It was nine years between meetings for Princeton and Rider. It was even longer between buzzer beaters for the Tigers’ Mack Darrow.
Darrow fired in a wide open three point shot from the right wing off a Douglas Davis hesitation drive as the horn sounded in overtime to give Princeton a one point win in Lawrenceville. It was Darrow’s only field goal of the game.
“I hit [a shot like that] in second grade Boys and Girls Club from the corner,” the coy Darrow said. “Since then? No.”
After trailing by as many as 16 in the first half, the Tigers closed the opening frame on a 13-2 run but were unable to overtake the Broncs until a T.J. Bray layup with 2:24 left in regulation.
Princeton built a four point lead in the final :30 before Brandon Penn hit a three point shot off a curl and added a single free throw after Davis’ backcourt turnover and foul with the shot clock off.
Daniel Stewart missed a pair of free throws with just over eight seconds left that could have in turn iced the game for Rider.
“Mack bailed us out,” said Tiger head coach Mitch Henderson. “I thought we were in pretty good shape at the end of regulation.”
“It was a crazy game,” he added. “We were very fortunate tonight.”
The line between winning and losing is on some occasions a tightrope walk.
On Wednesday night at the RAC, Princeton was able to keep their balance in the final two minutes after Rutgers had taken a one point lead.
Three days later at the DAC in Philadelphia, the Tigers slipped during the same stretch and it was Drexel who emerged victorious.
The Dragons went 10-10 from the free throw line in the final :33 after Princeton had rallied to go up one and Drexel held on for a 64-60 victory, ending the Tigers’ winning streak at three.
“I knew it was going to come down to the wire and it would hinge on a couple possessions and it did,” acknowledged Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson.
The start to Princeton’s 31 day road trip was in serious jeopardy of running off the pavement before they even crossed state lines. Their 17 point lead gone, Rutgers in front for the first time all night with 1:38 left in the second half and a frequently silent crowd now up on their feet, the Tigers regained control of the wheel - scoring on their final three possessions and escaping the RAC with a two point victory.
That final pair came on Ian Hummer’s left-handed floater in the lane with :02.7 to go. Hummer was able to post at the tail end of a play that did not flow exactly as scripted and snake under Austin Johnson to push up the game-winner.
“We wanted to get the ball to Ian on the block and give him a little bit of room to operate,” Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson said. “We’ve had some success for that play. They didn’t double and it turned out nicely for us.”
Jerome Seagears’ attempt from mid-court did not make it to the rim as time expired.
Hummer finished with 21 points on 7-15 shooting from the floor and a season-best 7-9 performance at the free throw line. He added eight rebounds, five assists and a pair of blocks.
Douglas Davis hit five times from three point range and was 3-4 behind the arc in the second half.
Denton Koon provided 10 points off the bench, making all five of his field goals.
The Tigers led 51-35 with 6:47 to go but four minutes later the scoreboard was even.
Eli Carter’s 17 paced the Scarlet Knights in defeat.
As Princeton played repeated second half possessions of superb switching defense, five attentive Tigers working together around Lafayette screens and disrupting the Leopards’ passing lanes with their length, head coach Mitch Henderson noticed something else happening at the other end of the floor.
“By creating some turnovers and getting some easy hoops, I felt like all of a sudden we started making shots in the half court,” Henderson said following a 69-54 Princeton victory. “The pressure just went away, the guys relaxed and took what they gave us.”
Shooting the basketball has been an issue for the tense Tigers in their first seven games, but on Wednesday night Princeton made 68% of their attempts in the final 20 minutes, a stellar 14-18 inside the arc.
A 16-5 run sparked by the defense and capped off by Ian Hummer’s emphatic one handed dunk down the center of the lane turned a tie ball game into one controlled by the homestanding orange and black.
Hummer scored 16 of his game high 23 after intermission as Princeton built as large as an 18 point advantage.
Douglas Davis added 15 for the Tigers along with four steals and freshman Denton Koon came off the bench for a career high 13 on 6-7 shooting.
Ryan Willen was the only Leopard in double figures, totaling 16.
Princeton scored the game's first 20 points and eased to a 66-42 win over Division II West Alabama on the final day of the Legends Classic subregional at Bucknell.
With Douglas Davis (8) and Ian Hummer (7) leading the scoring in the opening seven minutes, the Tigers built an advantage which stayed well above 15 points for the game's final 35:51.
“While I am happy we get on the right side of the win loss column, we’re disappointed overall in the weekend,” said Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson.
The Tigers won once in three tries while in Lewisburg, dropping games to the host school and Morehead State.
“When you’re 1-5 you’ll take anything, so a win is a win but there are still a lot of things we can work on,” Hummer added.
The junior from Vienna, VA finished with 18 points in 21 minutes of floor time. Mack Darrow, starting in place of Brendan Connolly had 10 points, nine rebounds, five assists and no turnovers.
In many respects, Princeton’s coaches and players are looking for the same thing, but neither is currently able to find what they’re seeking.
Head coach Mitch Henderson is in a quest for someone to disrupt his team’s complacency and today’s 68-56 loss to Morehead State may have driven the first year head man to make more drastic and immediate personnel modifications as part of his search.
“Who is the guy that is going to make us win games? Boy, we’re really searching for that right now,” Henderson said after his team’s fifth loss in six contests. “I think you’ll see a different look from us [tomorrow against West Alabama] because we need a change.”
No matter what Princeton threw at Bucknell's Mike Muscala, no matter how the Tigers defended the Bison's talented 6'11" center, they could not stop him.
Muscala scored 17 of his 25 points in the second half, including seven straight capped off by his first three point shot of the season that turned a 33-29 Princeton lead into a three point Bucknell advantage, as the Bison defeated the Tigers by six. Muscala also had a game high 12 rebounds.
“Muscala is a very good player,” stated Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson. “When our two centers can’t handle him it is a long night for us. The only time he didn’t score was when he was on the bench.”
Ian Hummer countered with his own double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers but Douglas Davis was limited offensively to only the first and last Princeton baskets of the game.
John Comfort (11) and Ben Hazel (10) had unexpected career highs for the orange and black off the bench in defeat.
Leaving plenty of points short of the rim, either at point blank range or from the free throw line, Princeton found itself chasing Elon for the entire second half.
On four separate occasions the Tigers teased within one but were unable to reclaim a lead they only held briefly early.
After the Phoenix threw a cross court pass away with :13.6 to go, Princeton received one final opportunity.
However, Douglas Davis’ three point attempt at the buzzer hit only the iron as time ran out and the Tigers were on the wrong side of a 56-55 final.
Princeton made a woeful 15 of 29 free throws (51.7%), which was barely better than Elon’s 12-23 (52.2%).
“Anytime you get 19 offensive rebounds and you shoot 29 free throws, you like your chances,” said head coach Mitch Henderson after the orange and black’s third loss in four games. “A pretty disappointing result tonight.”
Ian Hummer had 18 for the Tigers on 5-21 shooting, 2-14 in the opening frame. He was joined in double figures by Davis with 12.
Drew Spradlin’s 13 paced three Phoenix in double digits.
20 minutes of basketball at home on a Saturday afternoon in front of a sparse crowd versus visiting Buffalo may not have completely revealed who Princeton is quite yet, but it certainly was an eye-opening look at what the Tigers are capable of.
The orange and black built a daunting 18-4 lead after 11 minutes of play on a pair of Brendan Connolly free throws. Playing their best half of the young season, Princeton was able to open up as wide as a 25 point advantage.
In front 37-16 at the break, the Tigers fought their way through long stretches of aggressive, extended pressure 1-3-1 and 2-3 trapping defense from the Bulls and found enough offensive support for Ian Hummer and Douglas Davis to record Mitch Henderson’s first win as a collegiate head coach.
“What we wanted to do right away was go at them and I think we did that nicely,” Henderson said of his team’s assertive performance.
The difference in effort and execution between Saturday’s dismal start to the 2011-12 season versus Wagner and yesterday evening’s game at North Carolina State was significant.
Princeton played the game they wanted to play at a more manageable speed, cutting down on many of their defensive lapses and turnovers.
Unfortunately, the end result was the same when time expired.
DeShawn Painter’s long jumper from just inside the three point line broke a 58-58 tie with four seconds left and ruined this much-improved performance by the Tigers in Raleigh.
Less than half a minute earlier Douglas Davis knotted the score with a three point shot drifting to his right, Davis’ fifth three and the seventh deadlock of the evening.
Princeton was unable to get off a better look than a half court try by Ian Hummer as time ran out.
Davis (21 points) and Hummer (15 points) found offensive support from the rest of their lineup in stretches but Mitch Henderson is still looking for both a third offensive option as well as his first win as a collegiate head coach.
Postgame audio - Coach Mitch Henderson, Will Barrett & Ian Hummer:
There is a lot of work to do, more work than any Princeton player, coach or observer had expected.
Leading 48-44, Wagner outscored the Tigers 16-0 midway through the second half and easily pulled away from an unexpectedly sloppy Princeton team.
Making their 2011-12 debut and playing their first game with Mitch Henderson as head coach, Princeton struggled with Wagner’s three guard ball pressure and committed endless turnovers of both the forced and unforced varieties. The Tigers gave away possession 15 times in the first 20 minutes and had three more gaffes on their first three possessions of the second half. By the final buzzer the turnover total reached a brutal 28.
“We were on defense for almost the entire game,” Henderson said.
Ian Hummer was able to turn 17 shots into a game high 19 points, including his first collegiate three pointer. Douglas Davis took just seven field goals and added 12 in defeat.
For the Seahawks, Tyler Murray led three players in double figures with 15.
Howie Levy had a right to be pessimistic preceding Mercer County Community College's second basketball game of the season. Not the Pete Carril version of over-exagerated for effect pessimism, either.
His legitimate pessimism was grounded in what had transpired the previous afternoon. The Vikings (1-1) had opened 2011-12 with a horrific first half and a beastly initial showing, held to six points in the nascent 20 minutes of what would end as a 61-25 loss to CCRI.
"Guys weren't ready to play. Some guys showed up late for the game," Levy said of a Saturday to forget. "Just a real horrible performance."
Sunday was a completely different story, the sort of tough half court victory that can get a ramshackle lineup to buy in to the type of basketball their coach believes in.
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
