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Princeton University Athletics
Men's Basketball Returns Home to Face Monmouth
January 06, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 6, 2004
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Last season's meeting between Princeton and Monmouth in men's basketball produced what just might have been the college basketball season's most amazing ending. And while no game in the rest of either team's history is likely to end the same way, the Tigers hope that the 2004 meeting will end with a Princeton win for the third straight year.
Ed Persia's miracle 80-footer aside, the series has included some close games over the last few years. Princeton's 60-57 win last year was preceded by a 76-70 Tiger win at Jadwin Gym the season before when Monmouth's Rahsaan Johnson scored a Jadwin Gym record 40 points to help keep the Hawks in the game. In 1999-2000 at Jadwin, the Tigers escaped with a 37-35 win in a game where the score was 12-12 at halftime.
Both teams are playing well heading into this year's meeting. The Tigers (5-5) broke a three-game losing streak with a win at Loyola last Monday and then had a near miss against seventh-ranked Oklahoma Saturday, falling 58-55 when Persia's three-point attempt at the buzzer was off the mark. Persia had a game-high 19 points for the Tigers, however, and was named the Ivy League Player of the Week on Monday after averaging 20.5 points in two games last week.
The Hawks (7-3) have now won five of their last six games after opening their Northeast Conference season with a 74-61 win over Sacred Heart on Saturday. Junior forward Blake Hamilton, who leads Monmouth in scoring at 16 points per game, scored a game-high 20 points as the Hawks outscored Sacred Heart 42-27 in the decisive second half. Wednesday's game is Princeton's final home game before a 16-day break for final exams. The Tigers face another stern road test on Saturday, traveling to Minnesota to face star freshman Kris Humphries and the Golden Gophers at Williams Arena.