Owings, Stephens lead m. basketball over Bucknell

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — They may not have been in mid-season form, but on this opening night of the 2004-2005 season, the performance the men's basketball team turned in was good enough to earn a "W."

Despite shaky rebounding and a few offensive lapses, Princeton (1-0) controlled play most of the way and pulled away in the final 10 minutes for a 61-48 victory over Bucknell (0-1).

Sophomore forward Luke Owings, making his first career start, led the way with 21 points, including four three-pointers. Senior center Mike Stephens chipped in another 11 off the bench, making up for a sub-par performance from senior center Judson Wallace.

Over the first 30 minutes of game time, Wallace saw just five minutes of action, scoring no points while committing three fouls and four turnovers. But he suddenly came alive after a Tiger timeout with 10 minutes, eight seconds left in the game and played a critical role as Princeton took over late.

After sinking two free throws for his first points of the day, putting the Tigers up 42-37, he found senior guard Will Venable and Owings for backdoor layups on consecutive possessions. Meanwhile, he made an impact on defense, repeatedly contesting shots and grabbing rebounds in traffic.

"Seniors know how to have bad halves and then have good halves," head coach Joe Scott '87 said. "I saw that from Judson in the last eight minutes tonight."

Following another great play from Wallace on defense — he poked the ball away from behind to prevent a fast break — Owings drained his final three. Wallace then hit a jump hook in the paint and junior guard Scott Greenman turned a steal into a layup, putting Princeton up 53-41 with six minutes to play. The Tigers coasted the rest of the way home.

"We played our best basketball after they cut it to two," Scott said. "We ran our stuff and got layups."

The Tigers began the game in typical fashion, with Wallace hitting Owings for a backdoor layup. Back-to-back threes from Greenman and Owings put Princeton up 8-1. Meanwhile, Bucknell struggled offensively, going nearly eight minutes before hitting a field goal, despite getting plenty of good looks.

But the Tiger offense was not executing well enough to open up a sizeable lead. Wallace picked up two quick fouls and sat down for the remainder of the first half at the 18:21 mark. On several occasions, players made incorrect cuts, much to the chagrin of Scott. Throughout the mostly empty dome, Scott could be heard hollering at his freshmen.

The Bison slowly closed the gap, pulling ahead 20-19 with 3:53 left in the half. Princeton grabbed the momentum going into the locker room with an 11-2 run, however, spurred by Stephens' second three of the half and several driving layups from different players.

The second half began the same way as the first, with Wallace finding Owings for a backdoor layup to put Princeton up 10. But Wallace received another quick hook, at the 17:40 mark, after committing three straight turnovers.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Again, Bucknell fought back, closing the gap to 39-37 with 12:17 to play. The Bison were aided by second chances — outrebounding the Tigers 35-21, including a 14-1 edge on the offensive glass — allowing them to stay close despite shooting just 30.4 percent.

Firing blanks all day long caught up with Bucknell in the end, and once a revitalized Wallace reentered the game at the under-12 TV timeout, Princeton took control.