Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Douglas Davis & Dan Mavraides:
Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson has cried at the Palestra.
He cried in the locker room his freshman year, his sophomore year and his junior year after his Tiger teams came up short against the Penn Quakers.
A decade later, in his second season as Princeton's head coach, and for the first time in five years, the Tigers went into the Palestra on Tuesday night and came away with a victory.
"I told the guys in the locker room, I cried like a baby when I lost here and I lost here three times. I shed a lot of tears," an emotional Johnson said after his first win over Penn as a coach. "To win in the Palestra, for a young man who wears orange and black, I can't put it into words. To be able to coach a team that's won here, with the way these guys gutted it out...If I try, I'll lose it."
Trailing by a point, sophomore guard Dan Mavraides made four free throws in the final 30 seconds as the Tigers squeaked past Penn by three. Mavraides finished with a game-high 17 and was a perfect 5-5 from the line.
Center Pawel Buczak matched his career high with 15 for Princeton, going 7-7 at the stripe.
Douglas Davis added 10, finishing third all-time behind Chris Young and Spencer Gloger in points scored by a Tiger freshman (333).
Princeton did not miss a free throw, 13-13 on the night.
Zack Rosen scored 13 for Penn, all in the second half.
Princeton ends the season 8-6 in Ivy play (13-14 overall), tied for second place with Yale.
It was an arduous, frustrating and ultimately rewarding conclusion to the 2008-09 basketball season. Neither team led by more than six points over the course of the game's 40 minutes.
Kevin Egee, who won Penn's previous contest versus Columbia with a long three point shot at the final buzzer, took a Zack Rosen inbounds pass and connected from just outside the arc to start the night. Rob Belcore put back a Brennan Votel miss to take the Quaker lead up to 5-0.
Jason Briggs, starting in his final collegiate game, tied things up for Princeton with a three point shot from the top of the key, fed by Buczak from the post. It was Briggs' last basket as a Tiger.
A short hook by Cam Lewis and a lob by Belcore to Lewis for a two-handed flush were sandwiched around a missed layup by Princeton's Marcus Schroeder cutting backdoor. Schroeder took a feed from Buczak and was wide open, but the ball rolled off the rim. It was one of three missed makable layups by Schroeder.
Penn's biggest lead of the game came with 13:17 to go in the half when Harrison Gaines blew baseline past Davis and pulled up for a jumper to change the score to 13-7.
A diagonal pass by Schroeder to Patrick Saunders for a layup and Saunders' feed of Mavraides in the post that resulted in a short turnaround brought the Tigers within two.
Princeton went ahead for the first time when Buczak drove by Lewis and scored a long-armed layup off glass while being fouled. Following the free throw the Tiger edge was 19-18. Mavraides caught and stroked from deep to make it a four point edge with 7:48 showing.
Princeton sprung Davis for a long jumper off a designed inbounds play, the assist to Michael Strittmatter. Davis' foot was on the line and the Tigers led 24-22.
The inability to track down a defensive rebound put Penn back in front. A poor entry pass by Buzak to a posting Saunders was stolen by Belcore and Rosen missed a three at the other end. Votel kept the ball alive, but could not score, Rosen controlling for the Quakers. Egee ended this possession with a three and Penn was up 25-24 with under two minutes left.
A posting Saunders kicked up to fellow freshman Davis at the top of the arc and Penn was off target on two threes in the half's last minute, allowing Princeton to hold a 27-25 edge at intermission.
Neither team had much success putting the ball in the basket at the start of the second half. Penn turned it over three times in the first two minutes and Buczak missed from behind the three point arc, Schroeder could not connect pulling up at the free throw line and Buczak was unable to scoop the ball under Lewis' arm inside.
Rosen spun on Briggs in the paint and scored, moving Penn back up one with his free throw.
Zach Finley was unable to control two loose balls, and one worked out better than the other for the Tigers. Finley got by Lewis inside but missed the short attempt, the ball tipped out to Davis who fired and hit a midrange jumper. Finley couldn't track down a pass the next time Princeton had possession and saved it from going out of bounds on the baseline right to Rosen, who drove from one end of the gym to the other for two.
Inbounding under their own basket, Finley got the ball to Mavraides cutting straight down the paint, and Mavraides flipped it up and in while being fouled by Belcore.
Gaines answered with a baseline jumper off a Penn inbounds and the two teams were knotted at 32.
Schroeder's handoff to Mavraides at the three point line freed up space for a triple and after Davis came up with a steal he connected from outside in transition to double Princeton's lead up to 38-32 as Penn called time out with 13:18 still to go.
When play resumed Rosen answered from outside, halving what the Tigers had built.
Justin Reilly's turnaround jumper over Buczak brought Penn within one. Saunders controlled an offensive board and laid it home and then took a Schroeder pass under the rim, hesitated to get Lewis in the air and scored to make the score 42-37 Tigers.
Again Rosen cut into the Princeton lead from behind the arc.
Gaines scored inside over Finley to kick Penn back in front and with just under eight minutes showing Gaines picked off a Finley pass and was fouled by Mavriades on the break, making both free throws.
Buczak snared a missed Davis jumper and hooked the ball home. Princeton survived a stretch where Penn stole the ball twice from the Tigers in the backcourt and Princeton could not control defensive rebounds after three separate missed shots from the Quakers. The ball stayed at Penn's end of the Palestra for almost a full minute of game action. Finally, an entry pass to Jack Eggleston went off his leg and Princeton had the ball back.
Buczak lost Votel with a slight hesitation and Princeton moved back up one. That lead reached three as Votel held Buczak after a Mavraides steal and Buczak made both ends of his one-and-one.
Gaines scored right at Buczak to make it 48-47 Tigers with 4:53 left.
After trying all night, Schroeder was able to get that elusive layup to go, scoring off glass as Gaines hacked him and converting the free throw.
A free throw jumper by Gaines pulled Penn within two, but Buczak doubled Princeton's lead with two more free throws after Lewis was called for a push in the post.
Belcore ended a Penn possession with a three on the left wing and Penn was within one with three minutes yet to unfold.
Schroeder drove and dished to Saunders for a baseline jumper that was answered by a Rosen drive, bodied by Buczak. Rosen got the ball to the rim, where it spun around several times, teasing the Penn faithful before falling off to the side. Rosen canned both free throws.
Mavraides had an open look to make it a four point game, but his shot from the corner in front of the Princeton bench was errant, hitting the side of the backboard before it could even reach the rim.
It was Gaines' turn to drive, his pull-up jumper bouncing high in the air, controlled by Lewis as Penn called time.
Rosen found Lewis inside with a zip pass and Lewis was fouled hard by Mavraides. Lewis made only 36.8% of his free throws this season and was off on both tries, Saunders rebounding.
A pass to Mavraides on the sideline was tipped away and Mavraides was called for the foul trying to regain possession. The whistle put Lewis back at the line for a one-and-one and Lewis missed for a third straight time, but the ball deflected out of bounds to Penn. The Quakers looked to inbound down one with 1:12 left in each team's season.
Rosen got the ball to Eggleston on a string and Eggleston dunked with two hands, putting Penn up with just under a minute to go. Princeton called their final time out.
Schroeder went down the left baseline, leaping in the air above the end line and passing to Saunders in the opposite corner with the shot clock down to single digits. Saunders calmly dished to his left to Mavraides on the wing, who took a quick first step into the paint and was fouled by Eggleston going up with six on the shot clock.
Mavraides made both chances at the :28.2 mark, interrupted halfway through by a Penn time out.
Eggleston was long on an open three point shot from the left wing and Briggs grabbed the board with :06.4 left. Briggs was tied up and the possession arrow favored Princeton.
Saunders was set to inbounds the ball, but Schroeder talked him out of it, passing across the court to Mavraides, who dribbled two seconds off before Belcore could jostle him.
Again Mavraides was true two times, again iced by a Penn time out, their last of the night. Rosen's running three point shot was long and Princeton had finished their season on a high note.
Asked about his emotions after the game, Coach Johnson was of two minds. "Undoubtedly it is bittersweet," Johnson said. "We had a chance to play for a championship and it slipped away from us quite early in our weekend, but Princeton beat Penn today in basketball and for me it is hard to be disappointed with that."
The jubilant Tigers raced off the floor after the final buzzer, an ecstatic Briggs pausing to jump in the air and enjoy the moment before his Princeton career came to a close.
If there were tears in the locker room on this trip to the Palestra, they were tears of joy.
Notes:
-Princeton finished 20-47 from the floor (42.6%), 6-14 from three (42.9%) and a perfect 13-13 at the line (100.0%). Penn shot 22-53 (41.5%), 5-17 behind the arc (29.4%) and was 7-12 on free throws (58.3%).
-Penn outrebounded Princeton 36-23 and grabbed 16 offensive boards.
-The Quakers were without the services of leading scorer Tyler Bernardini, who missed his third straight game recovering from a concussion.
