PU, Sargeant command win

Tiger men’s hoops moves above .500 with late free throws

By: Justin Feil
   Last year, Joe Scott made it a habit to not watch his Air Force Academy men’s basketball players shoot free throws in games.
   But the first-year Princeton University coach was watching when Holy Cross cut a 10-point second-half lead to 52-51 and sent the Tigers’ Matt Sargeant to the charity stripe with 24 ticks left.
   The freshman forward hit both for his only points of the game and Scott Greenman added two more with six seconds to go to seal a 56-53 win in Worcester, Mass., Wednesday.
   "I think I saw them go in," said Scott after his team improved to 3-2. "Matt hasn’t been shooting all that well in practice, and he’d missed two earlier in the game. That’s even more credit to make them then. They were tough ones. He was still able to make them and that should give him some confidence."
   Sargeant made his first career start in place of the injured Luke Owings. Owings, who played in Saturday’s win over Lafayette, is out with stress fracture in his foot.
   "He could be back for Monmouth (Dec. 12), Temple (Dec. 20) or after Christmas," Scott said. "It’s a stress fracture. It just depends on when it calms down, when he stops having pain. He needs to practice. He’s not the type of player who can just play in games. It’s going to be a tough situation."
   Scott, however, liked what he got out of Sargeant on Wednesday. His stat line was solid, not spectacular. In 26 minutes of play, Sargeant had three rebounds, one turnover and two steals to go with his two points. He had scored just one point in his first four games combined.
   "He played well," Scott said of the Huntington Beach, Calif. resident. "His defense is good. He’s active. His offense will come as he gets more comfortable with it.
   "Right now, defense is his strength. Hopefully that will continue. Starting should show him he’s progressing well."
   Greenman led the Tigers with 17 points while Judson Wallace had 14 points and seven rebounds. Will Venable led Princeton with eight rebounds. Those were the veterans.
   "We started two freshmen," Scott said of Sargeant and Noah Savage. "Luke Owings is hurt and Andre Logan is hurt. So two of our top five are hurt. We’re winning road games with freshmen on the court. I think that’s good."
   The Tigers have their home opener Wednesday when in-state rival Rutgers visits. Princeton continues to emphasize defense, and it is in the defense that Scott has seen the most improvement since the first game.
   "Defense, that’s pretty much all we’re stressing," Scott said. "To hold a team to 38, and then (Wednesday) night to play the way we did most of the game, I’ve seen big improvements in all areas of our defense. If we hold teams to 40, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing. We’re doing all right. If that can be a staple, then we can move on to other things."
   Like the offense. Princeton shot closer to 50 percent against Holy Cross’s zone defense than it has in recent games, but they’d still like to be better than 46 percent. With games against zone teams like Monmouth and Temple looming, it’s important that Princeton shore up its zone offense. Wednesday’s eight three-pointers were a step in the right direction, but the 14 turnovers were too many.
   "We got a little better against the zone," Scott said. "Over the course of the year, we’ll get better at the other three or four things."
   But first, Scott is insistent that the team figure out how to give the same defensive effort for an entire game. Princeton held a 10-point lead, 48-38, with 4:49 to go before the Crusaders whittled that lead to a single point before Sargeant’s foul shots.
   "We gave up two three-pointers," Scott said. "We gave up one all game before that. It was the same situation that they had done before and we had stopped it. That’s where guys have to learn how to be good for 40 minutes. You want to win going away, 58-45. But teams at home with good coaches or good teams, it’s hard.
   "We gave up two threes. If we had stopped that, they wouldn’t have scored, they couldn’t have been able to press and it would have been over. That’s how you beat a team by 10 or 15. That’s a point of emphasis, beating teams like that on the road."
   So far that’s all that the Tigers have had a chance to do. Princeton has played all five games away from Jadwin Gym, something that Scott takes into account when he looks at the Tigers’ 3-2 record. Winning at home is a point of emphasis too and the Tigers will have to be on top of their game to beat Rutgers, the second Big East school they’ve faced this year after all three wins have come against Patriot League foes.
   "They’re like Syracuse and Wyoming," Scott said. "So we’ve played two of our five just like Rutgers. But we have this one at home. I don’t know how much it helps because we haven’t played there yet. I’d like to know another team in America that is over .500 and hasn’t played a home game.
   "Being really good at home is something we stress. We need to play well against Rutgers. We want to beat them. I think being 4-2 with five games on the road would mean we’re in good shape."