Men's Basketball: Tigers down Penn in Philly

PHILADELPHIA — With just over five minutes to go, sophomore guard Doug Davis sent up a stray shot. It missed the basket, but freshman forward Ian Hummer was there with the rebound and the put-back, giving the men’s basketball team a 45-40 lead over Penn and renewed momentum for the final stretch.

It wasn’t always pretty, but Princeton (15-6 overall, 6-1 Ivy League) got the job done.

The Tigers defeated the Quakers (4-17, 3-4) by seven, 58-51. Princeton never trailed, but Penn was always dangerously within reach. The Tigers never led by more than nine points in the Palestra, and the Quakers held Davis — the Tigers’ leading scorer this season — scoreless.

“It’s harder since he [Davis] is such a good player for us,” head coach Sydney Johnson ’97 said. “At the same time, we’ve been doing this as a team.”

This marks the first time that Princeton has won the first game of the two-game series with the Quakers since 2001. Junior guard Dan Mavraides picked up Davis’ slack, leading the effort with 24 points, his new career high. Hummer added another 14, and both he and senior center Zach Finley snatched six rebounds apiece.

Guard Zack Rosen and forward Jack Eggleston led the Quakers, scoring 15 and 14 points, respectively. But Penn’s overall offensive efforts failed miserably. Penn attempted 12 more shots than the Tigers, but landed three fewer. The Quakers shot 16 of 50 from the floor, earning themselves a weak .320 field goal percentage. As the silver lining to their dismal offense, though, the Quakers made 18 points off of Tiger turnovers.

“I think that we can be in ball games when we’re really good defensively,” Johnson said. “We’re going to get quality shots if we can be good offensively.”

Despite Princeton’s shaky defense during the first half, it held the Quakers to a characteristicly low 22 points in the first half. Princeton’s intense defensive energy manifested itself in several interrupted passes but mostly frantic fouling. The Tigers ended the half with 10 fouls, giving Penn a chance to earn 10 points from the line.

Mavraides created momentum for the Tigers, scoring seven points in the first six minutes. Princeton suffered from the fouling, particularly after the referee called a questionable foul on Kareem Maddox’ block with less than four minutes until the half. The Quakers landed two successful free throws, putting Penn within two, but the Tigers organized quickly for a 9-2 run and ended the half frustrated but safely in the lead with the score 29-22.

The Quakers kicked off the first half by forcing a Princeton turnover. Senior guard Marcus Schroeder fouled, giving Penn a chance at the line and its first two points of the half. This kicked off a spree of four straight scoring possessions, including two three-pointers by Mavraides.

Hummer — who was watching the Tigers win from the Palestra stands last year — added five points in the second half.

“[Hummer] brings some enthusiasm, some hustle,” Johnson said. “Between he and Patrick, that’s a pretty good one-two punch. There’s some depth there.”

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Penn never got closer than four in the second half, but the Quakers kept it close in the stretch as the Tigers suffered from the absence of their tall boys, Finley and senior center Pawel Buczak, both of whom fouled out in the last three minutes.

The Quakers fouled four times in the final minute, but they chose the wrong man. Mavraides continued his habit of coming through in the big moments, hitting eight free throws in a row to keep the Tigers in the lead and seal the win.

The Quakers, who surprised Cornell with their sole loss last Friday, kept the Penn-Princeton tension alive despite weak performances throughout the season.

“It’s kind of an easy game to play with a lot of energy because it’s such a big rivalry,” Mavraides said. “I think we played hard.”

Princeton was reeling from its first defeat of the Ivy season, a three-point loss to Cornell on Saturday, and the team is still regaining its composure as it heads into the second half of the Ivy season.

“Our players are getting some confidence,” Johnson said. “If they get a stop, they’re coming down and converting. We’re still sticking to what we do offensively. We’re playing better than we were earlier in the season.”

The Tigers are in second place in the conference behind Cornell.

The Big Red also have one league loss, but, at 7-1, also have one more league win than Princeton.

For a team that tied for last in the league only two seasons ago, the Tigers might seem to be poised to bring back the glory days.

Coach Johnson has a quick answer for that hypothetical. After a reporter asked Mavraides if he thought that Princeton basketball might be returning to its old status as an Ivy powerhouse, Johnson interrupted.

“No comment,” Johnson said. “We’ll get to Friday, Saturday. Next question.”