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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Tulane (Sun Bowl Tournament)
Wallace, Big Early Run Propel Princeton Past Tulane at Sun Bowl Tournament, 59-51
December 27, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 27, 2004
Box Score
EL PASO, Texas - Somehow, a 23-point Princeton lead had been cut down to single digits at the game's most important time. Luckily for the Tigers, senior Judson Wallace made sure his team didn't let a solid all-around performance by all of his teammates slip away.
Wallace scored 20 of his 22 points after halftime, including 20 of the Tigers' final 24 points overall, and Princeton advanced to the final of the State Farm Sun Bowl Tournament with a 59-51 victory over Tulane in Monday's night's first round at El Paso's Don Haskins Center. The Tigers play host UTEP, a winner over Alabama State in Monday's other first-round game, tomorrow night at approximately 10 p.m. EST.
The senior center made all three of his three-point shots in the second half, shot 11-for-14 from the foul line for the game and also added five rebounds and four assists. "I think I'm a good three-point shooter, but I came into the game shooting under 25% from out there," said Wallace, who shot nearly 36% from beyond the arc last year. "I felt good shooting them and they went in tonight."
Wallace and fellow senior center Mike Stephens, who combined to score all of the Tigers' final 24 points, were the second-half story. But the story of the game ought to have been the first half, when Princeton scored 18 consecutive points to take a seemingly commanding 20-2 lead with just eight minutes elapsed, then had another 11-3 run after that to go ahead 31-8 with under four minutes left in the half.
"We simply have to get better at putting teams away when we establish leads like that," said Princeton head coach Joe Scott. "For the first 17 minutes of the game, we played our game very well."
Three driving layups by Will Venable and Scott Greenman gave Princeton (6-3) its first six points, and the Tigers then used the backdoor against Tulane's man-to-man defense to spurt to the 20-2 advantage. Tulane (4-5) scored on Donnie Stith's layup 1:17 into the game but didn't have another field goal until over 13 minutes later, when Vytas Tatarunas scored to make the score 24-8 Princeton.
Tulane scored 15 straight points in a seven-minute span around halftime to get back into the game. Reserve Vytas Tatarunas was the spark for the Green Wave, coming off the bench to scored a team-high 15 points and add a game-high 11 rebounds, and when Marcus Kinzer's floater was good with 16:14 left, the Green Wave was within seven at 33-26.
Wallace then led the Tigers back to a double-digit lead, but Tulane had yet another run. Tatarunas' floater in the lane pulled his team within five points, 41-36, with 8:19 left, but Wallace then found Stephens down low for a layup with 7:43 on the clock and the Tigers were never challenged after that.
Venable had nine of his 11 points in the first half for the Tigers, who shot 56% for the game and made 7 of 13 three-point shots. Tulane stayed in the game thanks largely to a 35-20 rebound advantage, including an 18-3 advantage on the offensive glass. Tatarunas had seven offensive rebounds.
Princeton shot 62% in the first half (13 for 21) and held Tulane to just 5 of 20 shooting in the first 20 minutes. It marked the seventh time in the last six games that the Tigers had held a team to five or fewer field goals in a half in a game.
Luke Owings returned to action for Princeton for the first time since Nov. 27 at Lafayette, playing 11 minutes off the bench. With the win, Princeton advances to the championship game of a consolation/championship in-season tournament for the fourth straight time.