Tigers beaten by Rutgers' shooting

While the Princeton vs. Rutgers football contest evokes history and incites vandalism, the two New Jersey schools still actually play each other in basketball. Another chapter was written in the book of this historic rivalry on Saturday. Unfortunately for the men's basketball team, the Scarlet Knights came out shooting hot and never looked back, holding off the Tigers' secondhalf challenge to win 53-47 Saturday at Jadwin Gym and close the book on Princeton.

Rutgers (4-5 overall) shot 58 percent from the field for the game, including a blistering 88 percent (14-for-16) in the first half. By comparison, Princeton shot 38 percent for the game and a meager 29 percent in the decisive first half.

Senior guard Edwin Buffmire led the Tiger effort with 12 points in only 16 minutes of play, while junior forward Noah Savage and senior forward Luke Owings contributed seven apiece. Freshman guard Marcus Schroeder led the Tigers with five rebounds.

For the game, Rutgers outrebounded Princeton 30-17, including grabbing 11 offensive boards to the Tigers' 10 defensive rebounds. Rutgers was led by forward J.R. Inman's 13 boards, including five offensive. As a result, the Scarlet Knights had 12 second-chance points to Princeton's two.

"They deserved to win, there's no doubt about it," head coach Joe Scott '87 said. "Maybe we ran into one of those things when all five guys played well. Inman played well. They all made their shots."

A strong first half was all Rutgers needed to put the game just out of Princeton's grasp. Freshman center Zach Finley scored on a driving layup three-and-a-half minutes into the contest, but the Tigers would wait another six minutes before scoring again on a pair of free throws by senior forward Justin Conway. In the meantime, Rutgers had built a 12-point lead and seemingly could not miss.

"I thought they came out much more ready to play than we did," Scott said. "They played excellent. Obviously they've started to play well right now."

The Tigers cut the lead to seven with eight minutes remaining in the first frame following an old-fashioned three-point play by Savage, but Rutgers would stretch the lead back to 12 by halftime.

Almost all of Princeton's first-half points came from under the basket or from the foul line, as the Tigers missed all eight of their three-point shot attempts.

The second half saw a much better effort from the home side, but the Rutgers lead was too wide for Princeton to overcome.

With 11:30 left in the game, the Scarlet Knights led 41-25, but a three-pointer by sophomore forward Michael Strittmatter, a steal and a layup by Schroeder began a valiant Tiger run.

Following the Schroeder layup, Rutgers was forced into a shot-clock violation, and Strittmatter buried another three-pointer. A three from Buffmire and backdoor layups — the hallmark of the "Princeton Offense" — by Conway, Buffmire and Schroeder closed the lead to five at 48-43 with 2:08 remaining, but that was as close as the game would get.

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One strong area for Princeton was its 12-13 shooting from the charity stripe. Unfortunately, the one miss was the front end of a one-and-one by Conway 23 seconds before the final buzzer with the Tigers down 50-45.

The subsequent possessions illustrated many of Princeton's woes. The Tigers fouled Rutgers — already in the double bonus — to stop the clock. Rutgers missed both free throws but grabbed the rebound to retain possession. Sent back to the line on another foul, the Scarlet Knights again missed both free throws and again grabbed the offensive board. Fouled again, the shooter missed the first but drained the second, but the Tigers were down by six with 16 seconds left.

Throughout the game, Rutgers used its superior athleticism in Inman and forward Adrian Hill to dominate the boards.

"It's an Achilles heel," Scott said. "We have to defensively rebound that basketball. Rebounding is going to be rebounding. We're not going to get a guy who's going to shred the glass and get us 12 defensive rebounds a game...That's why every other part of the game becomes so important."

Saturday's contest marked the second game in a row in which junior forward Kyle Koncz was held scoreless. Koncz entered the week averaging a team-best 12.9 points per game but has since seen his average drop.

"[Koncz] just hasn't been playing well since—maybe it's Conway not being out there," Scott said. "I don't know. He's a player. He's a fighter and a scrapper, and he's going to come back and play well for us again."

Princeton has a week of practice before its next contest, Dec. 16 against Marshall at Jadwin Gym.