Coming off its miracle win over Monmouth on Tuesday night, men's basketball cannot bask in the glory of that win for too long. The Tigers (2-2) face Lafayette (0-4) tomorrow night in Easton, Pa.
The Tigers hope to feed off the emotion from junior guard Ed Persia's 80-foot heave that banked off the backboard and in as time expired. The shot was ESPN Sportscenter's Top Play of the Day.
"I think this could definitely be a spark," Persia said. "We needed this win to get us going. I remember [senior guard Kyle] Wente's shot against Harvard my freshman year, his sophomore year. That shot just gave the team a whole lot of confidence and energy and we went on to win the next few games."
With the score in that game Harvard 67, Princeton 66, the Tigers' hopes of an Ivy title were about to take a serious hit. A loss would have put Princeton behind both Harvard and Penn in the standings.
Clutch
The ball ended up in Wente's hands with time running down. He threw up an off-balance 25-footer that was good the whole way.
The Tigers immediately followed that win with a 67-53 win over Penn at the Palestra to take control of the Ivy race.
This season, Princeton has not played the type of basketball that was expected from such a talented team early in the season. After losing to Florida International, the Tigers struggled against Monmouth, a team they were expected to beat handily.
Princeton found itself down by 10 with only seven minutes and 42 seconds left in the game. As badly as the team played up to that point, the Tigers showed great resolve by not throwing in the towel. Playing away from home, in front of a crowd with few Princeton enthusiasts, the team banded together for the final stretch run.
A team that could not find its consistency or its rhythm in the beginning part of the game began executing its sets to perfection.
"Sometimes we struggle and it seems we don't necessarily know how to win," Persia said. "Maybe this will get us over the top."
More chances
Some of the team's struggles could be attributed to the little things. The Tigers have not been winning the battles for loose balls and long rebounds. These turn into extra possessions for the opposition, and consequently, extra points.
In addition, Persia feels the team has been focusing too much on the offensive side of the ball, and less on the intangibles.
"We are always trying to beat teams with the backdoor and with our offense," Persia said. "We have guys who can execute the offense and score points."
He felt that the team needed to focus its attention more on defense and getting rebounds.
"We need to find a good mix of people who work together on the floor," Persia said.
The junior out of Beaumont, Tex., feels that he can be one of those players.
Give him the damn ball
"I want to be out on the floor in crunch time," Persia said. "I think I know how to win. Hopefully, this will prove it to the coaches that I can help us win, whether it's with a miracle or not."
The Tigers will hope to improve on some of the intangibles as they take on Lafayette, looking to continue their play from the last seven minutes against Monmouth. Lafayette has struggled thus far, but it could be dangerous as a team hungry for a win.
The Leopards opened their year against Binghampton, and then also dropped contests to La Salle, Arizona St., and to Drexel on Tuesday night.
Junior guard Winston Davis leads the Patriot League team with 15.5 points per game. Davis has come on strong in the early part of the season after averaging only 4.2 ppg last season.
Junior forward Mike Farrell will be manning the interior for the Leopards. He is pulling down 9.3 boards per game while also chipping in 8.3 ppg.
The Tigers best hope is to start fast against Lafayette. So far this season they have been outscored by 64 points in the first half in only four games.
Princeton has not had much recent success against Lafayette. The team had dropped three straight games to the Leopards before scoring a 67-61 victory last year in Jadwin. Sophomore guard Will Venable led the Tigers to victory with 18 points.
The Tigers will be looking to put away Lafayette for the second straight year, without the help of any miracle last-second shots. Head coach John Thompson '88 would like to not have to rely on miracles to win games this season.
Princeton fans, however, would take a miracle win over a loss any day of the week.
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