PU basketball gets by Rutgers in overtime
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Sydney Johnson saw a lot of character wins from his Princeton University men’s basketball team last year.
This year, the Tigers opened the season with another one.
Princeton built a 14-point lead in the first half, only to see Rutgers battle back and eventually take a four-point lead with just under five minutes to play. But Princeton showed its experience and rallied to tie the game and force overtime, where it came away with a 78-73 win on Friday night at Jadwin Gym.
”I thought there were a lot of guts there,” said Johnson, whose team fell to 1-1 with a 97-60 loss at top-ranked Duke on Sunday. “I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t know if that will hold up all year, we have to answer that question. We showed a lot of that last year but this is a different team looking for its own identity.”
Princeton’s offense was clicking in the opening half as the Tigers were able to build a 37-23 lead. But the Scarlet Knights chipped away under first-year head coach Mike Rice and got to within 44-38 by halftime. Rutgers went ahead, 58-57, with 6:24 left to play and led 63-59 with 4:49 left. But Princeton eventually tied it on an Ian Hummer shot with 33 seconds left, then outscored the Scarlet Knights 13-8 in overtime.
”Coach Rice knows what he’s doing,” Johnson said. “He’s a terrific coach and those guys played very hard. So this was a pretty good win for us. Then add to that there is a lot of history there and, let’s be fair, they have dominated the series recently. At the same time we have a lot of games coming up. So we want to learn from this game, good and bad.”
Princeton had lost 11 of the last 12 meetings with Rutgers, so the win was a big one. Dan Mavraides led the Tigers with 26 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Hummer added 17 and Douglas Davis had 16 for the Tigers.
Mavraides was the key, hitting several clutch shots for the Tigers.
”Twenty-six points, seven rebounds, four assists, that is setting the bar pretty high,” Johnson said of the effort. “Dan knows that he brings a lot more than just shooting. When he shoots and the ball goes in it makes things that much easier. My challenge to him is what if your shot is not going down? Can you lead us? I felt there were hustle plays there that don’t show up in the box score and I want to see that every night.
”When he is making threes that makes it easier. But his challenge is to lead us. That will make us a more competitive basketball team.”
For Mavraides, the win over a Rutgers program that has dominated them in recent years was a nice way to open the season.
”It feels great,” the senior said. “I personally haven’t beaten Rutgers. I don’t think Coach (Johnson) has beaten Rutgers. It’s been a while and a little one-sided the last decade or so. So it means a lot. We play them every year and it means a lot.
”That was huge for our team. It’s great to see that early in the season that we lost the lead and were down four, but we stayed composed and kept doing what we do. I think the fans helped a lot. We kept running our stuff and stayed with what we do and came out on top.”
Mavraides shot eight of 14 from the floor and made six of his 10 three-point shots. His offense will be a key part of the Tigers’ hopes for success this season.
”I felt pretty good tonight,” he said. “As a shooter you have your on days and your off days. Today was one of my on days. It helped that they were doubling down on our bigs. Ian is a great passer and Brendan (Connolly), Kareem (Maddox) and Mack (Darrow) are all very good passers. They were getting doubled down low and did a great job of kicking it out for open shots.”
Connolly finished with seven points and 11 rebounds in his first start, while Maddox added seven points and six rebounds. The Tigers finished the game with a 36-28 rebounding edge over Rutgers.