That was head coach Sydney Johnson ’97’s quick account of what went wrong in the men’s basketball team’s 62-55 overtime loss in Jadwin Gymnasium last night.
“It’s a tough time for us to lose to Penn,” Johnson said.
Though Princeton (9-11 overall, 4-3 Ivy League) did a lot of good things against Penn (8-13, 4-3), the little things — not boxing out, not taking care of the ball — proved to be the its undoing.
At one point, it looked as though the Quakers would easily hand Princeton its third straight Ivy League loss.
With nine minutes, 12 seconds left in the second half, Penn center Cameron Lewis emphatically dunked the ball to give his team a 45-36 lead.
On the other end of the court, however, freshman guard Patrick Saunders knocked in a three-pointer, the Tigers’ first of the second half after it recorded six in the first.
Saunders was on the receiving end of Penn forward Conor Turley’s elbow soon after. The officials convened for quite some time, reviewed the play and called a flagrant foul on Turley. Saunders subsequently drained both of his free throws to pull Princeton within four at 45-41.
On their next three defensive sequences, the Tigers came up with steals. Sophomore guard Dan Mavraides, junior guard Marcus Schroeder and junior center Zach Finley all forced turnovers.
Finley finished two of the resulting possessions with layups to pull Princeton even with Penn at 45. On the second, he was fouled as he backed into the Quaker defending him. He couldn’t knock down his free throw, however, and so the game remained tied.
Penn forward Jack Eggleston and guard Tyler Bernadini each drew fouls and knocked down their free throws to put Penn back up by four. After Schroeder hit a free throw of his own, Quaker guard Zack Rosen pulled back his dribble at the top of the key and nailed a jumper.
Even at this point, Princeton didn’t quit.
Freshman guard Doug Davis hit a huge three-pointer with 1:31 remaining to pull the Tigers within two. On Penn’s ensuing possession, Davis came up with a steal, giving Princeton the chance to pull even yet again.
Mavraides missed his jumper, but Finley pulled down an offensive rebound to give the Tigers one more shot. It didn’t go to waste. Davis ran the pick-and-roll at the top of the court and found Finley cutting towards the basket, but then Finley was fouled. Finley calmly knocked down both free throws to knot things up at 51.
Bernadini got the last shot for the Quakers, but it was well defended by Princeton, and the game went into overtime.
The overtime period was strange. Penn scored 11 points, but it only made one field goal. That lone three-pointer, though, was an absolute backbreaker for the Tigers.
The Quakers had taken a 54-51 lead after having four free-throw opportunities, but Mavraides then countered with a layup. With Penn’s lead down to one, the Tigers forced Eggleston to take a three-pointer, which he missed badly.
But Rosen got the offensive rebound, and the Quakers made the Tigers pay. Guard Harrison Gaines got into the paint and found an open Rosen, who knocked down the three-pointer to give Penn a four-point lead with 1:57 to go.
Rosen tortured the Tigers all night, scoring 14 points while assisting on four shots. He also nabbed eight rebounds and had two steals.
Princeton tried to retaliate. Davis was fouled, he missed the ensuing free throw.
It was a crazy second half, especially considering that at one point in the first half, Princeton had a commanding 11-point lead, 29-18, that was capped off by Saunders’ free throw.
The Tigers went an amazing six-of-eight on their three-point shots to build their lead. But then the Quakers went on a run to get back in the game, and they never really lost their stride after that.
The run started with a Rosen jumper, but five Princeton turnovers in the last five minutes helped Penn immensely. The 11-2 run was capped off by guard Kevin Egee’s three-pointer with one second left in the half to leave the Quakers only two points behind.
“It was obviously pivotal. They were able to go into halftime feeling pretty solid,” Johnson said. “They got their act together and made it a two-point game at halftime. That changed the outcome of the game.”
Princeton did a lot of things well last night. It held Penn to 33.3 percent shooting for the game. The Quakers made only one field goal in overtime. Bernadini, one of Penn’s big guns, shot an abysmal four-of-17. As a team, the Quakers shot 20 of 30 from the free-throw line. Finley recorded his first ever double-double of the season with 12 points and 15 rebounds.
Princeton turned the ball over 20 times, and Penn picked up 18 offensive rebounds.
Those two numbers, in a nutshell, did the Tigers in.
“We turned the ball over 20 times. We gave up 18 offensive rebounds,” Johnson said. “That’s a lot of second opportunities for Pennsylvania, and they capitalized. We’re not good enough — and I don’t know many teams that are good enough — to overcome that.”
Princeton had all the answers in stomping Cornell and Columbia a week-and-a-half ago. Now, the Tigers are looking for answers.
“I don’t know. I think we gave it a lot trying to get it back and send it into overtime. We definitely didn’t give up, I know that,” Finley said. “I don’t know if we ran out of gas. We just weren’t able to get it done.”
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