Princeton falls to Columbia and Cornell in early setback to Ivy race

If this weekend's games had been one giant exam, the men's basketball team (9-6 overall, 0-2 Ivy League) would be in some pretty hot water with its parents.

After losing to Columbia (10-6, 1-1) on Friday night, 64-56, while allowing the most points since the team's season opener, Princeton took the long trip to Cornell (8-8, 1-1) only to be held to a season-low 35 points in a 55-35 loss.

That's not an auspicious start to Ivy League play, to say the least.

"We definitely took a step backwards in terms of results," senior forward Luke Owings said.

More worryingly, Princeton broke down on the defensive end of the court in both games — the part of the team's play that has been its strength all season long.

The Tigers let Columbia jump out to an early first-half lead thanks in part to some hot shooting by the Lions. It seemed as though Columbia responded with two baskets for every one Princeton made, and by eight minutes, 52 seconds left until halftime, the Lions held a 20-9 advantage.

Princeton's offense stiffened enough to keep Columbia within reach. At the half, the Tigers trailed 33-23.

Owings nailed a three-pointer to put up the Tigers' first basket of the second half, a shot that put some life into the Tigers' attack. A few minutes later, freshman guard Marcus Schroeder hit another three, and with 14:24 remaining, freshman guard Lincoln Gunn hit yet another to make the Tigers three for four shooting from beyond the arc in the second half.

With Princeton now only down by two, 38-36, each team traded a few scores until senior guard Edwin Buffmire hit a jumper to make it 44-41, still in Columbia's favor.

Then, freshman standout Gunn showed the kind of contribution he's made all year by making two three-pointers on consecutive possessions and giving Princeton a 47-44 lead.

But the Lions came right back and nailed a trey to respond.

"We came back, we took the lead by three on Lincoln's shot, and then I think what kind of killed us there was the next time coming out on defense, they immediately hit a three back," Owings said. "We didn't really have that focus, and we didn't strap down and not let them get a shot off. That three really took the wind out of our sails."

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Between 6:32 and 1:22 left in the game, Princeton failed to notch a point as Columbia ran up a 58-50 lead on its way to the 64-56 final score. The win gave the Lions their first consecutive wins against the Tigers since a sweep in the 1992-93 season.

It looked as though the Tigers might split the weekend early on against Cornell, when Princeton jumped out to a 14-9 first-half lead on Schroeder's three-pointer at 10:16 left in the half.

Then Cornell scored the next 18 points. When senior forward Justin Conway finally put in a layup to stop the bleeding at 27-16, the clock read 2:13.

The Tigers shot a dismal 14 percent from beyond the arc in that half against the Big Red — a problem for a team that has to threaten from the perimeter if it is to have any success getting into the paint.

"Someone's got to step up, and we've just got to hit some shots," Owings said. "We're much better shooters than that."

The second half wasn't any prettier as Princeton responded to its first half performance with an even worse 11 percent three-point shooting. Between 8:15 and 1:43 left in the game, the Tigers missed six shots on six consecutive possessions as Cornell continued scoring to ice the game.

"It's like a cycle that builds on itself," Owings said. "We didn't shoot the ball well, and we had a few breakdowns [on defense]."

It's hard to find much of a silver lining at all for Princeton's weekend games, other than perhaps 10-for-11 shooting from the free-throw line. Though it might be a good thing that this meltdown came early on in Ivy play, Princeton will have to be nearly perfect in its remaining 12 league contests if it hopes to be a contender in late February and March.

The high caliber of nearly all of the Ivy League teams this year, though, won't help Princeton. Some have called this year's league play a "14-game tournament" and not without good reason.

"Any time you go on the road it's tough, road games in our league are incredibly tough," Owings said. "You have to really bring it and I guess we didn't."

Hopefully for the Tigers, that lesson was learned this weekend.