Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson:
Despite playing in a gym located at the top of Manhattan College's steep campus, It was an uphill battle for Princeton against the homestanding Jaspers on Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers fell behind 14-6 early and although they made several pushes to pull within one possession throughout the game, could never catch Manhattan.
"We were chasing the game, and that really makes it hard to get back into it," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson after his team's 70-60 loss. "We did, and then a couple other times down the road we couldn't turn the corner and that's been our season right now."
Tiger freshman Doug Davis’ career-best 27 points on 10-18 shooting was outshined by Chris Smith’s 35. Smith, the younger brother of Denver Nugget J.R. Smith, made his first seven jump shots on his way to 18 first half points.
"We made it tough on ourselves [early] in the sense that we were a little slow to react to Chris," Johnson said.
Smith's long two opened the scoring and after two free throws by Princeton's Patrick Saunders, fouled as he went up with a backdoor cut from Jason Briggs, Smith struck for the first time from the outside. Saunders dropped off Smith on the wing and Smith made the defense pay.
It was right move given the scouting report, but Smith was 4-5 from beyond the three point line on Sunday, despite coming into the game shooting 27.0% from the arc.
A drive by Princeton center Pawel Buczak, who finished with 15 points on 7-8 shooting, made the score 9-6 Jaspers. At the other end Smith rose up from well beyond the top of the arc to double Manhattan's lead and a scooping drive by Antoine Pearson pushed Princeton down eight.
Nick Lake popped a three from the top to bring the Tigers within 19-15 but Manhattan scored the game's next six points to establish a double digit advantage. A Darryl Crawford runner started this spurt and a flat-footed layup by Smith, the recipient of a touch pass from Andrew Gabriel finished it.
Davis came back in off the bench and immediately knocked one down from deep. Smith answered with a long jumper, but his toe was straddling the line. A second Davis basket, this of the midrange variety, made the score 30-26 with 3:26 left in the half. Manhattan scored the final three points before the break.
While Princeton had hung close, they were fortunate to only be down seven given how inconsistent their play had been on offense and on defense.
"We didn't really get a flow that we wanted," Johnson observed. "That's a credit to the coaching staff at Manhattan and their players."
Smith had 18 points at the midway point to lead all scorers.
The Tigers were better offensively in the second half, but could not slow down Manhattan when they had the chance to make things interesting.
Down four at the 16:23 mark after Buczak laid in a wrap-around pass on a Kareem Maddox drive, Gabriel scored inside to put Princeton down six.
Down five at the 11:28 mark after Davis sized up a deep three, Smith answered with a long jumper of his own.
Down three at the 9:44 mark after Davis knocked down his fifth three point shot using a Buczak screen, Mavraides was called for a tug on Smith as Smith tried to cut outside from under the basket. Smith converted both ends of his one-and-one opportunity.
"Defensively, our effort wasn't what it should have been," added Johnson. "If we solve that, I think we'll be in games and then we have to win the game."
Two free throws by Mavraides brought the Tigers within 48-45 and Princeton clamped down defensively, the shot clock ticking towards expiration as Tiger players cut off passing lanes and stayed in front of whichever Jasper had the ball. With the shot clock at one, Crawford had no choice but to heave one up high in the air from the right wing with Dan Mavraides in his face. The buzzer sounded as the ball was in flight and Manhattan's lead doubled when the deep three pointer was true.
Mavraides' look in close was blocked by Crawford, who quickly threw an outlet laser to Smith. Smith was ahead of the back and hammered home a dunk with his right hand to quickly build an eight point advantage with 8:16 to go.
The Tigers were down 53-47 on a soft Buzak hook and had two chances to cut down Manhattan's lead. Davis had a drive blocked and Mavraides controlled the rebound, but Mavraides' shot in the post rolled out.
Princeton could not get any closer and Manhattan's lead grew to a game-best 13 in the final minute.
The Tigers lost their fourth straight, the first of three consecutive road games that are the type of battles they need to win if they want to have success in Ivy League play this season. The league will prove a hard mountain to climb if Princeton can not perform at a higher level.
"I think we're going to be in games like this all season long, where we have a chance down the stretch to turn the corner," said Johnson. "We've just got to do it."
Notes:
-Princeton was 20-47 from the field (42.9%), 8-16 from deep (50.0%) and 12-18 at the line (66.7%). Manhattan countered with 23-46 shooting (50.0%), 5-10 for three (50.0%) and 19-31 from the stripe (61.3%).
-The Tigers outrebounded the Jaspers 33-25. Jason Briggs grabbed a career-best 11 boards for Princeton.
-Pawel Buczak committed five of Princeton's 11 turnovers.
-Freshman guard John Comfort scored his first field goal as a Tiger, connecting on a three point shot that concluded the scoring.
-Zach FInley and Buczak played on the floor together for a stretch of the first half. The duo was effective, as Princeton cut a 28-21 deficit down to four.
-Manhattan's leading scorer, Devon Austin, was 0-6 from the field and did not score until he converted two free throws with :37 left to play.
-Freddy "Sez" (pictured above), seen before Thanksgiving at Fordham, was again in the crowd on Sunday, wearing a customized Manhattan jersey that read "Freddy 1."
