I wrote a piece for the latest Princeton Alumni Weekly covering Princeton's final three Ivy games of the season. Enjoy! - JS
Success at the Palestra - No Ivy title, but the Tigers beat Penn By Jon Solomon
Heading into the final weekend of Ivy play, the Princeton men's basketball team controlled its own destiny. With victories in the final three games - a difficult road stretch at Columbia, conference-leader Cornell, and Penn - the Tigers could, at the least, share the Ivy League title.
Those hopes were erased March 6 in Morningside Heights as Columbia extinguished Princeton's dream with a 58-44 victory. Sharp-shooting Columbia senior K.J. Matsui scored 17 points, including five shots from outside the three-point arc. His back-to-back three-pointers turned a tenuous five-point Columbia lead into an 11-point cushion with 6:15 remaining.
"We weren't focused [on Matsui]," coach Sydney Johnson '97 said. "I felt like he is a player that we can limit, and he has been held in check in the past, but we just weren't focused enough to do it."
In front of their second-largest home crowd of the season, Oregon State (17-17) built a 21 point second half lead and held off a frantic UTEP charge for the 75-69 win in game one of the CBI finals. The series shifts to El Paso for game two on Wednesday night.
Georgetown's leading scorer, junior forward DaJuan Summers, will sign with an agent and make himself eligible for the NBA draft.
Pete Carril is rubbing off on the Sacramento Kings.
In Italy, 13 points and six rebounds for Judson Wallace as Benetton Treviso blew out Scavolini Spar Pesaro. Mason Rocca had 18 points and nine boards in Armani Jeans Milano's 88-85 squeaker over Snaidero Udine.
It looks more like a Nam June Paik piece than a basketball highlight, but someone filmed their TV showing Princeton's Kareem Maddox blocking a Duke jumper into the Blue Devils' bench at the 2007 Maui Invitational.
Chris Young pitches for the Padres against San Francisco this afternoon in what should be his final Cactus League start before the team heads back to San Diego. Young is 0-2 with a 6.57 era through five spring training games.
Former Princeton recruit Jeff Peterson, who reneged on his Early Decision commitment to the Tigers and then signed with Iowa in April 2007 after reopening his recruitment three months earlier, has announced he will transfer.
Peterson was Iowa's third leading scorer as a sophomore, averaging 10.6 ppg.
It will be interesting to see where Peterson lands, as two of his original finalists had coaching changes during his recruitment (St. Louis, Xavier) and Princeton does not accept transfers.
The first Senior on a Stick paid tribute to the lone member of Princeton's class of 1990 - forward Matt Lapin.
Lapin led the nation in three point shooting his senior year, hitting 53.4% of his attempts. His 71 triples are sixth-most in a season by a Tiger, which included eight in a game at Harvard on a team record 15 attempts.
The initial Senior on a Stick was poster-sized, hand-colored and hand-numbered (this one is #181 out of 200).
The text written under the image reads:
"Slapper on a Stick" 181/200 A "14 Club" Production PJB/SGC
How did Matt Lapin get the nickname Slapper anyway?
"This was probably the gutsiest game and gutsiest group of guys I've been a part of, even counting when I played and certainly since I've coached." - Craig Robinson.
Oregon State (16-17) advanced to the College Basketball Invitational's best-of-three finals with a 65-62 win over Stanford. The Cardinal sent the game to overtime on a second chance turnaround jumper at the buzzer, and were up five with 2:31 left in the extra frame, but Beavers center Roeland Schaftenaar sparked a 7-0 run, hitting a three, scoring inside and then assisting on a backdoor that put OSU up to stay. The Beavers will host the first game of the CBI championship on Monday night.
In the other CBI semi, Richmond (20-16) saw its season end with a 81-69 loss to UTEP. Down all night, the Spiders cut their deficit to two with eight minutes left, but could not get any closer. Richmond head coach Chris Mooney missed the final 4:44 of action, ejected following his second technical foul.
There's a Q&A between Chris Young and Dave Hollander in the Huffington Post.
Princeton recruit Will Barrett scored 17 points as Bucks County defeated Filly Sol in the first round of the 2009 Albert C. Donofrio Classic.
Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe selects Princeton's 1965 win over Providence as one of the five best NCAA regional finals.
Oregon State (15-17) advanced to the semifinals of the CBI with a one point overtime victory over Vermont. Calvin Haynes' off-balance bank shot with six seconds to go was the game winner. Stanford will be Oregon State's opponent on Wednesday night in Corvallis, the fourth meeting between the two schools this season.
After the win, Beavers coach Craig Robinson answered questions about his possible interest in two open head coaching jobs and a variety of other subjects.
Kevin Anderson's up and under jumper in the paint with nine seconds left secured a two point Richmond (20-15) win over College of Charleston. Anderson finished with 21, his sixth straight 20 point game. The Spiders will host UTEP in the CBI semifinals on Wednesday.
If you missed the excitement last night, you can read the archive of the live chat we held during the games.
Princeton recruit Jimmy Sherburne was named Third Team 2009 AP Wisconsin State Boys All-State.
Chris Young gave up three runs in 4 1/3 innings yesterday for San Diego against the Royals.
Will Venable was one of seven players sent to the Padres' minor league camp. It is expected that Venable will start the season in AAA Portland.
Is college basketball in Colorado in critical condition? Joe Scott doesn't agree with CBS 4's report (video).
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
