Tigers’ big plays down stretch seal victory
By: Justin Feil
The Princeton University men’s basketball team showed Saturday why it has led the nation in scoring defense in each of the past 12 years.
In the Tigers’ home opener at Jadwin Gym, Princeton took the sting out of the Xavier offense with its best defensive effort of the young season in a 58-52 win. The Tigers improved to 3-3 with their first-ever win over Xavier in the teams’ four meetings while the Musketeers fall to 5-2.
After three teams had already tied or topped the 70-point mark this season, including Lafayette’s 80 points Wednesday, the 52 points surrendered by Princeton courtesy of 35 percent Xavier shooting was a welcome sight.
"After the last game, I talked about defensively we might have to go to some type of junk defense," said John Thompson, who earned his first win on the home court as PU head coach. "Instead we just decided to go to a little hard work. The guys played really well. The effort was there and the concentration was there the whole game. I think our team played really, really well. As I told the guys, I think I’m a little better at telling them when they messed up than am I am at telling them how well they did. But they played really well tonight."
Princeton made the plays down the stretch to pull away from Xavier. Princeton trailed just once in the second half, 38-37 when Musketeer center David West made two free throws with 10:43 to play in the game. Xavier would tie the game three more times before Princeton made the big plays.
Tied, 50-50, with 2:18 to play, Nate Walton found a cutting Andre Logan for a layup that gave the Tigers the lead for good. Xavier missed four shots in the final two minutes against Princeton’s defense. The Tigers hit six of eight free throws in that same stretch.
Logan, who came off the bench to play 22 minutes, was a key factor in the closing minutes of the game. First, he snatched an offensive rebound of Kyle Wente’s missed free throw with 1:37 to play to give the Tigers an extra possession, then he grabbed two more at the defensive end off missed Xavier three-pointers to help seal the win.
The freshman forward finished with eight points and five blocks. His back-to-back blocked shots with 16:00 remaining set the tone in the second half for the Tigers’ aggressive defense and brought a welcoming roar of approval from the crowd of 4,405. Princeton forced 13 turnovers and just 23 percent three-point shooting.
"They executed their stuff better than we guarded it," said Xavier head coach Skip Prosser. "They guarded our stuff better than we executed it. They made the big plays."
At the other end the Tigers found a way to get a basket or a rebound whenever necessary. Princeton had just five offensive rebounds, but all five were in the second half. In one possession, Eugene Baah grabbed two and Logan grabbed one that he converted for a layup.
Offensively, Mike Bechtold went 4-for-6 from beyond the arc and led Princeton with 16 points. Walton added 10 points to go with a team-high six rebounds. But it was the return of Ahmed El-Nokali that sparked Princeton in the second half.
Playing his first minutes of the season after sitting out the first five games after surgery, the junior point guard hit a three-pointer with 17:19 to play to give Princeton its largest lead of the game, 35-26. He would not score again until he went to the free throw line in the final minute to seal the win. El-Nokali added four straight free throws in the last 56 seconds to finish with 10 points.
El-Nokali also gave Princeton momentum going into the second half with a three-point play that gave the Tigers a 29-25 half-time lead. He left the game seven minutes into the second half when he tore scar tissue, but returned to play in crunch time.
Princeton stayed in the game early thanks to the three-point bomb. The Tigers’ first five baskets, including three alone from sharpshooter Mike Bechtold, were from beyond the arc. Princeton finished the first half with six three-pointers made out of 13 attempts while holding Xavier to just 2-for-11.
Princeton had its greatest first-half deficit at seven points, 19-12, with 9:26 to play when Xavier’s David West scored seven straight points to break a 12-12 tie.
The Tigers battled back to take the lead, 24-23, on a three-pointer by C.J. Chapman that barely beat the shot clock. After Andre Logan hit two free throws followed by a Xavier basket, El-Nokali converted his three-point play to give the Tigers a four-point lead, their largest of the first half.
The Tigers would then trail just once in the second half before pulling out to the eight-point final margin. Princeton will host Rutgers 7:30 p.m. Thursday in their only other non-conference home game this season.