Postgame audio - Douglas Davis & Patrick Saunders:
Marcus Schroeder and Dan Mavraides spend extra time as a pair after almost every Princeton practice shooting together. One fires up jumpers. The other rebounds and passes back out. The two have developed a chemistry in front of 7,000 empty seats at Jadwin Gym.
In the late stages of Saturday night's Ivy League game at Harvard, in front of a packed Lavietes Pavilion, things were as simple under pressure as they are between two teammates putting in additional work on their three point shots with no one watching.
"[Marcus] always knows where I am," said Mavraides. "He's a great point guard. He's always able to get in there, draw my man and kick it out to me. He's the best at that."
Two times in the final four minutes of an exciting, well-played basketball game between Princeton and Harvard, where neither team led by more than six points throughout, Schroeder drove to the basket, attracted the attention of the defense and knew where he could find his shooting partner outside the arc. Two times Mavraides set his feet, squared his shoulders and knocked down the open jumper.
Both shots gave Princeton a six point advantage and combined with perfect 8-8 shooting at the free throw line down the stretch, were enough to overcome an incredible 27 point performance by junior Crimson guard Jeremy Lin as the Tigers improved to 2-0 in Ivy League play.
Mavraides finished the 77-71 victory with a career high 22 on 6-8 shooting.
Schroeder dished out a season-best six assists. Princeton had a season high of 18 assists compared to just six turnovers, four of which came in the first half.
"He's been good," understated Tiger head man Sydney Johnson said of his junior point guard. "Seeing guys with character on our team responding, it is really nice. His parents, his high school coach, Coach Scott, they've all prepared him for a moment like this and I'm really happy for him."
Junior center Pawel Buczak dominated the last four minutes of play, contributing to three straight baskets in an 8-0 Princeton run that helped the Tigers build a decisive 11 point advantage on their way to a 59-54 victory over Dartmouth. The win is the team’s fourth straight, Princeton’s first four game unbeaten streak since 2004.
It was a balanced offensive effort in Hanover to open the Ivy slate. Buczak finished with a team-high 14 points and a game-best five assists. Dan Mavraides scored 13, 10 in the first half. Freshmen Douglas Davis and Patrick Saunders each added 11, the latter a career high.
The near-unstoppable Alex Barnett was the only Dartmouth player in double digits, scoring 24 in a variety of ways, including five strikes from three point range.
"I felt like we got closer to doing what we wanted to do on offense and defense," said Princeton coach Sydney Johnson after the game. "When you're playing hard enough and play well enough times you come away with a win."
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Marcus Schroeder & Patrick Saunders:
Returning to play after their traditional 17 day January break for final exams, Princeton methodically pulled away from Concordia in the final tune-up before the start of Ivy League play. Douglas Davis scored a team high 11 points, all in the first half, as the Tigers won their third straight, 64-44.
Samuel Batista had 15 for the Clippers.
"I think it was obvious from the start that we were just trying to get used to a game environment," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson. "I think that's important for us to do that before we go into an obviously pivotal weekend [at Dartmouth and Harvard]"
Concordia scored the game's first five points, but the Tigers countered with a 10-0 run and never trailed the rest of the day.
"Unfortunately, success tends to make guys let up," said Mercer County Community College head coach Howie Levy.
"It happened in the Northwestern game [when the Wildcats could not hold a double digit halftime lead versus Purdue]. It happened in [Oregon State's] game against Washington State," added Levy. "You get a big lead and you forget to do the things that got you the big lead."
The same story played out for Mercer on Saturday afternoon, as Manor climbed out of an early 26-9 hole and pulled themselves up from a 43-30 deficit with under 15 minutes to play to pass and fend off the Vikings.
The newest members of the Garden State Athletic Conference's Region XIX ended Mercer's four game winning streak with the 56-52 win and evened the Vikings' record at 8-8.
"The big message that I send to these guys is that every basketball game is decided by a handful of possessions," Levy stated after his team's loss.
"It turned from a game played our way to a game played their way. Our offense doesn't work when we don't cut hard and our guys aren't good enough to play without it." The hard work on defense to come over screens as Mercer built their advantage and the attention to assistant coach Roger Gordon's scouting report that limited the touches of the Blue Jays' sharpshooters came undone midway through the second half.
Back-to-back threes by Stefan Thompson, who had been shut out up to this point, gave Manor their first lead, 47-46 with six minutes to go. "They have shooters that just catch the ball and shoot it. All you have to do is not let them get any shots off, just being attentive. They got two," said Levy of this stretch. "A three point shooter can have a great game and have the ball in his hands for four seconds. You can make three threes, catch and shoot, and he had a great game."
Despite the setback, Mercer has made significant strides since the last time I saw them in action in mid-November. "I think they're starting to enjoy to play this way," Levy said of his team, "but when things are tough they haven't been doing it long enough to not revert to what they did previously."
Mercer hosts Essex on Tuesday night at 7:00 pm ET.
The Ivy League held its first Men's Basketball Preseason Midseason Teleconference yesterday. This is the second of three events the league has planned in 2008-09, with all eight coaches answering questions from media.
The portion of Tuesday's Q&A with Princeton coach Sydney Johnson is available above.
For remarks from the other seven Ivy League coaches, click here.
Thanks to Wesley Harris from The Ivy League for providing this audio.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Zach Finley, Dan Mavraides & Kareem Maddox:
To fully appreciate Princeton's 73-64 victory over Lehigh on Wednesday night, you had to sit through the two teams playing in Bethlehem one year and one day ago.
It was a then-program-worst 11th straight loss for the Tigers, a game where Princeton was unable to put the ball in the basket or stop their opponent. A game where Lehigh's Zahir Carrington scored as many points as the entire Tiger team in the first 24 minutes. From 15-3 to 27-12 to 41-19 to the Mountain Hawks' eventual 27 point lead with 8:47 left, it was as ugly and discouraging a game as you could stomach.
Which is why last night's result was such a thrilling and unexpected treat.
The Mountain Hawks came into Jadwin Gym on a five game winning streak, but Princeton led almost the entire night and held off a number of second half pushes by Lehigh.
Dan Mavraides topped his career high for the second time this week, scoring a game-best 21. Doug Davis supported the cause with 14 and Marcus Schroeder offered up 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
"I talked to these guys about last year and I think they had a feel about how I felt about last year's game," said Princeton coach Sydney Johnson, choosing his words carefully. "I wasn't happy with how it played out. That may have factored into our preparation for this game. I'm glad that we were able to win."
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Doug Davis, Dan Mavraides & Marcus Schroeder:
Princeton coach Sydney Johnson was blunt.
Losing is terrible.
Losing hurts.
Losing stinks.
His Tigers were tired of losing and on Saturday the team did what they had been unable to do in five straight tight contests across December. When the score got close and the clock got late, they made just enough plays to win, defeating UNC Greensboro 65-55.
Dan Mavraides scored a career-high 17 points, including a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line in the second half.
Doug Davis set the tone with 15 in the first twenty minutes as Princeton opened up early leads of 15-3 and 30-15.
Junior center Pawel Buczak grabbed 10 rebounds, a new personal best.
"I probably won't be able to wipe the smile off my face," said Johnson following Princeton's third win of the season.
Trailing by one on the final possession of the night, with the clock dwindling down to single digits, Princeton’s Dan Mavraides drove to his left from the three point line and got his man in the air with a pump fake, setting up a clean look at an angled nine foot jumper. The shot did not connect, but Mavriades still had a tick to curl into the paint and push up a second shot between two Lafayette defenders from just inside the free throw line.
This high jumper came up well short of the rim, the referees did not stop play to whistle a reach-in foul and time expired on Princeton’s sixth straight loss, a 54-53 decision.
Tiger head coach Sydney Johnson waved his open hands towards the officiating crew in dismay before walking across the floor to shake hands with victorious Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon.
“We came off looking for a shot for [Doug Davis] off a high ball screen to see if Pavel [Buczak] could roll and get an easy layup,” said Mavraides of his team’s last offensive series. “[Davis] swung it to me, the clock was ticking and I took a pull-up jump shot that I know I can make and it didn’t fall this time.”
Mavraides and junior center Pawel Buczak each tallied 11 for Princeton in defeat.
Lafayette’s Michael Gruner, who had missed six games this season with a thigh contusion, led all scorers with 15, all but three coming in the second half.
Central Connecticut outscored Princeton 17-8 over the final 6:12 of the second half, pulling away from the Tigers for a 67-56 victory on Saturday afternoon in New Britain, Connecticut.
Freshman guard Robby Ptackek ptallied a career-best 20 points for the Blue Devils.
Despite limiting the touches of Ken Horton, CCSU's leading scorer, who was averaging 20.9 ppg before today's game, the 6'6" forward still finished with 18 on 5-7 shooting from the floor and 8-9 at the foul line against Princeton.
The Blue Devils went to the stripe 26 times compared to Princeton's six chances, a disparity that did not sit right with the Tigers' head coach.
"I'm not usually like this. I'm not too happy right now. I see how many free throws they shot and how many free throws we shot," said a dissatisfied Coach Sydney Johnson. "I don't know if we were taking the ball to the basket any less than they were. I don't know if we were not throwing it down in the post any less than they were. That really hurt us."
"I'm a little bit frustrated with that because I felt like although we didn't shoot the ball well, we did not play perfectly - we played hard enough at times that we could have at least been a little bit closer down the stretch," Johnson added.
Freshman guard Doug Davis was Princeton's high man, scoring 18 - including the Tigers first seven points as they raced to a 7-0 lead. Dan Mavraides added 13 off the bench and Nick Lake had 10.
Despite playing in a gym located at the top of Manhattan College's steep campus, It was an uphill battle for Princeton against the homestanding Jaspers on Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers fell behind 14-6 early and although they made several pushes to pull within one possession throughout the game, could never catch Manhattan.
"We were chasing the game, and that really makes it hard to get back into it," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson after his team's 70-60 loss. "We did, and then a couple other times down the road we couldn't turn the corner and that's been our season right now."
Tiger freshman Doug Davis’ career-best 27 points on 10-18 shooting was outshined by Chris Smith’s 35. Smith, the younger brother of Denver Nugget J.R. Smith, made his first seven jump shots on his way to 18 first half points.
"We made it tough on ourselves [early] in the sense that we were a little slow to react to Chris," Johnson said.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson & Pawel Buczak:
It was the perfect call. A play that Princeton hadn't run once in a game this season, one that caught Rutgers by surprise. A play they had been sitting on for a moment like this.
It was the perfect time. Trailing by one with :46.6 left to play and nine on the shot clock, the Tigers would get two possessions to the Scarlet Knights' one.
It was the perfect pass. A high inbounds diagonal lob from in front of the Princeton bench by Dan Mavraides to back-cutting center Pawel Buczak on the other side of the basket from the far end of a stack set.
It was perfect.
Almost.
Buczak was alone behind the defense, their heads turned, trying to react to what was happening. Buczak soared into the air above the iron to receive Mavraides' expertly-placed pass with two hands and lay the ball off the glass. But Buczak put a touch too much on his layup and the ball sailed strong off the backboard.
Instead of retaking the lead and being one defensive stop away from a victory, Princeton was playing defense still behind by one.
Down at the other end of Jadwin Gym, Mike Coburn thrust up an errant bank off a drive for Rutgers but Hamady Ndiaye crashed the boards and threw home Coburn's miss to send Rutgers up three with 10 seconds to go.
Two plays.
One made. One unfinished.
The difference between victory and a fourth straight home loss for Princeton.
"They got more penetration that we would have liked [on their final possession] and I think that created the offensive rebound opportunity," said Princeton coach Sydney Johnson.
"Tough luck for us."
Doug Davis' three point shot on the left arc that would have tied the game came up short of the rim and Rutgers had scored the last five points to defeat Princeton 49-44. It was the Scarlet Knights' 10th victory over the Tigers in their last 12 meetings.
Freshman center Gregory Echenique bumped and bodied his way to 15 points and 11 rebounds for Rutgers.
Dan Mavraides scored 11 off the bench to lead the Tigers, seven in the first half. Buczak and Zach Finley combined for 15 points and eight rebounds out of the center position for Princeton.
St. Bonaventure scored the last eight points of tonight's game, pulling away from Princeton in the final two minutes of a come-from-behind 60-53 victory for the Bonnies.
Jonathan Hall's 18 points paced St. Bonaventure. Andrew Nicholson added 16 of his own, plus nine rebounds and eight blocks, repeatedly deflecting Tiger hook shots in the post.
Jason Briggs and Kareem Maddox each tallied 10 for Princeton. Briggs added a team-best seven rebounds in his strongest game of the season.
Princeton's leading scorer, freshman guard Doug Davis, recorded just two points on 0-8 shooting.
"We knew a day was coming where Doug Davis was going to miss shots, and we still wanted to be in the game down the stretch - and we were."
princetonbasketball.com was founded on April 28th, 1998 in an attempt to provide fans of the Princeton Tigers and Ivy League basketball with the best on-line source for up-to-date news and information. We have since expanded to launch a companion site, Georgetown Basketball News.
As these sites have continued to grow we have increased our coverage to include additional teams with Princeton connections - the Richmond Spiders, Denver Pioneers, Oregon State Beavers, Fairfield Stags and Mercer County Community College Vikings - plus former Tigers playing professional baseball and basketball all over the world. This site is not directly affiliated with the Friends of Princeton Basketball, Princeton University or the Princeton athletic department.
Sun. 11/10 vs. Florida A&M
Sat. 11/16 at Butler
Wed. 11/20 vs. Lafayette
Sat. 11/23 at Rice
Tue. 11/26 vs. George Mason
Sat. 11/30 at Bucknell
Sat. 12/7 vs. FDU
Wed. 12/11 at Rutgers
Sat. 12/14 at Penn State
Fri. 12/20 vs. Portland*
Sat. 12/21 vs. Pacific*
Tue. 12/31 vs. Kent State
Sat. 1/4 at Liberty
Sat. 1/11 at Penn
Sun. 1/26 vs. Kean
Fri. 1/31 at Harvard
Sat. 2/1 at Dartmouth
Fri. 2/7 vs. Columbia
Sat. 2/8 vs. Cornell
Fri. 2/14 at Brown
Sat. 2/15 at Yale
Fri. 2/21 vs. Dartmouth
Sat. 2/22 vs. Harvard
Fri. 2/28 vs. Yale
Sat. 3/1 vs. Brown
Fri. 3/7 at Cornell
Sat. 3/8 at Columbia
Tue. 3/11 vs. Penn
2,503 - B. Bradley, 1962-65
1,625 - I. Hummer, 2009-13
1,550 - D. Davis, 2008-12
1,546 - K. Mueller, 1987-91
1,451 - P. Campbell, 1959-62
1,441 - C. Robinson, 1979-83
1,428 - B. Earl, 1995-99
1,365 - B. Scrabis, 1985-89
1,321 - G. Petrie, 1967-70
1,292 - H. Haabestad, 1952-55
1,277 - G. Lewullis, 1995-99
1,239 - B. Taylor, 1970-72
1,207 - S. Goodrich 1994-98
1,133 - F. Sowinski, 1975-78
1,130 - R. Hielscher, 1991-95
1,122 - C. Thomforde, 1966-69
1,099 - T. Manakas, 1970-73
1,090 - J. Wallace, 2001-05
1,088 - C. Belz, 1956-59
1,079 - B. Hauptfuhrer, 1973-76
1,076 - B. Roma, 1976-79
1,071 - C. Mooney, 1990-94
1,064 - A. Hyland, Jr., 1960-63
1,062 - L. Brangan, 1957-60
1,057 - A. Hill, 1973-76
1,054 - D. Mavraides, 2007-11
1,044 - S. Johnson, 1993-1997
1,031 - J. Hummer, 1967-70
1,010 - W. Venable, 2001-05
