Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson:
Nick Lake's desperation turnaround jumper at the buzzer was just off the mark and Princeton's five game winning streak ended with a frigid 52-50 loss at Maine.
The Tigers trailed the entire second half, but mounted a frantic comeback in the final minute that nearly forced overtime. Lake tracked down an intentional miss at the free throw line by Kareem Maddox but was unable to connect on the right baseline.
Princeton led 6-3 on three point shots from Dan Mavraides and Douglas Davis before Maine went on an 11-0 run midway through the first half that put the Tigers in chase mode for the rest of the night.
Trailing by nine at intermission, an extended Princeton push spurred on by an 1-3-1 zone on defense that concluded with a layup from Marcus Schroeder off a Davis steal made it 26-25 with 16:19 remaining but the Tigers could not inch in front of the Black Bears.
"Defensively and offensively we never got in a flow," said Tiger head coach Sydney Johnson. "A tough game to lose."
Davis had 13 points on 4-12 shooting but he missed a number of wide open three point shots that could have effected the outcome. The entire Princeton team shot an icy 34% on the night. Mavraides added 12 and six rebounds for Princeton.
Gerald McLemore's 14 for Maine were a game high. McLemore also had three assists and four steals.
Maine won despite going 12-38 (31.6%) from the floor.
In the first half, Princeton not only missed the sort of field goals (layups and open three pointers) that need to go in to win a game like this, they also got into foul trouble.
Three starters - Davis (13:45 mark, trying to defend the post against a much taller Maine player), center Pawel Buczak (10:55, setting an illegal screen) and Mavraides (3:55 left before halftime) each picked up two personal fouls.
While Davis was on the sidelines, a 7-6 Tiger deficit became a 21-10 Maine advantage and Tiger head coach Sydney Johnson had no choice but to put Davis back in.
Behind two Davis free throws and a layup by Zach Finley, found inside diagonally between two men by Patrick Saunders, Princeton scored the last four of the half to get within single digits.
Princeton's halftime adjustment of going to an extended 1-3-1 zone worked from the opening defensive possession of the second frame. Schroeder drove and was fouled, making both free throws. Buczak poked the ball away from behind in the center of the defense and Schroeder attacked the left side, called for a dubious offensive foul.
Saunders posted and spun into McLemore, drawing a whistle. Saunders made both free throws and the lead was down to five. Saunders overloaded the Maine zone and found space at the free throw line for a jumper that made it a 26-23 game.
With Davis at the top of the zone, he was able to leap in the air and deflect a pass by Andrew Rodgers to Schroeder, who drove for a layup that brought the Tigers back within one.
A running hook by Terrance Mitchell hit twice off the back iron and bounced home to stop Princeton's 12-0 spurt.
Ian Hummer's long jump hook was tipped and Davis' open three on the wing bounded in and out.
At the other end a wild miss by Mitchell came to Troy Barnies, who was fouled by Buczak going back up. The foul was Buczak's fourth.
Saunders' clean look at the top of the key was no good.
A chance for a Princeton basket in transition was negated when Finley came up with a steal but traveled trying to bring the ball back down racing up court.
"When we had a couple of good cracks at taking the lead, some really nice shots that rimmed out, they did not fall. We never truly believed we could win tonight's game and unfortunately we were right," Johnson stated after Princeton's second loss to Maine in as many seasons. "You could just see that we were a little bit antsy and unsure of ourselves and that certainly played into us not being able to eventually win the game."
Saunders had his pass to the wing picked off by McLemore, who was fouled by Saunders. Both free throws were good and Saunders was also saddled with four personals.
A Will Barrett right wing jumper looked initially to be a three, but the officials ruled his foot was on the line. Princeton trailed 34-30. Mavraides spun in the lane and drew the whistle, making one of two free throws.
Barnies traveled going at Buczak and the Tigers had the ball with a chance to tie. Mavraides could not hit a pull up jumper at the free throw line.
McNally missed inside but grabbed his own rebound and went back up, fouling out Saunders in the process.
His two free throws were followed by Schroeder missing a three set up by Buczak's cross court pass out of the low post and Davis just off from distance after a tie up. Back the other way Murphy Burnatowski quickly did what Schroeder and Davis could not, taking the lead up to eight. Two McLemore free throws ended a 7-0 Maine run and made it a 41-31 game at the 4:33 mark.
Mavraides finished with his right hand around McNally to cut the lead down to five with 1:12 remaining. Princeton called time.
Kareem Maddox, brought in to pressure the inbounder and trap in the back court, nearly forced a turnover but the Black Bears called a time out. The second try on the double team was more successful as Maddox and Jimmy Sherburne got Andrew Rogers to shuffle his feet.
A right elbow jumper by Maddox was short and Maddox fouled Burnatowski, who made both free throws.
For the first time all game, Johnson sent senior captain Nick Lake into the game with :53 to go. Lake immediately canned a right corner three to cut the lead down to four.
The Tigers trapped in the backcourt and nearly got another turnover before a pass went over the defense to Burnatowski, who made one of two free throws.
Lake cleared some space with a head fake, stepped to his left and was true a second time from outside. Suddenly Princeton had clawed within 48-46.
McLemore made two free throws, which Davis answered with a scooping drive at the :18.3 mark.
Having been trapped repeatedly in the back court, Maine threw over the top to Burnatowski across midcourt. Mavraides tried to get the steal but could not leap high enough, crashing into the Maine forward. Burnatowski made both of his free throws and the Tigers trailed by two possessions.
A dribbling Davis found Maddox on the right block and he went up while drawing contact from McNally. With just under four seconds left and his team down two, Maddox had no choice but to intentionally miss his free throw, hoping either Buczak on the left side of the lane or Lake on the right side could come up with the rebound. The ball deflected off the rim to the right side of the backboard, where Lake picked it up, took one dribble away from the basket, turned and fired a shot that was on target but short. It clipped the front of the rim as time ran out.
While Princeton might not have deserved overtime, they had come up one play away from forcing an extra frame.
"I'm just hopeful that starters, bench, our whole team, we can hold on to our confidence, continue to defend and hopefully just make a few more shots that will take pressure off ourselves," Johnson concluded.
Notes:
-Princeton was 16-47 from the floor (34.0%), 8-25 from three (38.5%) and 10-13 at the line (76.9%). One of those three misses was Maddox's intentionally errant try that Lake controlled.
-Maine shot 12-38 from the floor (31.6%), 5-13 outside (38.5%) and 23-31 from the stripe (74.2%).
-The Tigers had 10 assists and 16 turnovers. The Black Bears had two fewer assists and two more turnovers.
-Princeton was outrebounded 36-29. Sean McNally grabbed 10 boards in the victory. Maine scored nine second chance points while the Tigers did not have any.
-Dan Mavraides played with his right arm wrapped, the after-effects of his hard fall against St. Joseph's on Sunday.
