Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Jason Briggs & Michael Strittmatter:
Senior Night can make you sappy if you let it.
It is the abrupt close of a chapter that most do not want to shut. It is the culmination of four years of work, much of which is unseen by anyone beyond teammates and coaches. It is a chance for family, friends and fans to watch college seniors play at home for the last time.
But it wasn't perfunctory sappiness that inserted both Jason Briggs and Michael Strittmatter in Princeton's starting lineup for their final game at Jadwin Gym.
Briggs, who barely got off the bench his first two seasons and Strittmatter, who has battled injuries each of the last two years, are self-proclaimed "best friends" and for the first time in their careers, they came out for the opening tip together.
The two seniors earned their spots, and they validated their coach's decision.
The duo of Briggs and Strittmatter helped the Tigers race to an immediate 14-0 lead and Princeton held off repeated Yale rallies from that point forward for the wire-to-wire eight point win.
Dan Mavraides’ 16 led the Tigers, with Douglas Davis adding 12, all in the second half.
Unlike in New Haven, Yale was unable to pound the ball inside to their big men and crash the boards at will. Princeton ended up winning the overall rebounding battle 24-22.
Alex Zampier was high man for the Bulldogs with 19.
"I felt like the guys executed the gameplan to a "T," said Princeton coach Sydney Johnson after his team's sweep of the penultimate Ivy weekend. "Although it might not have looked pretty, it was exactly what we wanted."
Princeton had the right plan to pressure Brown's entry passes from the wing on Friday night and the Tigers' defensive strategy on Saturday was even better. In addition to heavy, animated ball pressure, the Tigers threw in an extended zone with Briggs often at the top, moving from side to side of the peak of the key to disrupt Yale's flow and cut off high/low action.
"We set the tone this time and it carried out throughout the game," Briggs said of his team's performance. "We're not going to beat them in a wrestling match. That's what we were talking the whole week. We've got to play smarter than them. That was the gameplan."
The change between the last meeting and Saturday was evident on the first possession. Briggs got his hand on a pass by Ross Morin looking to go inside and raced down the floor, laying in a lead from Marcus Schroeder.
Strittmatter's soft jump hook over Morin doubled Princeton's total and Mavraides took the advantage to seven with a triple.
Yale had four turnovers in the first four minutes as they were unable to crack the Tigers' scheme.
A hook from junior center Pawel Buczak made the score 9-0 as Yale called time out. It is at this place, traditionally, where a coach on Senior Night will take his seniors out of the game in place of the usual starters, but Coach Johnson was not married to ceremony and stuck with what was working.
Mavraides kept the offense going, driving left and finishing with his opposite hand on Paul Nelson and after a miss from Yale's Alex Zampier, Mavraides drove and noticed Schroeder spotting up for a three to finish the game-opening 6:03 run.
Zampier got Yale on the board with a wing three at the 13:57 mark. It was the start of a drastic shift in the night, as the Bulldogs would score 13 straight while Princeton went point-free for over nine minutes.
A steal by Chris Andrews and an outlet pass to a streaking Travis Pinick for a dunk made it a one point game with 7:15 showing.
On Senior Night, the seniors kept Yale from taking the lead. Briggs popped a three off a Schroeder drive to take the lead back to four and when Finley cut towards center court and then right to the basket, meeting a Patrick Saunders pass for the easy lay-in the Tigers were up six.
Finley bounced a backdoor pass to Strittmatter that looked to be out of the senior's reach, but Strittmatter made a stab to control the ball under the Princeton basket, hesitated and went up for two.
Ross Morin's baseline rainbow brought Yale within 21-15 but Strittmatter used a nifty behind-the-back dribble to create a path to the basket, scoring high off the glass.
The Tigers led 27-20 halfway through.
With the physical beating Princetont took in New Haven, it was surprising to see the Tigers with a 14-4 advantage on points in the paint and the only second chance basket of the first twenty minutes.
Buczak's swooping hook over Morin and a Briggs pass to a sliding Mavraides gave Princeton an 11 point edge early in the second half, but Yale kept coming.
Zampier stepped into a three on the wing and Garrett Fiddler scored on an inbounds pass while being fouled by Briggs. The free throw was no good and the Princeton lead was six.
Douglas Davis, who put up first half scoring numbers over the past three games of zero, two and zero, began to get going for the third consecutive second half.
Davis' stepback two over Chris Andrews boosted Princeton's lead to seven until Zampier captured a cross-court pass by Pinick and fired in his fourth three of the contest.
Zampier pumped on the wing to get Saunders in the air and drew contact as he tried to get the shot away, earning three free throws. All were on the mark and Yale had inched to 35-34 with 15:00 to go.
Zach Finley in the post to a cutting Saunders made it a three point game and when Mavraides drove and dished to Saunders in the corner, who passed laterally to Davis on the wing for three the lead was at six.
Jordan Gibson was off on a free throw length jumper but Davis connected when he pulled up in the paint.
When Yale crawled within four on a Morin basket inside, Princeton answered. Buczak bounced the ball through a tiny window and into Strittmatter's hands, the senior scoring off glass while being fouled by Andrews.
Buczak fed Davis in the center of the lane, but Davis realized he was surrounded and his only chance to keep the possession alive was to slap the ball in rhythm with one hand towards the far corner, where Marcus Schroeder stood open. Davis was able to put enough on the ball to get it in Schroeder's hands on a bounce and Schroeder's three made it 51-42 with 6:28 left.
Gibson tracked down a long jumper by Morin and put the ball home over Buczak for a three point play that brought Yale within three at the 3:33 mark.
Davis could not connect from outside and it looked like Yale would have the ball with a chance to tie, but Schroeder knocked possession away from Porter Braswell after he had rebounded, keeping the ball at the Tigers' end. This time Davis was on line from deep and Princeton had a six point cushion.
Pawel Buczak's long-armed reverse from under the Princeton basket made the score 56-50 with 1:38 on the clock.
Two Zampier free throws cut that to four, but Davis, who passed up an unencumbered layup to unexpectedly try and dribble more time off the clock, did not cost the Tigers when both ends of his one-and-one were true.
A Braswell three bounded over the top of the backboard and Yale had to foul.
Mavraides made it a three possession game and closed out a very happy Senior Night by streaking for a breakaway layup off a Saunders sideline inbounds with under 20 seconds to go.
Both Briggs and Strittmatter were thrilled with how their final game at Jadwin played out.
"To get through it with my best friend is something special. We always leaned on each other to maintain a positive attitude," said Strittmatter, sitting next to Briggs in the media room. "It's been tough. The first two years things didn't go Jason's way and the last two years haven't really gone my way. It's been really hard and I'm really glad I got this opportunity right now."
"It means a lot," Briggs admitted. "My first two years here, it wasn't the happiest time for me...[tonight] was awesome. It was more than just a senior night. It was an Ivy League game too."
"Anything can happen in the Ivy League," Briggs added.
Then he headed back to Carril Court to sign autographs.
Notes:
-Princeton shot 23-43 on the night (53.5%), 7-15 from three (46.7%) and a perfect 9-9 at the line (100.0%). This was the second time the Tigers did not miss a free throw this season, the other being a 4-4 night versus Rutgers.
-Yale was 18-40 (45.0%), 5-12 outside (41.7%) and 13-18 from the stripe (72.2%).
-Strittmatter finished with nine points, five rebounds, an assist, a steal and two turnovers in 22 minutes.
-Briggs played 19 minutes adding five points, a rebound, an assist, a steal and a turnover.
-Princeton has clinched at least a .500 record in conference play.
-Princeton coach Sydney Johnson has now defeated six of the Tigers' seven Ivy opponents.
