M. hoops keeps up winless ways against Florida International

On Saturday, Princeton men's basketball traveled to Miami in search of its first win of the season against less-than-highly touted Florida International (FIU). In the first ever matchup between the two teams, the Tigers led for much of the game but slowed down in the last ten minutes to fall, 49-44.

Although the two had never played before, FIU (3-1) was not supposed to pose as much of a threat as it did. After all, the squad's two victories were over St. Peter's and Division II Florida Tech, and its loss was against Texas-San Antonio.

Princeton (0-3) led 20-19 at the break and eventually built its lead to 32-27 midway through the second half. At that point, the Golden Panthers went on a 12-1 run to go up by six points with six minutes, 27 seconds remaining.

"We were kind of out of sync with our offense, and our defense made some mental mistakes that really cost us," senior captain Mike Bechtold said. "Our shooting was off. We definitely could have beaten them."

FIU maintained the lead for the rest of the game but had its advantage whittled down to two points after a three-pointer from sophomore Konrad Wysocki with less than a minute to play.

The Tigers fouled the Panthers after the inbounds pass. FIU's Rodrigo Viegas made one of two from the charity stripe to put the home team up by three with one Tiger possession to go.

Princeton drove the ball down the court and passed it around the perimeter until the ball found its way into Kyle Wente's hands. Wente - who was 0-6 on shooting for the afternoon - took the potentially game-tying three pointer, but the ball bounced off the rim and was rebounded by FIU.

Princeton then fouled Carlos Morban with two seconds left in the game. He hit both free throws and sealed the victory.

In his first intercollegiate start, Morban also led the Golden Panthers with 13 points and sparked the second half run that put FIU up 39-33.

"[Morban] played well, He had a lot of steals and played well on defense," Bechtold said. "It's nothing that we haven't seen before, though. We should have played better."

"Our kids were able to spread the floor and work inside," FIU head coach Donnie Marsh said. "But more than anything, I liked what I saw defensively. Carlos Morban really dictated the tempo."

Perhaps the biggest difference in the game was the shooting from the floor. The Golden Panthers made 16 of 34 attempts and went 8 for 12 during the second half.

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The Tigers made only 16 shots on 44 attempts in the game - 10 for 18 on two pointers and a mere 6 for 26 from behind the arc - with half of the successful three's coming from Bechtold. The Lebanon, PA native finished up going 3-for-6 from three-point range and led the team with 16 points.

"It wasn't our defense that struggled, but more our offensive execution," junior forward Ray Robins said. "Shooting was very bad. Everything was bad. We just didn't execute on anything."

Princeton also ran into foul trouble late in the game. Big men Wysocki and sophomore classmate Andre Logan both fouled out after getting nine points each. As a whole, the Tigers out-fouled FIU 19 to 13 and went 6 for 9 on free throws compared to the Golden Panthers' 16-for-26 performance.

"We definitely got in trouble," Robins said. "Andre [Logan] had a number of fouls for a lot of the game. The foul trouble makes it different. Konrad [Wysocki] is our center. When we lose him, we lose a lot, so it was tough when he fell into foul trouble."

The loss drops the Tigers to 0-3, marking Princeton as the only team from the Ancient Eight without a win yet this year. Granted, the Tigers' first two opponents, California and St. Joseph's, were tougher teams, but the Tigers were widely considered the stronger team going down to Florida on Saturday.