Men’s basketball falls to St. Joseph’s 92–82

Men’s basketball (4–3 overall, 0–0 Ivy) was defeated by St. Joseph’s University (5–4) on Wednesday night, with a final score of 92–82. The Tigers, despite staying competitive for most of the first half and tying the score twice, never took the lead during the entire game.

Senior captain and guard Devin Cannady had the game’s first shot, missing a three pointer for the Tigers. St. Joe’s Charlie Brown Jr. put up the first points of the game in the 18th minute, with a three-pointer. Junior center Richmond Aririguzoh was the first Princeton player to score, with a good layup from the paint. St. Joe’s responded with a layup, but the Tigers brought the game within one point in the next minute, 5–4, with a jump shot from junior guard Jose Morales.

St. Joe’s went on to score a seven-point run over the next two minutes, until Cannady broke the momentum with a great three-pointer in the 14th minute. The two teams went back and forth until Aririguzoh hit two fouls shots in a row in the 11th minute and subsequently hit a layup from the paint, with an assist from senior captain Myles Stephens, bringing the Tigers within two, 18–16.

In the following minutes, the Tigers would again be victims of a seven straight point run by St. Joe’s. A layup by Stephens and a dunk by sophomore guard Ryan Schwieger, followed by his successful free throw, enabled the Tigers to lower the gap to six, bringing the score to 29–24.

After St. Joe’s responded with a dunk, Princeton went on a six-point run with shots from sophomore forward Sebastian Much and Aririguzoh, who hit four free throws in a row, to tie the game 31–31. More points from both sides allowed the game to remain close until the whistle blew for the half, with Princeton tying the game again at 34–34. The half ended with a score of 39–36 in St. Joe’s favor.

Stephens was the first Princeton player to score in the second half, with a great layup under pressure bringing the score to 40–38. Following Stephens’s basket, Brown was taken out of the game after he suffered an ankle injury.

Despite some swishes from Princeton both inside and outside the three-point line, the Tigers began to fall behind. By the time 14 minutes were left in the game, the Tigers trailed 60–45.

In the sixth minute, sophomore forward Jerome Desrosiers hit a perfect three-pointer hitting only net, bringing the Tigers within six points at 72–66. That would be the closest the Tigers would come to St. Joe’s for the rest of the game.

Princeton’s Ethan Wright, a freshman guard, scored the last points of the game when he hit a three-pointer from wide with two seconds to go. The game finished 92–82 in St. Joe’s favor.

“[St. Joseph’s] lost one of their best players to a concussion, lost another to a sprained ankle and were still very good and hard to stop,” head coach Mitch Henderson ’98 said. “We weren’t our best and have a lot to learn.”

But the Henderson noted that he was optimistic about the team’s upcoming season.

“We just want to be getting a little bit better every day,” he said. “We just haven’t put it together yet, but it’s coming.”