M. basketball stumbles to 1-4 break record

Men's basketball played five games over break, going 1-4, but that includes losses to two of the best teams in the country and only one loss by more than three points.

Rutgers

Princeton (5-5) took to the road Dec. 13 to play Rutgers (8-3). The game came down to the wire, but Princeton fell, 51-49.

With the Scarlet Knights up two points and only 6.3 seconds left on the clock, Rutgers' Quincy Douby missed the first free throw of a one-and-one. Junior guard Will Venable came down with the rebound and forwarded the ball to junior forward Andre Logan, who put up a shot from the foul line as time expired.

Logan's shot bricked off the front of the rim, and the Tigers went home losers in a game they had kept close but had not led since eleven minutes 41 seconds remained in the first half.

Duke

Four days later, Princeton flew to Durham, N.C., to battle with then-No. 3 Duke (13-1), one of college basketball's most storied programs. The Tigers were unable to topple the monster and lost, 69-51.

The Blue Devils were never in danger of losing the game, but the Tigers kept it competitive for just over half the game. They kept the Duke lead between zero and eight for all but 25 seconds of the first half. The teams were tied with only 1:19 to go before intermission.

Extraordinary offensive rebounding and clean basketball (Princeton did not shoot a free throw in the second half) allowed Duke to balloon its lead from one point with 17:34 to go in the game to 18 by the end of the contest.

Lafayette

Princeton lost another close one Dec. 22 in its first game at Jadwin Gymnasium in nearly a month. Lafayette (9-3) squeaked out a win, 47-44, after another failed attempt at last-minute heroics.

Down one with 33 seconds to play, the Tigers took the ball on offense. They let the clock tick down to seven seconds before Logan released a shot from the right wing that couldn't find the nylon.

Winston Davis came down with the rebound and made two free throws to ice the game.

The Tigers had battled back from a 13-point deficit but were unable to put an exclamation point on the comeback in losing their third straight game.

Loyola College

Princeton ended that streak with an absolute stomping of Loyola (0-11). The Greyhounds shot a measly 35.8 percent from the field in the 74-54 Tiger win.

Loyola never led, and the only tie was at 0-0. Princeton built up an 18-point lead at halftime and coasted its way through the second half.

Junior guard Ed Persia was the star of the game, rattling off 22 points on seven-of-13 shooting. The Tigers shot 50 percent as a team en route to a season-high 74 points.

Oklahoma

Persia went on another scoring binge in Princeton's second nationally-televised game of the break versus Oklahoma (11-1) in the All-College Classic in Oklahoma City. Following their usual pattern, the Tigers lost, 58-55, after another last-second shot hit the rim and bounced lifelessly to the floor.

Oklahoma was up three points with only seven seconds to go when Venable intentionally fouled Oklahoma's Jason Detrick. He missed both free throws, and junior center Judson Wallace grabbed the rebound and quickly passed the ball to Persia, who had 19 points on the night. He got a good three-point look from the top of the key as time was expiring, but Persia's shot hit the front of the rim, and Oklahoma got out of the gym with a 58-55 win.