Rutgers men hold off Princeton down stretch, 58-52

PRINCETON — Rutgers enjoyed a rarity in its long running in-state rivalry when it won at Princeton for just the 16th time in 60 games.

“Wow, that’s a lot of history to go against,” said coach Mike Rice after Eli Carter came off the bench for 22 points to lead Rutgers to a 58-52 win over the Tigers on Friday night.

“We’re just trying to change things, and this means we’re changing things” Carter said. “Getting wins on the road is nice, and to get a win here at Princeton, it’s a good win.”

Austin Johnson, who scored five of his seven points when Princeton put the game away, feels that the victory can have a far-reaching effect.

“This was big for this program for years to come,” Johnson said. “I felt like they had our number. Now that we know what works we’ll be able to capitalize and emulate it every year we play them.”

Myles Mack added 16 points for the Scarlet Knights (2-1), who snapped a two-game losing streak to the Tigers but still trail the series, 74-45.

Princeton (1-2), coming off a loss to Northeastern in which it blew an 18-point lead, got 13 points from Will Barrett and 10 points and six assists from Ian Hummer.

But Hummer, who had big performances in the Tigers previous wins over Rutgers, was never really a factor as foul trouble limited him.

“He’s not going to beat me for a third time,” Rice said. “He needs to score for them so we were attacking him on defense. That made him defend and got him in foul trouble.”

The Knights took the lead with under eight minutes remaining in the first half and never relinquished it. Trailing by six at halftime, the Tigers got within 37-36 but a Carter jumper started a 6-0 Rutgers run and Princeton never got closer than three again.