Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Marcus Schroeder & Patrick Saunders:
Returning to play after their traditional 17 day January break for final exams, Princeton methodically pulled away from Concordia in the final tune-up before the start of Ivy League play. Douglas Davis scored a team high 11 points, all in the first half, as the Tigers won their third straight, 64-44.
Samuel Batista had 15 for the Clippers.
"I think it was obvious from the start that we were just trying to get used to a game environment," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson. "I think that's important for us to do that before we go into an obviously pivotal weekend [at Dartmouth and Harvard]"
Concordia scored the game's first five points, but the Tigers countered with a 10-0 run and never trailed the rest of the day.
Davis was bodied by William Eason on a drive and made both free throws to put Princeton on the board. On the Tigers' next possession Davis took a handoff from a screening Pawel Buczak and drove to his right around Buczak, pulling up for a deep jumper.
A soft three point shot by Patrick Saunders with 13:59 left gave Princeton their first lead. The TIgers' first seven three point shots came from seven different players.
"I felt early on in the pre-season that we were a solid shooting team, and it was nice to have that for tonight," Johnson said. "I just hope that we can be consistent in that fashion."
Buczak was left unattended at the top of the arc and promptly sized up his fourth three point shot of the season to finish the run.
Following a basket in the paint by Concordia's Dan Cunningham, freshman John Comfort connected from the far corner as the shot clock buzzer expired, Marcus Schroeder finding him off of a drive.
Buczak made a great zip pass across his body from just inside the three point line to the opposite corner, straight to the chest of Nick Lake, who fired up a three in stride. Princeton now led 16-7. Buczak handed out a season-best five assists in the game and did not commit a turnover.
With the Tiger advantage down to 23-17 on two Alban Shala free throws, Davis showed how thrilling a player he can be on consecutive possessions. Buczak had the ball in the post with his back to the basket and left a drop pass to his left behind his body for the cutting Davis, who twirled into the air and spun a reverse layup in off the glass. Seconds later Davis picked off a Kenny Gaskins pass in the frontcourt and raced down the floor at full speed, scoring while being bumped by Sean Walker to push Princeton back up 10. Davis' free throw rattled out, one of his few first half missteps.
Another nice Buczak pass, finding Dan Mavraides across the floor, concluded in the Tigers' sixth three of the opening frame. Princeton went off the floor up 32-19.
"I don't think we played great in the first half," Johnson confessed. "We into halftime saying 'look, we can certainly get outplayed, we want to be good defensively,' and so we still weren't perfect [in the second half] but I think the energy was there from the guys and that usually leads to playing better and I thought we did that in the second half."
Schroder became the seventh Tiger with a three pointer, starting the second stanza with a jump shot on an offensive series that began with the ball going inside to Buczak, who found his teammate setting up in the far corner.
After Mavraides absorbed a charge in the post, bracing for the impact of Concordia's burly 7'0" center Daniel Olsen, backup center Zach Finley lowered his head and went hard with his right hand to the basket, drawing a whistle and converting both free throws. Princeton had matched their largest lead with a 16 point advantage.
Concordia cut their deficit to single digits for the first time since 3:35 remained in the first half, Gaskins' step-back jumper over Davis making the score 37-28 Tigers with 15:45 to go.
Princeton responded with eight straight to cement control over the game. Buczak left a backdoor lob pass for Mavraides, who took an instant to gather himself, turned 180 degrees so he faced away from the basket and locked eyes with Schroeder, who was ready for his second three of the half on the right side of the arc. A swooping right handed hook from Buczak and a baseline drive from Saunders cushioned the lead back to sixteen and when Kareem Maddox crept down the baseline and laid home a feed from Finley on the opposite block the Tigers were up 46-28. Concordia called time.
The Clippers could not chisel the Princeton lead any lower than 15 the rest of the way and Coach Johnson was able to empty his bench with two minutes to play. All 13 Tigers that suited up saw some action, freshman guard Max Huc scoring on two layups before time ran out.
Johnson was pleased but not satisfied following his team's victory, already looking ahead to the start of Ivy play. "We just have to focus on 40 minutes, going hard. That can lead to good things," he said. "Any type of slip up in our intensity and we'lll come up short. We're tired of coming up short."
With their non-conference slate complete and with several potential victories left just outside of their grasp, Princeton will look to keep their focus this weekend as Ivy action begins on the road in Hanover against the Big Green of Dartmouth.
Notes:
-Princeton finished 25-54 from the field (46.3%), 9-25 from outside (36.0%) and 5-6 at the free throw line (83.3%). Concordia was 18-60 (30.0%), 6-15 behind the arc (40.0%) and 2-3 from the stripe (66.7%).
-The Tigers committed a season-low seven turnovers and attempted more free throws than the opposition for the first time this year.
-The taller Clippers outrebounded Princeton 40-33.
-Coach Johnson experimented with a backcourt of Comfort and Marcus Schroeder in the second half. Schroeder filled up his stat line with nine points (3-3 from three point range), eight rebounds and three assists.
-Michael Strittmatter was cleared to play for the first time all season and came off the bench with two minutes to go.
-At halftime everyone in attendance was invited to have a free piece of cake in celebration of Jadwin Gym's 40th birthday. The cake (pictured above) was expertly shaped like the exterior of Jadwin, but much to my disappointment did not have five additional sub-layers of cake below the ground.
