PU men look better in earning first win

Owings lead Tigers past Lehigh

By: Justin Feil
   Six days after looking like it was even odds that it couldn’t match the football team’s seven-win season, the Princeton University basketball team turned just about everything around for a 64-54 win at Lehigh on Sunday.
   "We kind of looked like different teams," said Luke Owings, who had 17 points and a career-high seven rebounds. "Our first game, we really didn’t come prepared. We knew theoretically what we needed to do. We weren’t ready to give the aggressiveness and give ourselves over to the team concept. We realize what it’s going to take to win. We’re not going to be carried by Judson (Wallace) or Will (Venable, both 2005 graduates). We all have to know what to do."
   For Owings, it means staying out of foul trouble, scoring and rebounding. In the season-opening loss to Drexel, foul trouble limited him to 23 minutes, he made just 2-of-7 shots including an 0-for-3 night from three-point range, and he totaled just a pair of rebounds. The junior forward found the effects of that performance when he turned on the television Thursday.
   "Seeing Drexel play on ESPN2 was a sickening feeling," Owings said. "That’s going to make you do things, even if you don’t think you can do."
   Practices were better after the loss to Drexel and the Tigers felt better about knowing how to win against Lehigh. The Tigers, who were out-rebounded by a 46-17 count against Drexel, held a 24-23 edge against the Mountain Hawks on Sunday. Princeton also had less reliance on the three-point shot, but made 8 of their 15 shots from beyond the arc. Owings’ three-pointer started a 14-1 run that helped Princeton stretch a 13-12 lead to 27-13.
   "It was just sticking to our stuff," Owings said. "It was talking on defense and not getting impatient on offense, knowing the shots would come. We have to stick with our stuff.
   "Anyone can stick with their stuff for five minutes and hang with a team. We did the whole game. They started getting away from their stuff after we got on top and it showed."
   Owings and the Tigers made sure they stayed on top. They limited second chances as Owings recorded a career-high in rebounds.
   "I would say that as a team, the effort that went into getting the seven rebounds, personally and as team, is something we try to give every game," he said. "It’s not just me."
   Owings called the first game a learning experience. It’s also what he hopes will be the low mark of the season as the Tigers continue to preach improvement. They will try to build on their first win of the season when they host Lafayette 3 p.m. Sunday and play more like the team that handled Lehigh than the team that showed its inexperience against Drexel.
   "To be fair, I didn’t expect us to come out so flat the first game and (stink) so badly," Owings said. "I’d like to think the team we had today, it captured our essence a lot better. I wouldn’t be surprised if our team was to show up every game like this.
   "First game, we came in with tentativeness. We weren’t ready to put our bodies on the line and go and get the (rebounds). We know nothing is going to be given to us. It’s so different when we had Judson, Will and Andre (Logan, another 2005 graduate). They were so talented, they’d carry us through tough times. Now we have to step up."
   The new Tigers did in holding Lehigh to 25 percent shooting in the first half. Princeton shot 51 percent for the game, led by Noah Savage’s 18 points including an 8-for-10 showing from the free-throw line. The sophomore forward was also 2-for-3 on three-pointers. Patrick Ekeruo also contributed a career-high nine points in 21 minutes while spelling the foul-plagued Harrison Schaen. Matt Sargeant had four assists in 17 minutes of action.
   "Our practices were definitely better," Owings said. "Truthfully we can only learn through experience. We got our butts handed to us by Drexel. We got destroyed on the boards. We thought we were giving everything, but it wasn’t enough. And we’re not going to be happy just because of this. We’re not going to forget we did get rocked."
   But if this is the sort of improvement the Tigers expect to show game-by-game, there won’t be many games like the Drexel loss and far more performances like that showed against Lehigh. The win was Princeton’s 22nd straight against Lehigh, a team they haven’t lost to since 1930.
   Decades of dominance meant nothing to the Tigers on Sunday. They were just happy to see what a difference one week made.