box score
audio - coach sydney johnson, matt sargeant & lincoln gunn
Ask Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson about the Tigers and he'll explain it as simply as possible - "We pass, dribble, shoot. That's what we do."
With the shot clock ticking down, seventy seconds to play and Princeton clinging to a 59-55 lead, a tightly guarded Lincoln Gunn didn't have much time to choose from those options.
Pass wasn't the right decision. The Tigers had turned the ball over on successive possessions and Iona had put heat on the orange and black since closing halftime's 11 point deficit to a single digit.
Dribbling out of harm's way could have easily forced Princeton's first shot clock violation of the year.
Gunn chose quickly and chose wisely. The scraggly sophomore stepped into his form from behind the arc and connected on his fourth three pointer of the evening, giving the Tigers a three possession advantage and sending Princeton off to Maui with a 66-58 victory.
Gunn finished the game with 20 points, six rebounds and six assists.
Dexter Grey was Iona's high man, tallying 18 while grabbing nine rebounds.
In the early going, the night belonged to Kyle Koncz. The senior guard hit three consecutive three point shots before play stopped for first media time out as Princeton raced to a 10-4 edge. Iona's defensive gameplan was to take away center Zach Finley's touches in the interior, a decision that opened up Princeton's snipers on the perimeter.
The Tigers missed their next nine shots out of the break (three Finley layups and five treys), before Koncz ended the drought from downtown. Lincoln Gunn became the first Tiger not from Strongsville, Ohio to record a field goal using an Alex Okafor screen to bury one from behind the line and send the Tigers up 17-9.
The Gaels closed within five at the 7:08 mark on a give-and-go which rewarded lumbering 7'0" center John Kelly.
A backdoor cut by Marcus Schroeder, the recipient of an accurate diagonal pass from Zach Finley and a Schroeder steal tossed ahead to a streaking Kevin Steuerer boosted the advantage back to nine.
Zach Finley sneaked free in Iona's interior for three layups in the final three minutes of the half as the Tiger lead extended to as many as 13. Two free throws from Iona's Milan Prodanovic closed out the scoring with Princeton heading into their snazzy new halftime room up 35-24.
The Tiger lead could have been even larger if they had not shot 5-10 at the free throw line. Koncz had 13 points in the first half and Finley contributed nine.
Princeton had an excellent 11:4 assist-to-turnover ratio in the first twenty minutes. Iona, on the other hand, was 5:10.
Out of the locker rooms the Gaels extended their defensive pressure in the half court and scored the first six points of the second half. Dexter Gray's layin made the score 35-30. A Finley bucket and a give-and-go from Finley to Sargeant took the lead back up to nine with 16:51 on the clock.
Each time Iona closed to within two possessions, Princeton responded with buffering baskets that extended their advantage. Prodanovic's two free throws were followed by Gunn racing ahead of the pack to lay in two. Two Gunn free throws after he won the battle for a missed Koncz layup rebuilt the lead.
When Kyle Camper drove on Steuerer for a bucket, Gunn immediately answered to his left and the edge was again six.
Iona would creep to within 49-48 as 9:21 showed on the clock. John Kelly's left hook did the damage.
Koncz was fouled on a drive and converted both free throws. Back-to-back triples by Schroeder and Gunn, each assisted by Noah Savage, bumped the lead up to 57-50 with six minutes to go in regulation. On the first basket Princeton methodically worked the ball inside and back around the arc before finding Gunn in rhythm in the near corner. Schroeder's shot was sized up in front of the Tigers bench, to the delight of the home team.
In the words of their coach, Princeton hadn't been tight in their execution against Iona and instead relied on players stepping up. On a night where it was harder to script things, and where the Tigers weren't precise, Kyle Koncz early, Zach Finley in the middle and Lincoln Gunn late each made plays that helped Princeton come away with the win.
Notes:
-Neither Michael Strittmatter or Pawel Buczak suited up for the second straight game.
-Princeton was 10-29 from three point range (34.5%). Iona shot 1-10 (10.0%).
-Noah Savage struggled with his shot for the second consecutive game and is shooting 1-12 from the field so far this season.
-Marcus Schroeder had four assists and three steals to go with zero turnovers.
-The Tigers head to Hawaii on Friday morning, kicking off three games in three days at the Maui Invitational starting on Monday, November 19th with a contest against Duke at 9:00 pm ET. The game can be seen on ESPN2.
