Men's Basketball: Tigers grab win in opener

Last year, the men’s basketball team came close to toppling Central Michigan, though only one Tiger — now-sophomore guard Doug Davis — had a double-digit scoring night. The crucial difference, which made for the 71-68 victory last Saturday night, was that instead of asking Davis for another Lebron-like performance, the Tigers displayed a diverse scoring squad with several offensive threats.

“That’s a reflection of being a deeper team,” head coach Sydney Johnson ’97 said. “When you have capable players and you have more than a few, then more than a few can contribute, and that will hopefully make us a stronger team. I think we are little more experienced, a little more familiar with the coaching staff, with the expectations of the program. [The players] have more confidence, more certainty, and it doesn’t mean we are going to win every game, but I don’t think they ever doubted that they could win this one.”

Though Davis had a dominant performance during the road game against Central Michigan (0-1 overall), Princeton boasted several stars this year instead of just one. The Tigers led by a slim margin for nearly the entire game, but the Chippewas refused to go down without a fight.

The Tigers (1-0) saw a 53-44 lead disappear in the second half largely because of a pair of dominant guards on the Central Michigan squad who scored 17 points in the final seven minutes of the match. With just 45 seconds left on the clock, the Chippewas made a free throw that knotted the game at 67. Fortunately for fans of the Orange and Black, Davis stepped in to seal the win. After scoring a 12-footer, Davis blocked a jumper and nailed two free throws — all in the final 38 seconds of regulation. Central Michigan made one last attempt to extend the game to overtime, but a potentially game-tying three-pointer bounced off the rim with four seconds to go.

The game came down to the wire in the final seconds of play, but initially a lackluster Chippewa defense looked like it would let Princeton’s hot shooters easily run away with the win. The Tigers found the bottom of the net on 73.7 percent of their field goals, draining five-of-six threes, in the first half and went on a nine-point unanswered shooting spree. Yet Princeton led by only four points heading into the second half.

The Tigers came out hard to start the second frame, earning their largest lead of the night with nine points after a layup by junior guard Dan Mavraides made the score 53-44. With more than 12 minutes left on the clock, however, there was still plenty of time for Central Michigan to make a comeback. The Chippewas simultaneously stifled Princeton’s offense — the Tigers’ field-goal percentage dropped to 45.5 percent in the second half — and consistently scored.

“We were making simple defensive mistakes that they were being coached well enough and had good enough players to capitalize on,” Johnson said. “If we had a strategic plan, we did not adhere to it, and that was enough to hurt us. It was frustrating because we can have a better defensive effort, and I hope that comes, because we will need it.”

Johnson called a timeout with 3:36 remaining.

“The main thing was that we did not want to let them shoot threes,” senior forward and co-captain Nick Lake said. “They were making a lot of threes. They did a good job running stuff, and they were just making plays. The main thing we were talking about [during the timeout] was stopping them from making threes.”

Central Michigan tied the game at 62 with 3:06 left on the clock, keeping its fans on the edge of their seats until the final seconds of regulation.

All eight Princeton players who hit the court made a bucket at some point in the game, and three earned double-digits in scoring. Mavraides and Davis co-led the offensive with 16 points apiece, while senior center Zach Finley netted 13 points. Though the Tigers ultimately outplayed the Chippewas in almost every aspect of the game, they struggled in the turnover category, as Princeton had 14 compared to Central Michigan’s eight. Despite the unfavorable turnover ratio, the Tigers’ consistent shooting allowed them to pull away with a win.

“We have good games and bad games, and that was a good game,” Lake said. “On offense, we ran our plays really well. We got some open looks, and in this game, we were just knocking them down.”

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

While there is still plenty of fine-tuning for Princeton to focus on in the future, Saturday’s effort was an indicator of how well rounded and deep the team is.

“It was very much like a conference game in this sense: This is a team that has familiarity with us: This is the second time we’ve played them,” Johnson said. “They also had a very good home crowd [that] impacted game, and they had experienced players, which most team in league will have. It was a great challenge, and it simulated what we will face in Ivy League, and we can take some amount of confidence in a hard-fought road win. Hopefully we can channel that in conference play.”

Princeton has only played one game so far, but it already seems like it’s going to be a promising season.

Correction:

An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Dan Mavraides as a sophomore. In fact, he is a junior.