on the Dukes' Humpty Hitchens turned into Tiger center Brendan Connolly standing at the top of the key for almost five seconds with the clock nearing single digits. Connolly fed Maddox, who dribbled to the left corner and could only offer up a desperation pass into the center of the lane that bounced harmlessly away to Hitchens as the horn sounded.
Those painful issues above don't even touch on the fact that Princeton shot 65.2% from the free throw line for the game. In the final five minutes Mack Darrow missed the front end of a one-and-one with Princeton trailing by four. Connolly grabbed an offensive board and was fouled by Bowles but split a pair at the line to draw within 60-57.
Down one the usually spot-on Mavraides made his first try after being fouled by Bowles after successfully posting up his man but could not tie the game at 61. A wild drive by Devon Moore for JMU resulted in a foul on Maddox and Moore made both free throws. At the other end Hummer was pushed by Julius Wells spinning to the left baseline and converted his first try but missed his second, which Maddox secured.
The Tigers were a 71.8% free throw shooting team a season ago. Three games in they're at 61.5% for 2010-11, with Davis' perfect 12-12 boosting a 28-53 line by the rest of the squad (52.8%).
"We're not making our free throws," admitted Johnson. "We certainly didn't help our cause. There were a lot of times where we left points on the line and made it that much harder."
The first half, or at least the first 16 minutes, were marvelous. Since 1996 Princeton has not exceeded 47 points in an opening half against a DI opponent. They've hit that mark three times: In 1997 against Columbia, in 2000 against Brown and on Monday night at James Madison.
Like versus Rutgers, the Tigers scored 11 of the game's first 13 points. Mavraides picked off Moore's first pass of the night and went coast-to-coast for a layup. Ater Bowles' right hook put JMU on the board, a posting Maddox found Hummer for a right elbow jumper. Connolly spotted Davis outside the arc following an offensive rebound to make it a five point edge. Consecutive Connolly buckets and the lead was nine.
Bowles scored his team's first eight points, breaking Princeton's first attempt at a press for an alley oop dunk from Wells for a 16-8 score.
In for Connolly off the bench, Darrow made a pair of nifty decisions - first faking an entry pass to clear up space for a right elbow jumper, then picking and popping for a right wing trey that put the Tigers up 21-11.
The lead down to seven, Princeton ran off a 9-2 run. First Maddox went into the lane on a designed inbounds, dribbling with his left and scooping with his right.
Mavraides fed a driving Darrow who kicked to Davis for a long deuce. Davis pulled up on Princeton's next break, his foot on the line a second time for a second deep jumper.
Darrow answered a floater off the back iron by Hitchens with a triple, found out of the left block by a posting Hummer who threw a perfect pass across his body to make it 30-16 Tigers.
James Madison again closed to seven on a second Bowles dunk facing the Tigers press for the second time. Going over the top for Bowles to throw it down made Princeton reconsider this defensive strategy.
Patrick Saunders hit flatfooted from outside for Princeton. Then T.J. Bray got into the action with his second career triple. A posting Maddox set up Saunders in stride for the Tigers' third straight outside shot. When Davis stole the ball from Wells and pushed ahead to draw contact his pair of free throws extended the lead to 45-25 at the 4:38 mark.
A touch of tinkering by Johnson, bringing the inexperienced freshman guard Chris Clement into the game to run the point for two minutes, backfired when Clement threw a pass to Mavraides over the midcourt stripe for a violation.
The Dukes scored nine straight to draw within 11 on a Bowles bucket inside as Mavraides tried to draw a charge on a flop and Wells' high arc three.
Right before the half ended Maddox expertly sold a elbow jumper that was really a pass to Mavraides and Mavraides flipped the half's final bucket home for a 47-34 total.
Leading by 13 at the break, the Tigers missed their first 13 straight shots of the second half. Against the Dukes' triangle-and-two defense neither Davis or Mavraides were able to spot up and Bowles filled the lane inside. Unable to move the ball crisply from side to side or go inside-out, the orange and black went cold.
Ian Hummer's foul trouble hurt Princeton in the second half. The Tigers outscored James Madison by 19 on Monday when Hummer was on the floor. With Princeton up 50-38 early, Hummer went over the back on a rebound for his second foul, then appeared to have made a clean read on a cross-court pass, grabbing it with two hands, but was called for a foul. Saunders replaced Hummer. When Hummer returned to the game just over six minutes later the Dukes had run off 15 straight to go up by three on Hitchens' layup and foul.
Hummer's return had immediate rewards. On an inbounds from Mavraides, Hummer scored off glass and was fouled by Andrey Semenov. Hummer would miss the free throw but his bucket, 10:19 into the second half, was Princeton's first field goal of the second stanza.
Hummer deflected a Moore pass at the top of the arc, could not locate the ball as it bounced up in front of him, controlled and was fouled going left to the basket. The Princeton bench wanted a goaltending violation, as a James Madison player's hand clearly went through the rim while the ball was still on the iron. Hummer made both of his attempts to put Princeton back up 54-53.
Needlessly trying to help Darrow as Bowles went for a hook inside, coming over late and hacking Bowles arm mid-shot, Hummer headed back to the bench with his fourth personal. Johnson was forced to alternate Hummer on offense with Saunders on defense during breaks in the action in the game's final five minutes.
Come the final buzzer, despite all that had transpired, Johnson put the outcome on the shoulders of his team, his staff and himself.
"We're fully implicated in this," Johnson said. "We lost the game."
Notes:
-Douglas Davis scored a season-best 18 for Princeton.
-For the third straight game the Tigers' outrebounded their opponent. While Bowles recorded his expected double-double, Princeton had a 36-29 edge on the glass. Mavraides grabbed seven, Maddox and Hummer each six.
-Princeton shot 21-48 for the game (43.8%), 3-19 in the second half (15.8%). The Tigers were 7-17 from three (41.2%), 1-6 in the second half (16.7%).
-JMU shot 23-56 for the night (41.1%), 6-16 from deep (37.5%) and 13-16 at the line (81.3%).
-Darrow's eight first half points set a new career high. All eight came in the first half.
-Day two of the CBE regional will see Princeton and Bucknell tip at 4:30 pm ET, followed by Presbyterian and James Madison at 7:00 pm ET.
