On Tuesday night at Jadwin Gymnasium, men’s basketball (1–1 overall, 0–0 Ivy League) beat the Bucknell Bison (2–1, 0–0 Patriot League) 73–63. Following a defeat to Akron (2–0, 0–0 Mid-American Conference) on Saturday, the Tigers earned their first win of the season with their home opener. Solid defense, effective offensive rebounding, free throw opportunities, and 10 three-pointers throughout the game contributed to a victory over the Bison.
“It was nice to be at home and be able to bounce back after Saturday,” junior forward Jacob Huggins told The Daily Princetonian after the game. “We stayed bought in, and it was a lot of fun to be able to get the win.”
“Given where we were in preseason, and what happened to us on Saturday, that’s just a really nice win for us,” head coach Mitch Henderson ’98 added. “It felt like a league game, a really important league game.”
It was clear that the young team was still finding their footing and building chemistry given their scrappy start. Sophomore forward Malik Abdullahi won the tip off, but the ball was quickly turned over Bucknell, who made a three-pointer for the first points of the game.
Undeterred by the early 4-0 deficit, sophomore forward CJ Happy netted Princeton’s first points of the game with a slam dunk 90 seconds in. Abdullahi earned two free throws after battling through two defenders—which he easily converted to tie it up at 4–4 with two minutes elapsed.
Princeton took off from there, claiming control of the first half. After recapturing a missed shot by Bucknell, junior guard Dalen Davis polished off a three-pointer from just outside the paint to give Princeton their first lead — which they would not drop for the rest of the game.
Davis followed suit with a three-pointer of his own a minute and a half later, balancing out a cheeky under-the-hoop layup by Bucknell’s forward Amon Dörries. While forceful defense from Princeton kept Bucknell at bay, junior guard Jackson Hicke’s foul on forward Ruot Bijiek landed them in the penalty with nine minutes remaining in the half.
Princeton began to pull ahead following back-to-back three-pointers from Happy and baskets from Davis and Abdullahi. With just under seven minutes in the half, Princeton led 33–24.
Personal fouls by both sides put both teams over the limit into double bonus with two minutes left in the game. This came in handy for the Tigers at 57 seconds remaining with Huggins smoothly sinking both baskets to close out the half at 41–36.
After earning two fouls in the first 16 seconds of the second half, Abdullahi was forced to sit for the Tigers. Princeton did not net their first points of the half until almost two minutes later, thanks to a jump from Davis that narrowly beat the shot clock.
Despite slow starts to the period from both teams, Bucknell was able to eliminate Princeton’s lead, evening out the score at 43 for the first time since the early minutes of the game. Hicke and sophomore guard Jack Stanton responded quickly, generating five quick points for the Tigers to retake the lead.
While Princeton was able to control the scoreboard, they got in foul trouble early in the second half. After another Abdullahi foul, Princeton had five team fouls to Bucknell’s one.
“We fouled a little bit,” Huggins admitted with a chuckle after the game.
Following a dry spell by Bucknell, a Bison three-pointer brought the score to 48–47. Davis quickly provided some relief for his teammates to widen Princeton’s lead.
“I thought [Davis] was very good down the stretch.” Coach Henderson told the ‘Prince,’ noting that the junior “made the biggest buckets when they matter the most.”
Stanton converted a three-pointer, which first-year guard Landon Clark followed up with his first career three to extend the Tigers’ lead to 56–49.
Henderson was pleased with the overall performance of the four-star recruit, with Clark showing more minutes on the court than any other first-year. “To rip the ball out of somebody else’s hands, for a freshman, feels good,” Henderson said. “I’m going to sleep well tonight.”
Following Princeton’s 10th team foul, Bucknell earned double bonus status. However, the Tigers only conceded one foul the rest of the way, playing clean basketball in the late stages of the game and cementing their advantage in the free-throw battle.
“Us taking 29 free throws, that’s a really good sign,” Henderson told the ‘Prince.’
Davis capped off a stellar performance with eight points in the last two minutes of the game, tying his career high of 25 points and helping Princeton fend off the Bison.
“It was me today, but it could be anybody,” Davis said to the ‘Prince,’ reflecting on his dominant performance throughout the game.
“There’s going to be a game this season when somebody else has 25 and he has four assists and no turnovers,” Henderson echoed. “That’s going to happen in order for us to be successful.”
The tough nonconference slate continues for the Tigers. Princeton is set to host Division III John Jay (0–2, 0–0 City University of New York Athletic Conference) on Thursday, which will serve as the prelude to a high-profile away game on Saturday against the No. 25 Kansas Jayhawks (2–1, 0–0 Big 12).
With no seniors on the team, Princeton will need to be resilient and power through the inevitable growing pains they’ll face.
“We’re young, we all know that,” Coach Henderson said. “We got to grow real fast, because the schedule is just so hard, and we got some tough ones coming up.”
Leila Eshaghpour-Silberman is a staff Sports writer and contributing Features writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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