Postgame audio - Pawel Buczak & Doug Davis:
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson:
Following Princeton's loss to Maine on Wednesday night, Tigers head coach Sydney Johnson felt that despite never trailing in the second half, his team did not have a good understanding that they were controlling the game.
Four days later, in their first road contest of the season, Princeton methodically turned a one point disadvantage at halftime into a 17 point lead as they took complete control of the afternoon and never let up in a 55-43 victory. It was the Tigers' first win on the road since December 30th, 2006.
"They understood," said Johnson of his team. "I thought we played to our strengths. It is a good step forward for us considering the lack of experience. To understand who we are and try to execute knowing who were are and to get the shots and how we need to defend - it's good."
"I have an emotional connection to these guys for a number of different reasons and to see them achieve the way they did tonight, we'll take it and run with it."
Freshman Doug Davis was high man for the Tigers for the third straight game, scoring 19 points on an efficient 8-11 shooting from the floor.
"Coach expects a lot out of us," said Davis. "When each person goes in they have to be ready to play, and I think we really did that tonight. We relaxed, we knew what we were doing, we knew our plays. We just had to execute and we did that."
"We want to be hard to beat," Johnson asserted. "How you're able to be hard to beat is you get different contributions from several different guys."
Army was unable to defeat Princeton because of this reason. Different contributions. Different guys.
There was the first year dynamo Davis, with 10 of Princeton's first 16 points in the first half and nine more after the break. Davis started the Princeton scoring with a three on the wing, tied the game at eight with a shot from the free throw line after the ball went in to Zach Finley, knocked in a step-back jumper to put Princeton up 10-8 and moved the Tigers in front by four with his second triple of the game.
There was the floppy-haired freshman forward, Patrick Saunders, sparking Princeton's run with two minutes left in the first half when he closed out a great defensive possession by blocking and then corralling a Josh Miller three point shot with the shot clock running low.
There was the sometimes forgotten former ironman, Marcus Schroeder, who kept Princeton close when Davis had to come to the bench in the first half with two personal fouls. Schroeder, who sat for all of Friday's game against Maine, was ready to play from the moment he hit the floor against Army, burying a corner three from Dan Mavraides to tie the score at 19 and evening things again at 25 when he got to the rim for a layup. On the three point shot, a cross-court pass by Pawel Buczak out of the low block clipped the front of the rim, deflecting to Mavraides at the top of the arc who zipped the ball off to an open Schroeder.
There was the backup center thrust into a starting role, Buczak, scoring six points on two three point plays early in the second half, one a conventional basket and the foul as Jason Briggs drove the right baseline and left the ball for Buczak going up to make the score 30-26 Tigers and the other Buczak's first career three point shot with 14:30 left to play, a basket that brought the Tiger bench to its feet.
"It is a shot I practice a lot," Buczak said reluctantly. "I am just happy to get one to go in in a game finally. The shot clock was running down and it really helped my confidence."
The once lanky Buczak has seen his playing time increase right alongside his upper body strength. "I've did a lot of training with our strength trainer Tina in the Spring and in the Fall," the considerably larger Buczak explained after the game. "I hurt myself over the summer and I wasn't able to really do anything except lift and it has paid its dividends."
There was the co-captain, Nick Lake, who also did not play against Maine, coming off the bench to hit two three point shots, the second giving the Tigers their first double digit lead of the campaign. On the play Buczak found a cutting Briggs who passed out to Lake on the perimeter.
There was the long and lean and still-learning Kareem Maddox, who more than made up for 2-8 shooting with five rebounds, four assists, two blocks and at least two cases where he came over on help defense to alter an Army shot or force a Black Knight to toss one up sooner than they would have liked before the closing Maddox could get his hands on it.
The Princeton defense to start the second half was excellent, especially the communication among all five Tigers. As Army attempted to pop out their small, quick guards on the perimeter Princeton stayed right with the Black Knights and cut off angles of penetration. Players like Dan Mavraides, who had trouble staying in front of their man versus the Black Bears were steady on Sunday. "That's something we've worked on, and you're not always going to do it well, but we did it tonight," said Johnson after the game. The Black Knights scored four points in the first 12 minutes after the break.
"We're far from perfect," Johnson confessed, "but it is much better to get a win and to learn some lessons than to be struggling losing and learn some lessons."
Notes:
-Princeton was 19-42 from the field for the game (45.2%). The Tigers shot 7-18 from three (38.9%) and 10-13 at the free throw line (76.9%). Army was 14-42 (33.3%) on the floor, 2-11 from deep (18.2%) and 13-15 from the stripe (86.7%).
-The Tigers had 10 turnovers in the first half, just five after the break.
-For the second straight game Princeton outrebounded their opponent, grabbing 31 boards to Army's 22. The Tigers had 9 second-chance points.
-Nathan Hedgecock led Army with nine points, all in the first half.
-After Army went in front 25-21 the Tigers responded with a 21-5 run that spanned halftime. Doug Davis' weakside offensive putback of a missed Maddox three one minute in to the second half put the Tigers in front for the rest of the day.
-John Comfort and Bobby Foley each saw their first floor time of the season, both coming in with 18 seconds left in the second half.
-Zane Ma and Michael Strittmatter remain out with injuries.
-Princeton plays again in New York State on Thanksgiving Eve, visiting Fordham at 7:00 pm ET.
