To borrow from John Feinstein, the men's basketball team spent its break on the brink.
In six games over Winter Break, Princeton (8-4 overall) was maddeningly inconsistent, alternating stretches of nearly flawless basketball with periods of disappointingly sloppy play. The Tigers picked up four wins but also suffered two road losses — one by a little and one by a lot — against NCAA-tournament caliber teams.
The break also saw the return of senior forward Andre Logan and sophomore forward Luke Owings from injuries. Both played effective minutes off the bench, although neither appeared to be 100 percent.
Monmouth
On Dec. 12, senior center Judson Wallace stepped to the free-throw line 13 times, and 13 times he knocked down the shot. Princeton needed them all to beat Monmouth (2-7), earning a 56-52 road win.
Wallace scored 23, and senior guard Will Venable added 19 points and nine rebounds to carry the Tigers, who led by as many as 16 points early in the second half. The Hawks were pesky to the end, despite being held to 35 percent shooting. The Tigers kept hitting from the charity strip, though, finishing 18-for-18, and hung on for the 1,500th win in school history.
Temple
Of the thousands and thousands of people who watched Temple's Dustin Salisberry swat Will Venable's potentially game-tying layup off the glass with five seconds to play on Dec. 20, roughly three of them thought the block was legal. Unfortunately for the Tigers, those three men wore stripes, and when none of the referees called goaltending, Temple (4-5) escaped with a 48-46 win.
Both teams employed matchup zones to treat the ESPN2 audience to a defensive clinic in the first half, as the Owls led, 22-18, after 20 minutes.
After the break, Marty Collins and the Owls opened a seemingly insurmountable 37-28 lead with under eight minutes to play. But a deep three by Wallace re-energized Princeton, and sophomore guard Scott Greenman drained back-to-back threes to cut the lead to one.
After Collins hit one of two at the line with 10 seconds to go, Venable blew by his defender and layed the ball up with his left hand. The ball had already hit the glass and appeared on its way down when Salisberry cleared it out of harm's way.
Tulane
After a week off for Christmas, the Tigers traveled to El Paso, Texas, for the Sun Bowl Tournament. They were impressive against Tulane (6-5) in the first round on Dec. 27, jumping to a 31-8 lead en route to a 59-51 victory.
The Green Wave used an 18-3 offensive rebounding edge to score 15 consecutive points, spanning halftime, and cut the deficit to 33-26 early in the second half.
Wallace made sure Princeton's hot start didn't go to waste, however, scoring 20 of his game-high 22 points in the final 15 minutes of play, including three-of-three shooting from beyond the arc.
U. of Texas El-Paso
Princeton got off to another quick start the following night in the championship game against UTEP (11-2), hitting seven of its first nine shots, including five of seven threes, to take a 19-12 lead at the under-12 minute media timeout.
The rest of the contest went much differently, however, as the Tigers hit just five of their final 27 shots from the field. The Miners used a 16-2 run that sandwiched halftime to take a 39-25 lead. Princeton never got closer than nine the rest of the way, and UTEP coasted to a 68-42 win.
Wallace was the only Tiger in double-digits, but he scored 15 of his 17 before the break.
Loyola (Md.)
After scoring just 22 points in his first 10 games as a Tiger, freshman guard Matt Sargeant scored 12 in the first six minutes of the second half to spark Princeton to a 75-62 home victory over Loyola (1-9) on Dec. 31.
The Tigers led just 30-25 after a lackadaisical first half, earning them an angry earful from Scott at halftime. But Sargeant converted a rare four-point play to open the second half, starting a 27-8 run that put the game away.
Sargeant finished with a team-high 14 points. Venable added the best overall line of the day: 12 points, five boards, five assists and five steals.
Davidson
Judson Wallace scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead Princeton to a 70-68 double-overtime victory against Davidson (5-7) on Sunday at Jadwin in an ugly war of attrition that featured 55 fouls and five players fouling out.
Both the Princeton and the Wildcats sputtered offensively in the first 40 minutes. The Tigers hit five free throws in the final minute to take a 49-46 lead, but Kenny Grant drew a foul and converted a three-point play to force overtime.
Davidson grabbed a five-point edge in the first extra period and appeared on the verge of putting the game away when Venable fouled out. But a Greenman three and a Wallace layup knotted the score at 56-56 with a minute to play, necessitating a second OT.
This time, Princeton jumped ahead, as Owings and Wallace fed each other for back-to-back threes to grab a 64-58 lead. Down the stretch, three Wildcats fouled out, and the Tigers hit six of eight free throws to ice it. Grant kept it close, finishing with 19 points, but he could not get off a shot as time expired.
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