Men's Basketball: Princeton loving life on road

After two close losses at home to open the season, Princeton (2-2 overall) cruised to its second-straight 12-point win on the road. This time, the Tigers vanquished Fordham (0-4), 73-61, on Wednesday night in New York City in their highest-scoring game of the season. The win marked the first time Princeton has had a two-game road winning streak since Nov. 28, 2006, nearly two years to the date before the team’s win over the Rams on Wednesday night. Junior guard and captain Nick Lake led Princeton with 14 points and nine rebounds, while junior center Pawel Buczak added a career-high 13 points.

“It was a good win for us,” junior center Zach Finley said. “It helped us gain a little more confidence on the road, become a little more comfortable in how we play and see how the things we do in practice show up.”

The Tigers jumped out to an early lead on a pair of short runs in the first 10 minutes. An 8-0 run started by a three-pointer from freshman guard Doug Davis and punctuated by a dunk from sophomore forward Kareem Maddox gave Princeton a 10-4 lead three minutes in.

After a Fordham basket, Princeton went on a 12-2 scoring spree to increase its lead to 22-8 with 11 minutes, two seconds remaining in the first half. This time, the Tigers were sparked by back-to-back threes from Lake and his backcourt mate, senior guard Jason Briggs. When it was over, Princeton had outscored the Rams 20-4 over a seven-minute span to take a big lead it never relinquished.

“We were carrying over some confidence from our game against Army,” Finley said. “We had some success up there. A lot of things that we did well [against Army] let us know that we can do that every game we play.”

Princeton ran its lead to 31-14 before a minor letdown at the end of the first half, when Fordham went on its own 12-2 run, shrinking the Tigers’ margin to 33-26 at the half.

“We started off real strong and were able to get a lead in the first half. We’ve been working on being comfortable and confident,” Finley said. “I think maybe we were a little too confident during the end of the first half. We regrouped during halftime and got our focus back. We were able to pull away from them towards the end.”

Any thoughts that the Rams would mount a sustained comeback effort were quickly put to rest as Princeton stormed out of the gate in the second half with a 10-2 run to increase its lead to 43-28. Once again, a pair of three pointers was the Rams’ undoing, this time from Lake and freshman forward Patrick Saunders.

“In the second half, they scored a couple buckets, and then Pat hit a three in the corner that gave us a good momentum starter,” Finley said. “That three helped us get our offense going and gave us confidence on the defensive end.”

While Fordham was able to mount a small comeback, closing the gap to 45-39 with 12:38 remaining, the outcome was never again in doubt. The Tigers cruised for the rest of the game, achieving their highest lead of the game at 69-51 on a Buczak layup with 2:39 left.

Lake played the hero in the second half, exploding for 11 points after the break on near-perfect shooting, going 3-4 from the field and 4-5 from the line and also snatching five rebounds.

“I think [Nick has] gotten a chance this year to show what he can do. He provides a lot of energy for us and sets the tone for us defensively. He makes a lot of the hustle plays, and it’s good to see him have a good game,” Finley said. “[This year’s and last year’s] teams aren’t that much different. I think we’re a little more athletic this year. We’re shooting the ball better this year.”

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Finley helped spark a strong effort from Princeton’s bench, with nine of the reserve unit’s 30 points. In total, nine players scored for the Tigers — three in double figures — in the team’s most cohesive scoring effort of the year. Of particular note was that Princeton managed a season-high point total even though Davis, the team’s leading scorer this season, was held to a season-low 11 points.

Princeton did a good job establishing an intimidating presence in the paint. Finley pulled down five rebounds in one of the Tigers’ better efforts on the glass this season. Lake led the team with nine rebounds, but he and Finley were far from the only Princeton players playing well near the basket.

Maddox also posted seven boards to complement his eight points, and the six-foot, seven-inch Saunders used his height advantage to collect five more. The Tigers as a team outrebounded the Rams 39-28.

Princeton made it difficult for Fordham to score from the interior. Buczak blocked two shots, as did Finley.

The Tigers return home Tuesday night to face South Carolina.