Ed Persia gives Princeton a lift with 10 points off the bench.
By: Ken Weingartner
Ed Persia came off the bench to score his team-high 10 points in the final 9:42 to help the Princeton University men’s basketball team hold off Holy Cross, 52-50, Saturday night in non-conference action at Jadwin Gym.
Mike Bechtold and Ahmed El-Nokali added nine points each as the Tigers (4-7) played their final tune-up game before entering Ivy League play Friday at Harvard. Andre Logan had eight points while Kyle Wente had six points and a team-best five rebounds.
A 3-pointer by Persia with 9:42 to play snapped a 10-0 run by Holy Cross, which had pulled within 32-31 on two Brian Wilson free throws midway through the second half.
Persia also made four free throws with 16 seconds remaining in the game to give the Tigers a 52-45 advantage. Persia’s second set of free throws came after Holy Cross was given a technical foul for calling a timeout when it had none.
Princeton never trailed in the contest and twice led by 11 points, but was unable to put away the Crusaders.
Holy Cross (6-9) was led by Jave Meade’s game-high 11 points and nine assists.