Men's hoops sinks to 2-11 in league play

After losing its games against Brown and Yale this weekend, the men's basketball team has lost seven of its last eight games and has clinched a last-place finish in the Ivy League. A program that, until two years ago, had never even finished with a losing conference record now faces the very real prospect of a two-win Ivy season.

Princeton (11-16 overall, 2-11 Ivy League) kicked off the weekend Friday by hosting conference opponent Brown (11-17, 6-7). Led by guard Damon Huffman's 21 points, the Bears finished a season sweep of the Tigers, handing them a 64-55 loss. The next night, though Princeton turned in one of its best showings of the past two months, Yale (14-13, 10-4) escaped with a one-point victory, 52-51, clinching second place in the league.

As has been the case the entire league season, the Tigers were plagued by poor shooting and an inability to maintain late leads. Princeton shot 34 percent in the second half against the Bulldogs, squandering a five-point halftime advantage.

"It's tough to win when you're only shooting like this," head coach Joe Scott '87 said. "Every game's been like this — it's been going on all year."

Saturday, Princeton still managed to put itself in position to shoot for the win at the end of the game.

With 21 seconds remaining in the second half, freshman guard Marcus Schroeder drove the lane into a pack of Bulldog defenders, getting off a lean-away jumper that rolled in for a 51-50 lead.

Yale's Travis Pinick tried to answer with an outside shot at the other end of the floor. The attempt missed, but Pinick was there for the rebound, and he successfully put back his own shot to give the Bulldogs a one-point lead with 10 seconds remaining. Pinick drew a foul in the process and headed to the line with a chance to complete the three-point play. Pinick missed the free throw, though, and teammate Matt Kyle missed a put-back attempt after grabbing the offensive rebound.

Junior forward Kyle Koncz corralled Kyle's miss for Princeton, and Schroeder quickly advanced the ball down the floor. The point guard found an angle darting into the paint, but his layup rolled off the rim as time expired to give Yale the one-point win.

"That was just a tough, very disappointing loss ... a very difficult loss," Scott said.

The Tigers began the game in good form, making four threes in the first 20 minutes and going on a decisive 17-2 run late in the half. Junior forward Noah Savage turned in 11 points during that seven-minute stretch to give Princeton an eight-point lead going into halftime.

Savage finished with 15 points off the bench, while Schroeder led the Tigers for the game, contributing 17 points and buoying the Tigers in the final stretch.

"I'm really confident in my shot right now," Schroeder said. "I'm hitting my outside shots, and that kind of opens up my driving game. When you're shooting well, guys are going to come out at you and play you, so it kind of opens up drives. It's been a real learning experience for me."

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But in Friday's game against the Bears, Schroeder was right in the middle of his team's struggles late in the game. With two minutes, 50 seconds remaining, the Tigers were down 56-53, and Schroeder went to the free throw line with a chance to cut his team's deficit to one. Schroeder missed both free throws, contributing to a dismal eight-of-15 performance from the charity stripe for the Tigers.

After trading baskets, Princeton had another chance to cut Brown's lead when Zach Finley received the ball in the post with 1:41 remaining. A Finley travel, however, returned the ball to the Bears, allowing Brown to widen the gap on its next possession and emerge with the win.

Ultimately it was Damon Huffman's standout performance that proved devastating to the Tigers. Huffman scored 21 points on the game, including 15 from behind the arc.

Though this season is all but over, Scott is treating this year largely as an investment for the future, giving some younger players, like Schroeder and Finley, more game time to prepare for next season.

"I'm not discouraged. I've seen it before," Scott said. "I've seen the growth in a program ... [We need to] learn what it takes to turn a one-point loss to a one-point win, then learn what turns a one-point loss into a 10-point win ... then it's completely different."

The Tigers will cap off the season by taking on conference rival Penn at home tomorrow night. With their win over Yale on Friday night, the Quakers clinched a third straight Ivy title and became the first team in Division I to secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament.