Men's Basketball: Defense falters in 75-65 loss to Bears

The Bears (10-14 overall, 3-7 Ivy League) put the pressure on from the beginning and did not let up, upsetting the Tigers (20-5, 8-1) for a second straight year.

Princeton entered Providence, R.I., with a 10-game winning streak and an undefeated record in league play after a 58-51 win at Yale (12-12, 5-5) on Friday. The Tigers temporarily held the title of the only team in Division I without a conference loss after Texas fell at Nebraska earlier on Saturday.

“Defensively, I thought we were tragic tonight. I thought it was a pretty poor effort,” head coach Sydney Johnson ’97 said of Saturday’s game. “We struggled to keep guys in front of us and our help defense wasn’t what it needed to be. They really played well. We’ve got to take this one and figure out how we can get better from it.”

The Bears jumped out to an early lead, holding an 11-point advantage with two minutes, 31 seconds left to go in the first half, but Princeton answered with a 6-0 run before the break. Brown shot 56.0 percent from the field in the first period, making half of its shots from beyond the arc.

“They got a nice 11-point lead, and we got a little bit scrappier and used our defense to get back into the game,” Johnson said. “But we just didn’t really apply ourselves the way we needed defensively long enough to make it a win for us.”

The Tigers fought back in the second half, and Princeton took a 45-44 lead with 12:28 left in the game when sophomore forward Ian Hummer hit a jumper. However, Princeton’s lead lasted only 30 seconds, as Brown guard Garrett Leffelman drilled a three on the next possession. The Tigers stayed close through the five-minute mark, but the Bears went on a 13-2 run to extend their lead to 14, sealing the ball game.

Senior forward Kareem Maddox led Princeton in scoring with 19 points, while Hummer recorded a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds. However, no other player for the Tigers managed more than five points. Princeton shot 38.2 percent from the field, hitting only 19.0 percent from three-point range. Brown placed four players in double figures, including Leffelman, forward Andrew McCarthy, guard Sean McGonagill and forward Peter Sullivan, who exploded for 26 points and was a perfect 16-for-16 at the free-throw line.

“If we’re not making shots and we give up 75, we have no shot at anything,” Johnson said. “That’s the part that we’ve got to face. You miss some shots, you turn it over sometimes, but you’ve got to come down and get stops and we just didn’t do that.”

The Tigers’ fortunes were better in New Haven, Conn., on Friday. The Tigers rallied from the opening tip and led 28-14 after sophomore forward Mack Darrow’s three-pointer late in the first half. Princeton only shot 33.0 percent in the first half but played excellent defense, holding Yale to only 29.0 percent shooting from the field for the period in a game that was notable for its physicality.

“The crowd was on us the whole game, but that makes it a fun environment, and Yale has a good fan base,” senior guard Dan Mavraides said. “It was getting a little chippy, but no more than any other Ivy League game. They’re a big physical team. It was a battle tonight, and both teams played hard.”

Yale pushed back after the break, chipping away Princeton’s 12-point lead with 11 minutes remaining. Yale forward Reggie Willhite’s dunk with 1:47 left cut Princeton’s lead to 52-49. However, the Tigers went on a 6-2 run and forced two Yale turnovers. Princeton caused 15 miscues in the game while yielding the ball only seven times and scored 16 points off the turnovers.

The Tigers return home next weekend for their last home weekend of the season. They host Cornell on Friday and Columbia on Saturday.