Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Zach Finley, Dan Mavraides & Kareem Maddox:
To fully appreciate Princeton's 73-64 victory over Lehigh on Wednesday night, you had to sit through the two teams playing in Bethlehem one year and one day ago.
It was a then-program-worst 11th straight loss for the Tigers, a game where Princeton was unable to put the ball in the basket or stop their opponent. A game where Lehigh's Zahir Carrington scored as many points as the entire Tiger team in the first 24 minutes. From 15-3 to 27-12 to 41-19 to the Mountain Hawks' eventual 27 point lead with 8:47 left, it was as ugly and discouraging a game as you could stomach.
Which is why last night's result was such a thrilling and unexpected treat.
The Mountain Hawks came into Jadwin Gym on a five game winning streak, but Princeton led almost the entire night and held off a number of second half pushes by Lehigh.
Dan Mavraides topped his career high for the second time this week, scoring a game-best 21. Doug Davis supported the cause with 14 and Marcus Schroeder offered up 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
"I talked to these guys about last year and I think they had a feel about how I felt about last year's game," said Princeton coach Sydney Johnson, choosing his words carefully. "I wasn't happy with how it played out. That may have factored into our preparation for this game. I'm glad that we were able to win."
Princeton took an early 5-2 lead on freshman forward Patrick Saunders' three point shot. Saunders, who had been 1-12 from outside to date, returned to the Tigers after two games away from the team dealing with a personal situation and promptly knocked down his first open look.
The advantage reached seven when Marcus Schroeder, making his second straight start, drove to the rim and passed down the baseline to Saunders, who swung the ball to Mavraides on his right for three. Mavraides then followed that shot with a second jumper at the top of the key.
Lehigh responded with a 10-2 run to take the lead, starting with two free throws by Carrington that came after Pawel Buczak was whistled for his second personal foul and concluding when Carrington banked one home at the 13:41 mark.
Back bounced the Tigers, as Mavraides split the defense going left and laid the ball home with Carrington coming over on defense an instance too late. A pick and roll between Davis and Zach Finley, Finley finishing with a reverse layup, pushed Princeton back up three.
Lehigh pulled even at 21 with 8:30 on the clock when Prentice Small drove right on Mavraides.
With Princeton up by one because of a lefty drive in traffic by Tiger co-captain Jason Briggs, Lehigh looked to regain the lead just before intermission. Marquis Hall came up short on a jumper with 14 seconds on the clock. With time running out, Briggs drifted to his left behind a screen and kept floating in that direction as he banked in a three point shot right before the buzzer. Briggs never broke character, keeping a straight face as he rushed off the court. The Tigers had a 32-28 edge at the break.
Left alone at the top of the key, Kareem Maddox sized up a three point shot to start the second half.
Lehigh inched within five with 15:39 to go on a Marquis Hall free throw.
A second pair of back-to-back three point shots by Mavraides gave the Tigers their biggest lead of the night. Saunders passed on a three, hitting Mavraides in the corner to put Princeton up eight and as Lehigh switched to a 2-3 zone, Mavraides connected again, this time closer to the wing, to make the score 44-33. The Mountain Hawks called time.
The Tigers were able to keep this lead above nine until 9:53 remained. Saunders fouled Michael Ojo on a three point shot, the second of four different times Princeton would foul Lehigh on a shot from outside the arc in the second half. Ojo was good on all three and when Justin Maneri put back a missed three point shot the score was 47-42.
"My high school coach always used to say that basketball is like a game of runs," Mavraides commented about this stretch. "They're going to make runs. Unless you totally wipe a team out, they're going to make a run and I feel like the last two games we were able to stop their runs - keep it to a minimum - and then get back on the offensive and start taking charge again."
Mavraides was fouled batting for a long rebound and went to the line for a one-and-one. While the Tigers had been 5-10 at the line to this point and no Tiger had made both ends of a free throw opportunity, Mavraides' shots were both true.
Carrington used a pump fake to free space at the free throw line and his jumper cut the lead down to four with 5:44 to go.
Leading 53-49, Buczak found Schroeder cutting backdoor with a lob for two. Mavraides stole the ball from Hall and raced ahead of the pack seconds later. Mavraides came up short on his layup but Davis never gave up on following the play and laid the ball home to take the lead up to 57-49.
It looked like the sailing might be smooth after a Schroeder free throw with 2:24 to go, but Rob Keefer cocked and loaded his team's first three point shot to cut the lead down to six.
The Tigers had a two-on-one advantage up the floor as they broke Lehigh's press and Maddox bounced to Buczak for a layup, his only field goal of the game.
Hall, who was 3-13 from the field, knocked one down outside and Princeton's lead was 60-55 with 1:55 on the clock.
Schroeder drove under the Princeton basket and threw a diagonal pass to an open Davis calling for the ball outside. Davis connected on a three point shot that bumped the lead back up to eight and gave Princeton some much-needed breathing room.
Seven points followed in the next five seconds. Maddox fouled Dave Buchberger, a 27% three point shooter, as he tried to hit from outside. This put the 82% free throw shooter on the line, where he was true all three times.
Before the ball could be inbounded, Maddox was held by Buchberger and Maddox made both his shots with the clock still stuck on 1:10. It took just five seconds for Maddox to foul on another three point shot, apparently brushing Hall as he passed him. Hall went two-for-three this time out. Still 1:05 to go, Princeton up 65-60.
Schroeder was good on two free throws before Hall hit one more time from outside. Princeton was able to counter with 8-10 shooting at the line to close out their second straight victory and send the Tigers into their 17 day exam break on a two game winning streak.
"We don't have to be miserable for two weeks," joked Johnson after his 10th victory as Princeton head coach.
"It is a tremendous win for us in just getting confidence and understanding, it seems a little bit hokey, but "yes we can." We can win games. Our offense is good. We have talent in this locker room. It is a pretty good victory."
Johnson made a point of giving his assistant coaches a public nod for their work in advance of Wednesday night. "My staff was tremendous in terms of preparing our players. Absolutely tremendous," said Johnson. "They all had a key part in getting guys ready offensively and defensively. It feels good for tonight that we're coming together as a program, both the staff and the players. It is a good feeling."
The Tigers can enjoy that feeling as they tussle with tests and papers over the next two weeks.
Notes:
-Princeton shot 22-46 on the night (47.8%). The Tigers were 9-22 from outside (40.9%), including 4-7 in the second half. The orange and black went 20-28 at the free throw line (71.4%) after starting 5-10. Lehigh was 17-54 (31.5%) from the floor and 3-15 behind the arc (20.0%). The Mountain Hawks did most of their damage at the line, where they were 27-41 (65.9%).
-The TIgers' 16 assists were a season-high.
-Johnson praised Schroeder's performance after the Tiger win. "He's settling us in, he's aggressive on the offensive end, which is something that we've really talked with him about since the day I got here," Johnson said of the junior guard. "He's helping us out on defense. Nothing short of tremendous."
-Maddox had two huge blocks in thirty seconds midway through the second half, rejecting Carrington's one-handed dunk attempt at point blank range and then swatting Carrington's putback try the next time he had the ball in his hands.
-While Saunders returned to the team, Coach Johnson stuck with the starting five he used with Saunders absent - Buczak, Davis, Mavraides, Schroeder and Maddox.
-Carrington finished with 20 points on 6-16 shooting.
