Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson:
Postgame audio - Kareem Maddox & Dan Mavraides:
It took Princeton 20 minutes to deoxidize their rust offensively and defensively following 17 days away from the basketball court, but a dominant second half on both sides of the floor carried the Tigers to a 73-40 victory versus The College of New Jersey.
"We were clearly out of sync. That's natural. There's no shame in that," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson after the Tigers' 12th win of the season.
"We were not sharp to begin the game, that was clear. [TCNJ] came out ready to play and that's good," Johnson continued. "We were a little bit slow to get going and then we got back to what we normally do, which is try to defend as much as possible."
The Lions, playing their second game in two days, has no answer for senior forward Kareem Maddox inside. Maddox scored 21 points on 9-10 shooting in 22 minutes and put back his only miss of the day.
Leading 34-25 at the break, the Tigers opened the second half on a 29-8 extended run and never looked back.
If Princeton wanted, they could have spent the entirety of Sunday posting and re-posting Maddox, but the game was more about getting court time for a variety of different players and rarely-used combinations. 12 Tigers saw the floor in the first half and no Princeton player experienced more than 23 minutes.
"There are some guys we're trying to see, even at this point in the season, if they can help us out in the Ivy League," Johnson assessed. "There are some guys that have shown some good things in practice that if they keep grinding I think that they can help us in the Ivy League, even it is a possession here and there."
Princeton scored the first four points and looked to be on their way to a rout. Dan Mavraides was short on a three from the right side and Patrick Saunders grabbed the first of the Tigers' 14 offensive boards. Inside Ian Hummer fought off a double team and scored off the left block.
Albert Matlock lost the ball into Brendan Connolly's hands and Connolly finished his team's possession with a right-handed jump hook.
Steve Siracusa went right at Connolly to place TCNJ on the board, which was answered by Saunders inside - hesitating to create space after a pass by Hummer.
Siracusa used his pivot foot and scored in the lane, then Matlock pulled up from inside the arc to even the score at six.
Mavraides pulled the string from the right arc to give his side a three point lead, before the Lions answered with six straight along with their first lead. The Tigers were unable to shake their in-county DIII foe.
Penetration by Siracusa set up a Dan Bucher midrange jumper.
Saunders, who had made all four of his free throws in 2010-11, surprisingly missed a pair at the line.
Donovan Smalls was big to his left off the glass and the Lions slid in front 10-9 with 16:04 left in the half. For the first time, Maddox entered the game in place of Connolly along with Will Barrett for Hummer.
Maddox was unable to block Jason Chalmers inside and the Tigers trailed by three.
Douglas Davis set a screen on the right side, then stepped outside for an open three point shot which came up short. Maddox kept the play alive but Mavraides' jumper was also short of the target.
Mavraides found Maddox, who hung in the air and scored inside. However Matlock went at Davis for two and the Lion lead remained three.
Maddox showed deft hands catching a Mavraides pass on the left block for two.
Mavraides in transition spotted Davis on the right wing for a three that knotted the score a second time.
Even at 18 halfway through the half when Siracusa launched over the hands of Hummer, Princeton started on a 15-2 run using a variety of sources including Jimmy Sherburne, Mack Darrow, Barrett and T.J. Bray.
Hummer spun to his left for two.
Mavraides missed twice from outside and with an errant try in the lane sandwiched between.
From the left baseline, Maddox circled into the lane for two to double the Princeton edge.
Davis lost the ball but Hummer got it right back and Davis looked away on a pass to Connolly inside.
Leading by six, Mavraides was called for a reach trying to get his hand on the ball as the Lions looked to overload from the free throw line. He would sit for the rest of the half.
With Mavraides unavailable, freshman guard Chris Clement hit the court for the first time as Johnson continued to balance outcome with experience.
Brandon Johnson drew TCNJ back within four on a drive with Connolly closing.
Connolly hit Maddox with a pass and as Maddox was held by Bucher he got the ball up to the rim and it dropped. A free throw made it 27-20.
As Clement and Davis combined to create the backcourt, Davis stole the ball from Matlock but Johnson stayed with the play and blocked Davis' layup try loudly from behind.
Saunders' tip follow after three previous Princeton misses bumped the lead to nine.
Out of the half's final media time out Barrett missed a three point shot from the left side and after an offensive rebound lost the ball out of bounds on a stumbling drive.
Davis zipped a pass diagonal to Maddox who banked it home while still in the air for a 31-20 count.
Following a Maddox block of a Smalls scoop that didn't stand a chance, Davis knocked down a long two pointer, not realizing Maddox had position on the considerably smaller Kyle Rawson inside.
Another guard vying for minutes, freshman Ben Hazel, replaced Davis for the last minute of the half and TCNJ cut Princeton's 11 point lead to 33-25 of a Smalls right elbow shot.
Holding for a final try, Maddox was able to draw a hack and made one of two at the line with four seconds showing for a competitive nine point lead at the break.
Princeton's first 20 minutes post-exams saw the Tigers shoot 15-32 (46.9%) from the floor, 2-12 from three point range (16.7%) - with Davis and Mavraides each 1-5 - and 2-5 on free throws (40.0%).
Maddox's 12 points on 5-5 shooting led all scorers. Mavraides struggled with his jumper but had four assists and no turnovers in 12 minutes.
The College of New Jersey hit 12-26 overall (46.2%), 0-2 from three and 1-2 at the line (50.0%).
Princeton's team defense looked more competent and comprehensive out of the locker room. Assignments were understood and tendencies realized.
When Connolly showed lane but spun to his right the lead was back to 11, then Bucher drove left at Hummer and scored off the glass for TCNJ's final nine point deficit.
Mavraides off a Saunders steal threw a diagonal lob to a streaking Hummer, who dunked it behind his head as he caught the pass at the rim and PA announcer Bill Bromberg accidentally yelled "Brendan Connolly!"
That exciting moment in many ways settled Princeton back to form. 31 seconds later a guarded Saunders passed up a contested shot on the right wing in deference to Davis open on the left wing for three.
A pair of quick Lion buckets, the first a Siracusa layup after a Davis near steal and the second a drive by Smalls following Siracusa's interception of a interior lob by Hummer to Saunders was the former Trenton State College's last hurrah.
Princeton would score 22 of the next 24 points as they continued to shuffle players and unexpected combinations onto the floor.
With the ball in his hands and his back to the basket, Maddox spun right into the lane and curled a shot home.
Davis overcame a sloppy sequence for both squads with a stepback jumper.
After Sherburne inbounded to Maddox tangled up with Bucher in the paint and Maddox banked the ball in the lead was 17.
Mavraides picked up his third foul and Princeton subbed in Barrett for Mavraides, giving the Tigers a lineup of Sherburne and four forwards: Barrett, Maddox, Hummer and Saunders.
Maddox's next bucket defined "add insult to injury."
On the drive, Maddox lost the ball guarded closely by Siracusa but the deflection his Siracusa square in the center of his nose and right back into Maddox's hands as he continued his path mid-air. A stunned Siracusa stood on the baseline in simultaneous pain and disbelief.
Ben Hazel scored for the first time as a Tiger, Clement throwing a nice diagonal pass to the left corner for three. Hazel ended Sunday with seven points to his name.
Will Barrett connected from outside the arc for the second time this season, also from the left corner. He is now 2-11 from deep. Princeton's lead had ballooned to 58-32.
The bearded Bobby Foley, in for the first time, hit from the top of the key.
When Darrow faked a three from the same locale and lumbered into the paint for a dish to Bray under the rim it was a 30 point game.
The lead reached an apex of 68-35 as Hazel drew contact on his way to the basket.
For Mavraides, who finished with a season low three points on 1-7 shooting, the quality of opponent coming out of exams was immaterial.
"Coach [Johnson] made it a point of telling us what we wanted to focus on was our intensity in the game. We wanted to make sure no matter who we play - DIII, DI, the worst team in our league, the best team in our league, Purdue, whoever it is - we want to play high intensity," Mavriades said. "We want to compete, we want to get out there and really play our best. That was his challenge to us today, to come out and play hard after the break and keep the intensity high."
It took them 20 minutes to find their footing, but the intensity was high enough to please Mavraides' coach in the second half of the Tigers' final test before Ivy play begins on Friday night.
Notes:
-The second half numbers were more to Princeton's liking. The Tigers shot 16-28 from the floor (57.1%), 4-12 from three (33.3%) and 3-4 on free throws (75.0%). This boosted the game totals to 31-60 (51.7%), 6-24 (25.0%) and 5-9 (55.6%).
-TCNJ was 5-23 after the break (21.7%), 0-3 from three and 5-11 at the line (45.5%). The Lions dipped to 17-49 overall (34.7%), 0-5 from deep and 6-13 from the stripe (46.2%).
-The Tigers won the battle of the boards 42-26 and held a 23-11 second half advantage on the glass.
-Douglas Davis tallied 12, giving him 938 career points.
-All 16 Tigers in uniform saw at least five minutes of action. Freshman Tom Noonan played for the first time this season. Daniel Edwards was not on the bench, missing the game due to illness.
