Manor 58 Mercer 57.

February 21, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Filed under 08-09, Basketball, Howie Levy, MCCC

Postgame audio - Coach Howie Levy:

Mercer's season came to an end with a one point loss to Manor in the first round of the Region XIX tournament.

Despite playing with a defensive enthusiasm that had not been evident the other three times I saw the Vikings in action, the Blue Jays' outside shooters were able to find enough space for timely baskets in the second half. Mercer's 4-5 lesser defensive possessions did them in.

The Vikings trailed by 10, 33-23 late in the first half, but a 9-0 run that spanned intermission got the home team back in it and Mercer took the lead by one with under nine minutes to go.

Todd Jones' open three point shot with :40 remaining that would have tied the score at 55 was off the mark and Stefan Thompson sealed the win for Manor with two free throws in the final 10 seconds.

A three point shot from the near corner at the buzzer provided the final margin.

The Vikings (13-15) finished their season with five straight losses.

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Saturday News:

February 21, 2009 at 10:38 am
Filed under Basketball, Denver, Georgetown, MCCC, Northwestern, Oregon State, Pete Carril, Princeton, Recruiting, Richmond, Today's News

Today's Game: Dartmouth (7-16 / 5-4) vs. Princeton (10-11 / 5-3)
Location: Jadwin Gym - Princeton, NJ
Time: 6:00 pm ET
Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB
TV: N/A
Internet: goprincetontigers.com
Series History: Princeton leads 136-60.
Last meeting: Princeton 59 Dartmouth 54 - 1/30/09.

Manor vs. Mercer - 1:00 pm ET - Region XIX Playoffs
Marquette vs. Georgetown - 2:00 pm ET - ESPN
Cal vs. Oregon State - 5:00 pm ET - FSN NW
Charlotte vs. Richmond - 6:00 pm ET - CBS College Sports
Denver vs. Arkansas State - 8:00 pm ET

Harvard vs. Penn - 6:00 pm ET - CN8
Cornell vs. Brown - 7:00 pm ET
Columbia vs. Yale - 7:00 pm ET - YES

In addition to our recap, read about last night's squeaker on goprincetontigers.com in the Trentonian and on gocrimson.com.

TigerBlog honors tonight's celebrant, Pete Carril.

The Trentonian also talked with Coach Carril and Coach Johnson.

Saturday's festivities are a sad reminder of the death of Lorin Maurer nine days ago. Maurer was in charge of organizing the naming of Carril Court.

Mercer hosts Manor in a Region XIX playoff game this afternoon. Anyone besides me doing the Mercer/Princeton doubleheader?

On the same day they honor the 1984 National Champion Hoyas, this year's Georgetown squad hosts #10 Marquette.

Oregon State welcomes Cal to Corvallis for Senior Day.

A home date with Charlotte awaits Richmond.

Looking for that elusive road win, Denver visits Arkansas State.

The new Northwestern Athletic Director says Bill Carmody's job is safe, but that a lot of work still remains.

Princeton recruit Will Barrett was 3-15 from the field as Central Bucks South fell to Pennsbury in the District One Class AAAA quarterfinals.

Around the Ivy League: Yale (10-13 / 5-4) knocked off first place Cornell (17-8 / 7-2), 72-60. Columbia (11-12 / 6-3) won its third straight, a 70-57 win at Brown (7-16 / 1-8). Dartmouth (7-16 / 5-4) swept their season series with Penn (8-14 / 4-4) for the first time in 50 years, victorious at the Palestra by 10.

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Princeton JV 81 Mercer 78.

February 16, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Filed under 08-09, Basketball, Howie Levy, MCCC, Photos, Princeton

Sophmore guard Bobby Foley hit seven three pointers, including the deciding bucket with seven seconds remaining, as the Princeton JV defeated Mercer County Community College 81-78.

Foley's 26 points spoiled the homecoming of former Princeton assistant Howie Levy.

Forward Jason Liberman had 14 for the Tigers.

Stephen Elmore - a freshman Princeton baseball player who is the son of former Maryland standout Len Elmore, scored 12 in the post. The 6'6" Elmore's physicality makes him an intriguing possibility for a future varsity roster spot.

Zane Ma, who has not suited up for a single varsity game this season, was also in action with five points - including a coast-to-coast drive in the game's opening seconds after he picked off a Mercer pass on the wing. It was good to see him wearing something at Jadwin other than a suit.

Chris Petrie was an unexpected participant in Monday's game. Petrie recorded eight for the Tigers and gave the home team a 76-75 lead with a post move in the final two minutes.

Also on the floor down the stretch was a late-arriving Alex Okafor, who tallied six and picked up an assist on the game-winner when he dribbled to the left wing from half court down by one and set a dribble hand-off for Foley that put Princeton on top.

John Comfort, who scored 40+ in a JV game earlier this season, was off target against the Vikings - connecting just once from outside. This did not stop Levy from screaming "shooter!" to his team every time Comfort touched the ball on the perimeter. Comfort did have a nice individual play late in the first half where he faked a three and drove right to the baseline, dunking with both hands when help defense did not arrive.

While the Tigers ran numerous high screens for their shooters, Mercer looked to attack Princeton from the elbow and the free throw line extended to create backdoor opportunities.

Corye Payton's lefty drive put Mercer up 72-69 with three minutes remaining, but Foley took an Okafor pass that deflected outside and dropped it in to tie the score.

Okafor muscled up a bank on the left baseline to give the Tigers a two point lead. Payton connected from three after receiving a pass out of the post and the Vikings were back up one.

For those of you keeping score at home, Princeton started Petrie, Foley, Ma, Liberman and Comfort.

Rounding out the JV roster: Mystery Player #10 (two three pointers using an unorthodox delivery) and Mystery Player #12 (scoreless).

Pictures courtesy of Stephen Goldsmith.

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Sunday News:

February 15, 2009 at 10:27 am
Filed under Basketball, Denver, Georgetown, MCCC, Northwestern, Oregon State, Princeton, Richmond, Today's News

Michigan vs. Northwestern - 3:00 pm ET - Big Ten Network

In addition to our recap, there are pieces on Princeton's unexpected loss to Brown on goprincetontigers.com in the Providence Journal and on brownbears.com.

Georgetown (13-10) made an incredible comeback to force overtime, but could not finish off Syracuse.

Richmond (12-13) also had an impressive rally, but lost by six at Dayton.

Oregon State (11-13) surprised Washington State, 54-52. The Beavers used a 16-0 run to turn around a 12 point second half deficit.

Denver (11-14) knocked off New Orleans, 59-49.

Mercer (12-13) was crushed at Del Tech, 60-32.

Northwestern hosts Michigan.

Around the Ivy League: Cornell (17-7 / 7-1) escaped Dartmouth (6-16 / 4-4) in double overtime. Matt Bulger's basket with four seconds remaining gave Columbia (10-12 / 5-3) the one point win over Harvard (10-12 / 2-6). Penn (7-13 / 3-3) won over Yale (9-13 / 4-4) in New Haven, 68-63.

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Wednesday News:

February 11, 2009 at 9:48 am
Filed under Basketball, Chris Young, MCCC, Pete Carril, Princeton, Richmond, Today's News, Will Venable

Duquesne vs. Richmond - 7:00 pm ET

Princeton coach Sydney Johnson is interviewed by The Quad, the New York Times' college basketball blog.

Pete Carril wasn't at the ceremony last night to induct he and Gary Walters into the Berks Basketball Hall of Fame, but his presence was still felt.

The remarkably wonky Trenton Times web site finally spit out the article on Saturday night's Columbia/Princeton game.

In a surprise to no one, Will Venable and Chris Young are both on the San Diego Padres' spring training roster. Young reports to Arizona on Friday, Venable on Monday.

Mercer (12-12) fell by three at home to Burlington.

Losers of four straight in conference play, Richmond hosts Duquesne.

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Sunday News:

February 8, 2009 at 10:10 am
Filed under Basketball, Craig Robinson, Denver, MCCC, Northwestern, Oregon State, Pete Carril, Princeton, Recruiting, Richmond, Today's News

St. Louis vs. Richmond - 2:00 pm ET

In addition to our recap, there are pieces on Princeton's victory over Columbia on goprincetontigers.com and on gocolumbialions.com. Stories from the local newspapers are not on-line. A link to the Trentonian story can be found in the comments below.

Congratulations to Princeton recruit Will Barrett (above), who is one of 1,500 national nominees for McDonald’s All-American status.

Pete Carril and Gary Walters will both be inducted into the Berks Basketball Hall of Fame on Tuesday night.

Georgetown (13-9) fell to Cincinnati in overtime. The Hoyas had one field goal in the final 12 minutes of play.

Northwestern (13-8) was up one with a minute to go at Iowa, but Devan Bawinkel hit a three pointer to give the Hawkeyes their final lead. To make the Wildcats' loss slightly more painful, Jeff Peterson scored 16 to pace the home team.

Oregon State (10-11) lost a low-scoring game to perhaps their toughest conference matchup, #23 Arizona State.

Beavers head coach Craig Robinson is a presenter at tonight's 57th annual Oregon Sports Awards.

Mercer (12-11) lost 74-64 at Harcum.

Denver (10-13) dropped a nine point decision at UALR, 66-57.

Richmond goes for the season sweep against St. Louis this afternoon.

Around the Ivy League: Jeremy Lin made a free throw with no time left, as Harvard (10-10 / 2-4) rallied to defeat Brown (6-14 / 0-6) by one. Cornell (15-7 / 5-1) got back on track with an 88-73 win over Penn (5-13 / 1-3). Don't look now, but Dartmouth (6-14 / 4-2) has won three straight. The Big Green bested Yale (8-13 / 2-3) in Hanover, 57-54.

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Super Bowl Sunday News:

February 1, 2009 at 8:15 am
Filed under Armond Hill, Basketball, Denver, Georgetown, MCCC, Northwestern, Oregon State, Princeton, Recruiting, Richmond, Today's News

In addition to our recap, there are two pieces on Princeton's victory over Harvard - one on goprincetontigers.com and the other on gocrimson.com.

Georgetown (12-8) lost their fifth straight, 94-82 at Marquette. The Golden Eagles and Hoyas were tied at halftime, before the home team pulled away.

How about Northwestern (12-7)? Three weeks after losing by 29 at Wisconsin, the Wildcats got 26 from Craig Moore and bested the Badgers by three.

Oregon State (10-10) won the Civil War over Oregon, 57-54. Roeland Schaftenaar banked in a 30 foot three pointer to keep the Ducks at bay.

Mercer (11-10) beat Salem 75-61. The Vikings had 25 assists on their 33 field goals.

Denver (9-12) led for the first 38:40 in Alabama, but were caught by Troy at the end of regulation and passed in overtime.

Despite 36 points from David Gonzalvez, Richmond fell 74-65 at Temple.

Princeton recruit Will Barrett had nine as Central Bucks South improved to 17-3.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette calls Armond Hill the brains behind the Boston Celtics' offense.

Around the Ivy League: Cornell (14-6 / 4-0) kept rolling, limiting Yale (7-11 / 2-2) to 23% shooting in a 64-36 win. Columbia (7-11 / 2-2) held off Brown (6-12 / 0-4), 65-59. With a three point win, Dartmouth (4-14 / 2-2) ended a 12 year losing streak against Penn (5-11 / 1-1). Dan Biber converted an old-fashioned three point play with eight seconds left.

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Wednesday News:

January 28, 2009 at 9:27 am
Filed under Basketball, Georgetown, MCCC, Northwestern, Oregon State, Princeton, Recruiting, Richmond, Today's News

St. Joseph's vs. Richmond - 7:00 pm ET
Georgetown vs. Cincinnati - 7:30 pm ET - ESPN360
Indiana vs. Northwestern - 8:30 pm ET - Big Ten Network

Princeton Alumni Weekly spoke with Mason Rocca, who is now in his eighth season playing professionally in Italy.

Mercer (10-9) beat Manor 65-38. Josh Caver had 10 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks for the Vikings.

Did you miss the Concordia game? WZBN has a comprehensive highlights package.

Northwestern welcomes Indiana to Welsh Ryan Arena.

Trying to break out of a shooting slump (5-38 from three in the last two games), Georgetown is on the road at Cincinnati.

Richmond hosts St. Joe's.

Princeton recruit Mack Darrow had 20 points and eight rebounds as Barrington shocked MSL West leader Hoffman Estates, 54-50.

Will Barrett scored 11, but Central Bucks South lost for the first time in 15 games, 66-60 to Souderton.

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Monday News:

January 26, 2009 at 9:41 am
Filed under Basketball, Georgetown, MCCC, Oregon State, Princeton, Richmond, Today's News

Cal State Bakersfield vs. Oregon State - 10:00 pm ET

In addition to our recap, write-ups of last night's victory can be found on goprincetontigers.com, in the Trentonian, the Trenton Times and on concordiaclippers.com.

Georgetown (12-6) was on the losing end of an ugly 65-60 game against Seton Hall. Coach John Thompson III says the Hoyas' decision making in certain circumstances has to change.

Richmond (11-8) won at St. Louis, 70-62. The Spiders are now 3-1 in the Atlantic 10. Chris Mooney says his team wants to be a squad that thrives on the road.

Mercer (9-9) lost 74-60 at CCRI. Josh Caver scored 16 for the Vikings.

Oregon State hosts Cal State Bakersfield tonight.

The Beavers were named Team Of The Week in ESPN's Weekly Watch.

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Sunday News:

January 25, 2009 at 9:50 am
Filed under Armond Hill, Basketball, Denver, Georgetown, MCCC, Northwestern, Oregon State, Princeton, Richmond, Today's News

Today's Game: Concordia (5-13 / 3-5) vs. Princeton (4-8 / 0-0)
Location: Jadwin Gym - Princeton, NJ
Time: 5:00 pm ET
Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB
TV: N/A
Internet: goprincetontigers.com
Series History: This is the first meeting between the two teams.
Last meeting: This is the first meeting between the two teams.

Georgetown vs. Seton Hall - 2:00 pm ET - SNY/MASN
MCCC vs. CCRI - 3:00 pm ET
Richmond vs. St. Louis - 3:00 pm ET

Oregon State (8-10) led wire to wire, winning 72-60 at Stanford. The Beavers swept the Cal/Stanford weekend for the first time in sixteen years.

Denver (8-11) also had an impressive conference win, beating Western Kentucky 78-74. The backdoor layup that iced the game with 13 seconds to go was a thing of beauty.

Northwestern (10-7) lost 68-59 at Michigan. The Wolverines hit nine three pointers against the Wildcats' 1-3-1 zone.

Mercer (9-8) had six players in double figures and defeated Dean 93-84. We hear that Armond Hill was at the game.

Georgetown plays at the Prudential Center for the first time this afternoon, facing Seton Hall. Coach John Thompson III calls the Hoyas' loss to West Virginia on Thursday "a blip." Today will go a long way to proving if he was right or not.

Richmond is at St. Louis in Atlantic 10 action.

Princeton recruit Mack Darrow had 19 points in Barrington's loss to Fremd.

Around the Ivy League: Dartmouth (3-13 / 1-1) ended their eight game losing streak, getting past Harvard (9-7 / 1-1) in overtime, 75-66. Cornell (12-6 / 2-0) bested Columbia (5-11 / 0-2) for the second time in as many meetings, 83-72. St. Joe's pulled away from Penn (4-10 / 0-0) down the stretch, 80-68.

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Manor 56 Mercer 52.

January 17, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Filed under 08-09, Audio, Basketball, Howie Levy, MCCC

Postgame audio - Coach Howie Levy:

"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.

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Saturday News:

January 17, 2009 at 9:47 am
Filed under Basketball, Craig Robinson, Denver, Georgetown, MCCC, Oregon State, Princeton, Recruiting, Richmond, Today's News

Georgetown vs. Duke - 1:30 pm ET - CBS
Manor vs. MCCC - 3:00 pm ET
St. Bonaventure vs. Richmond - 7:00 pm ET
Denver vs. FIU - 7:30 pm ET
Washington vs. Oregon State - 10:00 pm ET - FSN NW

Penn vs. NJIT - 2:00 pm ET
New Hampshire vs. Dartmouth - 7:00 pm ET
Cornell vs. Columbia - 7:00 pm ET

The Seattle Times has the latest profile of Craig Robinson.

Alex Wolff wrote a feature called "The Audacity of Hoops" about President-elect Obama for this week's Sports Illustrated.

Princeton recruit Will Barrett scored 16 and grabbed nine rebounds as Central Bucks South won its 10th straight.

The game of the afternoon may be Georgetown at Duke.

Richmond hosts St. Bonaventure.

Oregon State welcomes Washington to Corvallis tonight.

Denver plays at Florida International.

Around the Ivy League: Yale (6-9 / 1-0) won its fourth straight, 70-62 over Brown (6-9 / 0-1).

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