Men's Basketball: Second half surge stops Duquesne

It may have been the middle of spring break at Princeton, but the men’s basketball team didn’t have it easy in the first half of its game against Duquesne in the opening round of the College Basketball Invitational tournament on Wednesday night. In the end, though, Princeton walked away with a decisive 65-51 victory over the Dukes.

The Tigers (21-8 overall, 11-3 Ivy League) got off to a slow start, trailing Duquesne (16-16) by nine points with eight minutes, 16 seconds remaining in the first half.

Thirty seconds later, sophomore guard Doug Davis netted a three-pointer and started an offensive sequence that proved just how fierce Princeton is once the team finds its rhythm. Layups from Davis, freshman forward Ian Hummer and senior center Zach Finley brought the Tigers within three points of the Dukes. Davis scored another three to tie the game, 23-23, at 3:25. A third three from Davis and a layup from senior guard and co-captain Marcus Schroeder rounded out a 17-3 run that gave Princeton a 28-23 advantage going into halftime.

Duquesne trimmed the Tigers’ lead to one point early in the second half. But the Dukes were unable to hang on as Princeton pulled away. The Tigers widened their lead to as much as 17 points as they continued to play disciplined defense and convert offensive possessions into points on the board. With 14 seconds left on the clock, senior guard and co-captain Nick Lake dunked the ball, putting an exclamation point on an exciting second half for the Tigers.

“Duquesne does a good job with pressure,” head coach Sydney Johnson ’97 said. “Somehow, they seem to come up with timely steals.”

“We came in at halftime, and we just talked to each other like we always do,” junior forward Kareem Maddox said. “We thought that the main thing that was wrong with the first half was our energy was low. That’s not how we played the second half. Nick Lake and Marcus Schroeder definitely led that charge.” Maddox is also a contributing news writer for The Daily Princetonian.

Princeton’s three leading scorers added double digits from the bench. Davis led the Tigers with 16 points, 13 of which he scored in the first half. Maddox added 15. Hummer scored 14 points with impressive precision: He was four-for-five from the floor and a perfect six-for-six from the free-throw line. Finley contributed a team-high eight rebounds and six assists. Schroeder and senior center Pawel Buczak each had two steals.

The Tigers’ victory marks the first time they have notched 21 wins in a season since 1999. It is also the first time in 11 years that Princeton has advanced to the second round of a postseason tournament.

“It means a lot,” Johnson said. “We have worked hard to earn this moment, and I certainly think we’re going to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.”

The Tigers now head to Indianapolis, Ind., for a game tonight against Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in the quarterfinals.

IUPUI has not lost on its home court this season. Robert Glenn and Alex Young give the Jaguars two dangerous frontcourt scoring options. Glenn leads the team with 19.9 points per game, and Young averages 18.4 points and has made a team-high 71 three-pointers this year. Princeton will need to contain these two dynamic playmakers to extend its season and earn a spot in the CBI semifinals.