Men's hoops hangs on vs. Holy Cross

Showing the intensity that head coach Joe Scott has hoped to imbue this year, men's basketball used a team effort to hold onto a tenuous lead at Holy Cross (3-1) last night as Princeton (3-2) lifted its record above .500 and finished a five-game road trip with a win, despite missing one of its leading scorers because of injury.

With less than three minutes to play, it looked like Princeton had everything taken care of, when junior guard Scott Greenman hit a three-pointer to put the Tigers up by nine, 52-43, following a brief Holy Cross run. Refusing to give up, however, and aided by freshman guard Noah Savage fouling out with three minutes to play, Holy Cross came alive in the final minutes.

The Crusaders hit two quick free throws off the Savage foul and then found nothing but nylon on an invigorating three-pointer with one minute, 37 seconds left, to put them within four. In the next minute, Holy Cross guard Greg Kinsey hit a field goal, and Princeton senior center Judson Wallace committed two fouls, one of them offensive, to foul out of the game with 26 seconds on the clock and the score at 52-50. Crusader guard Torey Thomas split his shots from the line after the foul to put Holy Cross within one for the first time in the half, 52-51.

Freshman guard Matt Sargeant took the inbounds pass following Thomas' shots, and after being quickly fouled, stepped to the line for the most important shots of his young career. Rising up to the challenge and appearing to have ice in his veins, he drained both to give the Tigers a three-point lead, all they would need to win. Kinsey would slip in a shot in the lane to give the Crusaders another two points, but it wouldn't be enough, and two free throws by Greenman put the game away to give the Tigers the 56-53 victory.

"[Sargeant's] actually been struggling from the foul line in practice," Scott told WHWH radio, "But he made them when it counted, and hopefully that'll be good for him."

Princeton had to make do last night without sophomore forward Luke Owings, who is out for the foreseeable future with a stress fracture in his foot. Owings had been enjoying a breakout season, having started all four games this season coming into last night while averaging almost 10 points and five rebounds per game.

Coming out of the gate, the game was back and forth as the two teams felt each other out. Five minutes into the half, the score was 9-7 in favor of Holy Cross. Then Princeton took control.

A 10-point run gave the Tigers the lead that they would never lose. Head coach Joe Scott's matchup zone appeared to baffle the Crusaders, holding them scoreless for almost five minutes in the first half while Princeton built up a comfortable lead.

Though the Tigers kept at least a four-point lead until the waning minutes of the contest, Holy Cross' tight 2-3 zone kept the difference to 10 or under, allowing the Crusaders to make their final run.

"We're trying to build a tradition here where when we're on the road up by 10, we'll win by 16," Scott said. "Road games teach you toughness. Our guys have shown the ability to be tough, [but] we have to learn how to be tough for 40 minutes."

Greenman, who had a career-high 17 points — including four treys — led Princeton in scoring. He became the fourth Tiger to lead the team in scoring this season, in five games. Princeton shot 46 percent from the field and went 8-for-22 behind the arc. The Crusaders were led in scoring by Keith Simmons, and shot 44 percent from the field during the game.

Turnovers hurt the Tigers badly, as they committed 14 of them, and Holy Cross capitalized for 19 points-off-turnovers. Scott noted that the source of some of these difficulties lay in their leadership.

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

"I thought our offense against the zone was pretty good," Scott said. "The only thing I'm going to say is that those two seniors [Venable and Wallace] are leading the team in turnovers."