Men's Basketball: Princeton topples Spartans

The men’s basketball team headed to North Carolina on Sunday looking to build on its impressive victory over Lafayette last week. After a solid 65-50 victory over UNC-Greensboro (2-6 overall), it’s safe to say Princeton (4-4) did just that.

It was the second straight double-digit victory for the Tigers. Princeton’s first two wins of the season, on the other hand, came down to the wire.

“It feels great,” senior forward and co-captain Nick Lake said of winning by a more comfortable margin. “I think today showed us that we don’t need to always be in close games. It’s okay to have a big lead and maintain a big lead.”

The Tigers had not jumped on top of a team and stayed on top thus far this season. Even their victory against Lafayette came as the result of a strong second half that saw the team surge out in front.

Using a stingy defense and an unselfish offense, the Tigers took control of the game midway through the first half. The Spartans made a couple of runs to try to get back in it, but each time Princeton extinguished any hopes of a rally with runs of its own.

The first 10 minutes of the game were mostly back and forth. But with seven minutes, 26 seconds remaining in the half and the Tigers clinging to a two-point lead, 20-18, Princeton’s backcourt ignited a 15-4 run.

Senior co-captain and guard Marcus Schroeder knocked down a jumper. After a stop at the other end, he fed junior guard Dan Mavraides for a layup.

Princeton’s defense held UNC-Greensboro scoreless for several minutes before Mavraides exploded for seven more points — two layups and a three-pointer. Schroeder assisted on two of the field goals.

The Spartans finally stopped the bleeding when guard Kyle Randall knocked in a jumper to make it 31-22, but junior forward Kareem Maddox and sophomore guard Doug Davis polished off the half with a pair of jumpers, giving the Tigers a 35-22 lead at the half.

A key to Princeton’s early success was limiting the damage UNC-Greensboro could do on the glass — it had outrebounded its past two opponents by 38. The Tigers won that battle in the first half, 20-12, and though in the end the Spartans finished with the 33-29 edge, it was a far cry from their dominance in their previous two games.

Princeton scored the first six points of the second half to go up by 16, but the Spartans would not give in. After a layup by senior center Pawel Buczak with 10:40 remaining in the game, the Tiger offense disappeared. Princeton didn’t score for almost five-and-a-half minutes, during which time the Spartans continued to chip away at the lead.

UNC-Greensboro guard Mikko Koivisto was fouled on a three-pointer, and he sunk all three free throws to narrow the deficit to eight.

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But if the offense had dried up, the defense didn’t. Neither team scored during the three-minute stretch from 9:27 to 6:27, until Spartan forward Ben Stywell finally drew a foul. He sank one of his free throw attempts to bring UNC-Greensboro within seven, at 48-41.

He missed his second shot, but the Spartans rebounded the miss and had a chance to cut the Tigers’ lead to five or even four. Davis wouldn’t have any of it, though. He came up with the steal and uncorked a mid-range jumper on the other end.

Then freshman forward Ian Hummer went to work. Princeton’s next seven points came from Hummer, who was fouled on three possessions. He drained five of his six attempts from the charity stripe, and he capped off his own 7-2 run with a layup, giving the Tigers a 57-43 lead with 3:07 remaining.

“I think in every game, the opposing team is going to make a run,” Lake said. “They did, and they turned up the pressure on us. They made their run, but we made ours after that.”

It was an impressive performance for Princeton. The Tigers’ ball movement was spectacular — Princeton finished with 19 assists compared to only nine turnovers. It was only the second time this season that the Tigers finished with more assists than turnovers.

Schroeder was extremely proficient with the ball, finishing with five dimes and no turnovers. He also pulled down a team-leading seven rebounds, grabbed a team-leading three steals and chipped in five points. For the season, Schroeder now has 22 assists compared to only 10 turnovers and is one of the team’s primary ball-handlers.

He wasn’t the only one who moved the ball effectively, though. Davis had four dishes, and Buczak had six. The ball movement was contagious; six players had an assist.

“We felt that moving the ball around was going to give them trouble,” Lake said.

It did. Though Princeton only shot four of 19 from three-point land, it still shot an efficient 50 percent overall. Because the Tigers were aggressive and moved the ball effectively, they finished with 16 field goals for 32 points in the paint.

On the defensive side, Princeton held UNC-Greensboro to 40 percent. The Tigers came up with nine steals and benefited from 15 Spartan turnovers overall. Surprisingly, Hummer led Princeton in scoring with 17 points, though he only played 12 minutes. He was four-of-five from the field and nine-of-11 from the line.

Mavraides was the only other scorer in double figures for the Tigers, with 13. Nine different players scored for Princeton.

It was the second road victory of the season for the Tigers and the first since their season opener against Central Michigan. After no midweek games last week, Princeton will go for its first three-game winning streak of the season when it returns home to host Monmouth (3-7) at Jadwin Gymnasium at 7 p.m. Wednesday.