By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
It was a tough way to end the season.
The Princeton University men’s basketball team pushed Virginia Tech to the limit in their opening-round game of the NIT on Wednesday night before the Tigers fell, 86-81, in overtime.
“Looking back on the season, this was a really tough loss,” Princeton coach Mitch Henderson said after the game. “We haven’t lost many games like this throughout the season — or in the past few years — so I don’t know what we were supposed to do. It was hard to stop them down the stretch.”
Princeton trailed, 58-48, with less than 10 minutes to play but rallied to eventually tale a 61-60 lead with just over four minutes left. The lead went back and forth and the Tigers led, 68-65, with less than a minute to play. But the Hokies rallied and tied the game to force overtime, where they outscored the Tigers, 18-13.
The Tigers took 39 shots from three-point range in the game, making 11 of them. Steven Cook finished with 22 points to lead the Tigers, while Spencer Weisz had 14 and Devin Cannady added 13.
“We made shots and I thought we had so many open looks when shots didn’t go in, so I’m surprised to hear that we had the most 3’s against Virginia Tech all year,” Henderson said. “I thought we had good looks. I feel really bad for our guys, because we have some juice left in us and we could have kept playing (in the tournament).”
The Tigers finished the season with a 22-7 overall record. The third-seeded Hokies advanced to the second of the tournament, where they will face second-seeded Brigham Young.
“We played a great game tonight and it was a great year,” Henderson said. “We have a couple seniors we’ll miss a lot, but we’ll be ready next year.”
