Through what could hardly have been a better first half on defense for the Princeton men's basketball team, it looked like the Tigers would return the favor of Wagner spoiling their home opener last fall.
But just in time, Wagner crept back into the game, never led in regulation, and took a 48-42 victory in overtime as the Tigers struggled to score late.
Wagner improves to 2-3 with the win in its home opener, while the Tigers fell to 2-4 after giving up a double-digit lead for the second time this season after Princeton's own home opener against Northeastern.
Jonathon Williams led Wagner with 20 points while Ian Hummer led Princeton with 11 as the only two players in double-figure points. Offense was tough to come by on a night when the victors shot 36.4 percent to Princeton's 29.8 percent.
Things were looking up earlier for Princeton, which led by as much as 11 late in the first half and nine at halftime. The Tiger lead was still two possessions with less than four minutes to go, but Princeton picked a challenging time to go on a scoring drought.
Princeton's last points of the second half came with 4:15 to go on a pair of Mack Darrow free throws, but from there Wagner scored the final five points to send it to overtime.
Princeton had only one basket in the extra period, pulling ahead for the final time 42-40 with 3:22 left until Wagner's Orlando Parker tied it on the next possession. The Seahawks scored the game's final eight points and outscored Princeton 13-2 for the final 9:15 of the game overall.
Princeton was dominating the glass in the first half, outrebounding Wagner 21-14 and holding the Seahawks without an offensive rebound. Wagner turned that around to outrebound Princeton 25-17 for the final 25 minutes and win the battle of the boards 39-38.
The Tigers will only have to wait a couple days for a chance to get back in the win column as they head to Kent State for a 7 p.m. tip Saturday in Ohio.
Postgame notes
• Ian Hummer upped his career total to 1,266 points, 11 behind Gabe Lewullis '99 for 10th place on the school's all-time scoring list.
• It was the first time Princeton held an opponent to as low as 36.4 shooting and did not get a win since Feb. 4, 2012 at Yale (.351).
• Princeton still holds the all-time series lead with Wagner 3-2, but the teams have split the four meetings over the last four seasons.
• Brendan Connolly had a season-high eight rebounds, his most against a Division I foe since getting eight at Siena on Dec. 22, 2012.
• T.J. Bray had six steals on the night, his most since grabbing six steals on Jan. 14, 2012 at Columbia.
• Ian Hummer's 20 field goal attempts on the night were one off a career high set last season against Elon when he tried 21 field goals.
