Men’s basketball loses both games during Ivy League double-header weekend

Men’s basketball (12–7, 4–2 Ivy) lost both games on their road trip this weekend, defeated by Yale University (15–4, 5–1 Ivy) on Friday night 74–60 and by Brown University (14–8, 2–4 Ivy) on Saturday 78–70. The Tigers entered the weekend in first place and undefeated in the Ivy League, but emerged tied for second with three other teams and their first losses of conference play.

Friday evening’s game against Yale took place in New Haven, where the Tigers have a losing all-time away record against the Bulldogs, 59–61. Sophomore forward Jerome Desrosiers scored the first points of the game, hitting a three pointer less than a minute into the game. Junior center Richmond Aririguzoh followed up with a solid layup a minute and a half later, bringing the score to 5–0 in Princeton’s favor. This lead would be the Tigers’ highest of the game. Yale scored twice soon after, tying the game in the 16th minute. The two teams went back and forth until the 13th minute, when Yale began a nine-point run and prevented Princeton from scoring until the ninth minute. For the rest of the half Yale dominated, bringing their lead to fifteen points over the Tigers with two minutes to go. The first half finished 36–22 in Yale’s favor.

The Tigers rallied in the second half, tying the game with 11 minutes to go, 42–42. Yale responded with a ten-point run, bringing the score to 52–42 with less than ten minutes to go in the game. Despite seven points in a row by Aririguzoh, who brought Princeton within four points with six minutes to go, the Tigers were unable to mount a comeback and did not score in the final two and a half minutes of the game. Yale won 74–60.

The following night the team was defeated by Brown in Providence. Princeton once again took an early lead thanks to Aririguzoh and extended it to 12 points by the tenth minute, putting the score at 20–8. Brown followed with an 11-point run for the next three minutes, coming within one point of a tie. After back and forth scoring between the two teams, Brown tied it up with five minutes to go. The Tigers would not lead for the rest of the game. By the end of the first half Brown was ahead of Princeton by 12 points with the score at 47–35.

In the second half, Princeton never got within less than five points of Brown, who dominated the second half. The Bear’s field goal and three-point percentages were 44.0 and 22.2, respectively, in the second half. Princeton, by comparison, shot a 34.4 percent and 14.3 percent for field goals and three-pointers, respectively. The Tigers did have a higher free throw percentage, 80 compared to Brown’s 58.3. The game finished out 78–70 in Brown’s favor.

Despite the weekend’s losses, the team had some accomplishments. Senior guard and captain Myles Stephens moved into 15th place on the program’s all-time scoring list, currently sitting at 1,223 points. Another senior guard and captain, Devin Cannady, is now only one three-pointer away from hitting 50 during his Princeton career. Cannady’s appearance in the game against Brown was his first since being briefly suspended in mid-January.

The team is still optimistic after the past few days.

“This weekend was a tough weekend for us,” said sophomore guard Ryan Schwieger. “But it’s a long season, so we just need to bounce back and put those two losses behind us.”