PU men remain two games ahead with three to play
By: Justin Feil
Somebody taught Luke Owings well.
Not only did the Princeton University freshman pick up the art of shooting, passing and reading defenses at Gonzaga (D.C.) High, but he also realizes the value of the team game. So it was that after Owings, who had previously scored in double digits just once in the second game of the season, was asked about notching double figures for the second consecutive night as Princeton topped Cornell, 59-46, Saturday, he had this to say about his good weekend.
"It was a sweep. We won both. It doesn’t matter to me how much I score as long as we won. It was a good weekend."
Saturday’s win over Cornell their sixth straight of the season coupled with the Tigers’ 72-52 win over Columbia on Friday, meant a win at Harvard on Friday gives Princeton at least a share of its third Ivy League title in four years, and wins over Harvard and Dartmouth on Saturday will clinch it outright along with the Ivy’s automatic NCAA tournament berth.
"We talk about it one game at a time. We figure one victory is as good as the next," Owings said. "Keep on going, and eventually it will fall for you. Any team can beat any other team on any night. I know you all heard that one before."
It doesn’t look as though the Tigers can be beat now. Their six straight wins is a season-high. They won Nos. 5 and 6 in a row without the services of Ed Persia, the co-captain who was honored before Saturday’s tip-off as the lone PU senior.
"He’s been the backbone of this team for a while now," said PU head coach John Thompson after his team improved to 17-7 overall, 10-1 in the Ivies. "I feel bad for Eddie, on his last home weekend, to not be able to play. I feel really bad for him. His teammates realized what he means for the team. Eddie’s among the reasons it was important to win tonight. He’s meant a lot to this team. I think the guys did want to win for him, so I’m glad they did.
"He’s moving around better than he was (Friday). If you’re asking me if he’s going to play next week, I don’t know. He’s going in for treatment a couple times a day. We’ll see as the week progresses. He’s definitely not out (for this weekend)."
But he was against the New York teams, and that meant someone had to fill his shoes. In the starting lineup it was Max Schafer, a freshman like Owings. Schafer had a Persia-like four assists in the win over Columbia as well as two steals. He had another pair of assists against Cornell on a night they were hard to come by. Princeton shot just under 39 percent against the Big Red, one of its lowest shooting percentages in a win, and had just 10 assists on 19 baskets.
A night after Princeton shot a near record 71.8 percent in crushing Columbia, Owings was a bit of a standout with a 4-for-7 stat line against Cornell. He and Will Venable, who shot 5 for 7 were the only Tigers above 50 percent from the floor.
"I just think this weekend we needed it," said Owings, who had a career-high 12 points against Columbia and 11 against Cornell. "Eddie had been down. Will went down (with a back injury) at halftime. We needed someone to step up. If I hadn’t stepped up, I’m sure someone else would have. We have a great deep team. Everyone has a turn, and I guess this weekend was my turn."
Not that Owings got any more excited about the prospect of increased minutes. It’s hard for the freshman forward, who had a team-high seven points at halftime Saturday, to get more pumped than usual.
"I get pretty excited for any game," Owings said. "You think about. We’re so lucky to get to go out there and play basketball and have people come and cheer for us. How could you not be excited? It’s like going out and playing basketball with your best friends and having people cheer for you. How could you not be excited?"
If Princeton can get one more weekend from its team, there will be a lot more excitement around campus for its first trip to the NCAA tournament in three years. Not since Thompson’s first year have the Tigers ventured to the Big Dance, and never before have they won 17 games under the four-year coach. The next three are the biggest in his mind.
"There are three games left," Thompson said. "However you win it’s very important."
This year’s Princeton team isn’t the usual squad from Old Nassau. They rebound. Cornell became the seventh straight PU opponent to be outrebounded by the Tigers. They turn the ball over, 21 times on Friday and 14 more on Friday to remain ahead of their opponents in that category this season. They don’t have nearly as many assists as in years past. With three games left in the regular season, they are 76 behind last year’s total and 144 from the best in program history. They’re carried by something that is as strong as ever in the Princeton tradition.
"We think we’re going to win," Owing said. "As a team, we believe that we’re going to win no matter if we’re up by 10 or down by 10. We have faith in the other guys on our team. And we have faith in ourselves that we’ve gone through enough and we’ve worked hard enough throughout the whole year that we’re not going to come here and mess it up by not playing hard for 20 minutes. We’re all going to go out there and leave our all. You saw ‘Dre tonight, leaving everything on the floor."
Andre Logan led Princeton with 12 points and a career-high 14 rebounds on Saturday. One of Logan’s baskets came with under a minute left in the first half as Owings dove out of bounds and saved the ball to him under the basket to give Princeton a 27-18 lead going into halftime. Scott Greenman also had 12 points for the game, while Owings, Judson Wallace and Venable had 11 points apiece in one of the Tigers’ most balanced attacks of the season.
At the other end, Princeton is playing defense with a passion. Cornell, which was averaging a league-high 72 points per game, was held 20 points under its average. It was business as usual for the Tigers in thwarting another offensive attack.
"We pride ourselves on our defense every day," Owings said. "We work on it, we break it down, try different stuff. We think defense is pretty much all about wanting it more than the other team. We think we want it more. We think we’re pretty good on ‘D.’"
Princeton showed it again this weekend, and its sweep put it in sight of an Ivy title with just three games remaining. Luke Owings is just excited for that next game. He’s not thinking of the grand implications of another sweep.
He’s been taught well.