box score
audio - coach sydney johnson
Dartmouth ended a seven game losing streak and extended Princeton's woes to seven consecutive games with a surprisingly easy 71-52 victory on Saturday at Leede Arena.
The Tigers, playing without the services of second-leading scorer and senior co-captain Kyle Koncz, who injured his hip in the second half of Princeton's loss to Harvard the previous evening, could not match the Big Green's energy level.
DeVon Mosley had a game-high 18 points to lead three Dartmouth players in double figures. Classmates Marcus Schroeder and Zach Finley each scored 10 for Princeton.
With Koncz unavailable, Princeton started a lineup of Kevin Steuerer, Zach Finley, Noah Savage, Marcus Schroeder - returning to the starting lineup after coming off the bench for the previous 10 games and freshman Dan Mavraides, who had played nine total minutes before the game in Hanover, NH.
Marcus Schroder's off-balance jumper floating to his left in the lane gave Princeton an early 8-7 lead.
Two free throws by Johnathan Ball, fouled by Finley inside, were the first of six straight by Dartmouth, putting the Big Green in front for good at the 13:51 mark.
Schroeder was on target from three point range off an inbounds pass from Steuerer to make the score 15-13.
Dartmouth answered with seven consecutive points that opened up a nine point advantage. An offensive rebound by Clive Weeden of a missed three point shot by Alex Barnett bouncing high off the rim with two seconds remaining on the shot clock was put back to start the run. Another offensive rebound, this by Kurt Graeber, was kicked back outside to DeVon Mosley for Dartmouth's first three point shot of the night.
"They pushed us around a little bit, in a competitive way." said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson from outside the Tiger locker room. "We felt like we got outworked and then once they outworked us, then they proceeded to make every shot that they took. It got ugly."
The Tigers crawled back to within 22-19 at the 5:40 mark when Nick Lake rushed into the paint and tipped home a missed Finley post move in one fluid motion.
Two Princeton defenders watched flat-footed as Barnett followed his own miss short on the baseline and corrected the mistake which took Dartmouth's lead up to five. Mosley stepped back for three and a Finley turnover dribbling in the paint was reversed into a fast break led by Robby Pride, who dished behind his back into the hands of the trailing Barnett for a two-handed slam as Pride ran back up the court bobbing his head in over-exaggerated appreciation.
Two free throws by Elgin Fitzgerald sent Dartmouth into their locker room up by eight.
The Big Green were 11-22 from the field in the first 20 minutes (50.0%). Dartmouth was 2-5 from behind the arc (40.0%) and 9-12 at the free throw line (75.0%). Princeton shot 10-24 from the floor (41.7%), 1-5 from deep (20.0%) and 4-5 from the stripe (80.0%).
Princeton missed not just Koncz's jump shot but also his intangibles that help make other players comfortable on offense and mask their weaknesses on defense. As the Tiger coaching staff huddled away from the team to sort out their talking points during stoppages in play, Koncz would go over his teammates and holler words of encouragement, serving as an extra coach before Sydney Johnson and his staff arrived at the sideline.
A three pointer in the far corner by Michael Giovacchini began the second half for the Big Green and also started an 11-0 run for the home team. When Mosley hit from outside a third time at the 16:36 mark, the Tigers were down 44-25.
A flat Princeton team could not get any closer than 18 the rest of the way as Dartmouth's lead eventually reached 30, sending those at press row searching for a media guide, trying to find the Tigers' greatest margin of defeat in Ivy League history.
Princeton scored the last 11 points of the game, a Pyrrhic victory in a contest long since decided.
Notes:
-Princeton finished the game 18-51 from the floor (35.3%), 2-11 from behind the arc (18.2%) and 14-18 at the line (77.8%). The Tigers had a 7:13 assist-to-turnover ratio.
-Looking for any sort of spark in an uphill battle, Coach Johnson played Kareem Maddox, Pawel Buczak, Nick Lake and Mavraides for extended minutes in the second half.
-Dartmouth's victory was their largest in a win over Princeton since a 1947 meeting that the Big Green won 75-53.
-Dan Mavraides finished with 8 points in his first career start, going 6-6 at the free throw line.
-Senior Zach Woolridge scored the first points of his Princeton career on an offensive rebound with 2:22 remaining.
-Marlon Sanders, who had started for Dartmouth on Friday night versus Penn, was not present for the game against the Tigers.
-Princeton returns to the road on Friday night at Brown. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm ET.
