Tigers fall to Brown, beat Yale

Shortly after nine o'clock on Saturday night, as the men's basketball team dribbled the final 16 seconds off the game clock, the sports information staff on hand at Yale's Lee Amphitheater phoned in a hard-fought, 56-45 Princeton victory over the host Bulldogs.

Among the Ivy League locales to which the news was immediately sent was the Pizzitola Center 100 miles away in Providence, R.I., where Brown was in the midst of an overtime battle with visiting Penn. Under different circumstances, the Bears' public address announcer might have been able to make the league-leading Quakers sweat a little with an announcement of their arch rivals' triumph.

But because of what transpired in that same arena the night before, nothing was going to break Penn's collective cool. An ugly, 61-46 Tiger loss at the hands of the Bears (10-17 overall, 6-8 Ivy League) on Friday evening, coupled with the Quakers' 57-55 victory over Yale (15-14, 7-7) that same night, had eliminated Princeton (11-15, 9-4) from title contention and earned Penn (20-7, 12-1) a spot on ESPN's SportsCenter, as the first team in the country to clinch an NCAA postseason berth.

Quakers clinch

The Quakers went on to top Brown, 74-68, in the Saturday night overtime affair. With the weekend sweep, Penn would have clinched the Ivy title even if the Tigers had managed a perfect weekend of their own. But there is still the sense that things might have turned out differently if Princeton had kept the pressure on the Quakers until the last possible moment.

It was clear that such a finish was not in the offing by halftime on Friday night, as the Tigers came out playing sloppier than they have the entire league season. The Bears went into the locker room with a 31-18 advantage, largely because Princeton had given up eight offensive rebounds and committed 11 turnovers in the first half alone.

The Tigers used an early second-half run to cut Brown's lead to 34-25 with 16 minutes still left in the game, but that was as close as they could come as they turned the ball over 10 more times and shot just 31 percent after halftime.

Of Princeton's 21 total turnovers, sophomore forward Kyle Koncz and junior center Justin Conway were responsible for five apiece, while sophomore forward Noah Savage and junior forward Luke Owings each had three of their own.

Owings did lead the way in the losing effort with 13 points, while Greenman chipped in 12. Conway continued to affect the game in a variety of ways, posting 10 points while leading the team with four assists, four steals and seven rebounds.

Rule of three

The Tigers were at their most atrocious when shooting from behind the three-point arc, as they made good on just three of 18 attempts on the night. Coupled with the hot shooting of Brown's rising star forward Keenan Jeppesen — who led all scorers with 16 points — Princeton's lack of accuracy doomed the team to its second-worst loss of the league season.

Three-point shooting was again a problem for the Tigers on Saturday night against the Bulldogs, as Princeton hit just three times from downtown for the second consecutive night, this time on 14 attempts.

The Tigers also continued to struggle with turnovers, committing 18, including seven by Conway. But the Tigers ground out the victory, which secured a second-place finish in the Ivies, with a courageous team effort underneath the basket on both ends of the floor.

Princeton outrebounded Yale, 32-23, limited the Bulldogs to 34 percent shooting and held them to a season-low 45 points. More importantly, when Yale made the game close down the stretch, the same Tigers who had been struggling with their outside shots took the initiative in securing the victory.

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

After extending its lead to 10 points on a Koncz three-pointer with 11 minutes, eight seconds remaining in the first half, Princeton fell apart offensively and defensively, letting the Bulldogs take a 22-20 halftime lead. The Tigers proved resilient, though, and less than eight minutes into the second half, a Greenman three-pointer put Princeton up 29-26.

That lead would not be relinquished, thanks in large part to Greenman, who netted 11 of his team-high 13 points in the second half. But the contributions of freshman center Michael Strittmatter were just as huge, as he came off the bench for five key points over the final 5:27.

After a Casey Hughes free throw pulled Yale to within four points, at 37-33, Strittmatter — a constant presence in Princeton's seven-man rotation — converted a three-point play after being fouled on a successful layup attempt. Eric Flato, who led all scorers with 15 points, answered with his first three-pointer of the night for the Bulldogs, only to have Strittmatter turn around and hit a driving layup at the buzzer on the very next Tiger possession.

The freshman's play off the bench was particularly valuable because it came on the second consecutive night that Princeton was without its super sub, junior guard Edwin Buffmire. The team's scrappy sixth man sat out both weekend games with mononucleosis.

Yale kept things close over the final four minutes, but the duo of Savage and Conway — brushing off their combined zero-for-six showing from downtown — scored 10 of Princeton's final 14 points to secure the victory.

Savage finished with 10 points, and Koncz chipped in 11 to join Greenman in double figures. Greenman also tallied a game-high five assists and came away with four steals.

All in all, it was an impressive road win for the Tigers, especially considering that it was only the Bulldogs' third home loss all season. And "impressive" is exactly the word to describe a 2006 Ivy campaign, during which Princeton showed its many doubters that it could rebound from a painful 2-10 start to compete for a league title.

But when Penn comes to Jadwin Gym tomorrow night to wrap up the Ivy season, impressing the Quakers will be all the Tigers can hope to do. Even with a win, Princeton has no chance to make postseason-bound Penn sweat.