Quick Hits: Jays top Tigers; cagers roll

In ‘Quick Hits,’ we give our immediate thoughts after the biggest games on campus. Today: the men’s lacrosse team’s showdown with Johns Hopkins and the men’s basketball team’s victory over Yale.

Men’s Lacrosse: No. 2 Johns Hopkins 10, No. 11 Princeton 8

-Despite a slow start, Princeton’s offense showed it could play. The Tigers were consistently creating good opportunities in the second half, and though they couldn’t finish a lot of shots in the third quarter, it paid off during a late-game rally. Sophomore midfielder Tom Schreiber was electric at times, but he had a lot of help.

-Princeton’s defense needs to be its strength, however; and in surrendering 10 goals this afternoon, it wasn’t. Hopkins is a strong team, for sure, but the Blue Jays aren’t extremely electric on the offensive end; they had topped 10 goals in only one of their first three games, all against defenses not as strong as the Tigers’. Senior defenseman Chad Wiedmaier was uncharacteristically beaten one-on-one from behind the cage for a first-period goal.

-The Tigers were hamstrung by a slow start, featuring several turnovers on the offensive end. Hopkins’ strong defense had a lot to do with that, of course, but a few came about simply due to sloppy play. Princeton needs to get right in its rhythm to avoid falling behind early in future games against top teams, of which there will be many.

Men’s Basketball: Princeton 64, Yale 57

-It’s really hard to win on the road. People know about home-court advantage, but they often fail to appreciate the full magnitude of it. The Tigers went 3-4 on the road in Ivy League play, but they’ve already defeated three of those four teams at home, running their conference win streak to 15 games at Jadwin Gymnasium. Harvard learned the same lesson on Friday, needing overtime to dispatch sixth-place Columbia in Manhattan.

-Guess who hit the biggest basket of the night? As always, it was junior center Mack Darrow. After Yale made a 11-3 run coming out of halftime to tie the game at 40, Darrow gave the Tigers the lead for good with a three-pointer, just as he has several times this season.

-The Tigers were perfect from the free throw line in the final minute. Last year’s team tended to let things get hairy at the end of games on occasion, but this year’s Tigers have been strong in the last minute.