Lafayette decimates Tigers' lead

Mired in its worst losing streak in history, the men's basketball team played extremely well against Lafayette — for the first half. Princeton led by as much as 18 and entered halftime with a 17-point lead but succumbed to a strong Lafayette second half before falling in overtime, 76-71.

Princeton (2-12 overall) used a 21-2 run over seven minutes in the middle of the first half to establish a 17-point lead with seven minutes, 18 seconds remaining in the frame; five different Tigers contributed to the scoring effort. Senior forward Noah Savage led the stretch, scoring all seven of his points as the Tigers built their early lead.

Down, but nowhere close to out, Lafayette (9-6) scored the first 11 points of the second half while holding Princeton scoreless for over five minutes. The Leopards whittled at the Tiger lead for the rest of the half, finally overtaking the home team, 61-60, on two free throws with 2:32 left in regulation.

Senior forward Kyle Koncz hit a game-tying three-pointer with two seconds left in regulation, and two early buckets from sophomore center Zach Finley got Princeton started right in the extra frame, but Lafayette held the Tigers to three points and zero field goals over the last 3:23 to pull away.

Koncz led all scorers with 15 points, while Finley, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, added 12 points on six-of-nine shooting as well as eight rebounds. Sophomore guard Lincoln Gunn and senior guard Kevin Steuerer led the Tigers with four assists apiece.

Princeton shot 55 percent from the field, but was plagued by 23 turnovers. While Lafayette only shot 46 percent from the field it had 19 second chance points off 12 offensive rebounds.

After the game, head coach Sydney Johnson '97 had no illusions about how hard a loss like this was, but he emphasized what has been a recurring theme for this year's squad.

"It's a heartbreaker," Johnson said. "These guys gave a tremendous effort, and it's been consistent that we just haven't been able to get 40 minutes all the way through, or in this case 45."

Koncz compared this effort to the Tigers' game against Manhattan, when Princeton saw a 13-point second-half lead evaporate over the final 10 minutes, and hopes the team can find a winning touch as it heads into Ivy League play.

"It is frustrating losing all these games and seeing ourselves put out effort," Koncz said. "It happened once, it happened twice. At some point we have to learn — we have to learn how to win a game, because we're going to be in games like this come February and March."

In the first half, the Tigers scored 27 points off Leopard turnovers, but in the second half, Princeton was unable to convert as many opportunities, especially with Finley down low.

"[Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon] did a terrific job on his end [making adjustments for the second half], but I felt like we were still getting what we wanted but just couldn't convert," Johnson said.

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Lafayette was in position to take the game in regulation after hitting two free throws with 24 seconds left, but was thwarted by Koncz's three-pointer. Koncz had missed a potentially tying shot six seconds earlier, but Gunn grabbed the crucial rebound.

Finley got the Tigers back on track at the beginning of overtime with two layups but fouled out with just under a minute remaining when he intentionally fouled Jeff Kari, who had just stripped Gunn of the ball. The Leopards hit their free throws over the final minute to seal the victory.

Though Johnson gave credit to his players for building the lead, he puts much of the blame for the second half and overtime on himself.

"It's my fault in terms of not being able to close that out," the first-year head coach said. "I hope these guys see, and I hope our faithful fans understand, that we feel good about the team that we have, and I just have to put us in a position where they can be the most successful."

The team works on schemes and plays in practice that can be used in tough situations like this game, but the jump from practice to games has not been easy.

"Those decisive moments that we work on in practice, when we coach basketball IQ — it just needs to be applied to games," Johnson said.

Princeton takes time off for exams before playing Dominican on Jan. 27 and opening its league schedule against Dartmouth on Feb. 1, both at Jadwin Gym.