Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Duke
Tigers Fall at Fifth-Ranked Duke, 59-46
January 05, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 5, 2005
Box Score
There was a point in the second half at Cameron Indoor Stadium Wednesday night when Princeton saw itself down just seven points to fifth-ranked Duke. Unfortunately for the Tigers, that moment was all too fleeting.
Thanks to DaMarcus Nelson's three-point shot with 13:16 left, the Blue Devils reestablished a double-digit lead. Thanks to some solid defense, Duke extended that lead. When it was over, the Devils had a 59-46 victory over the Tigers, despite the best efforts of Tiger seniors Will Venable and Judson Wallace.
Venable scored 14 of Princeton's 18 points in the first half and finished the game with 21 points, impressing the 9,314 in attendance and Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. Wallace had his second straight double-double, scoring 12 points and adding 10 rebounds, with 10 of those points coming when Princeton (8-5) made its run in the second half. "Will Venable is a heck of a competitor, in the Ivy League or any league," said Krzyzewski. "And Judson Wallace has a great chance to be the MVP of their league. That's a well put-together group that's tough to play against."
Duke (10-0) won Wednesday night's game thanks to many things, the most important of which was a 12-0 run in a five-minute span late in the first half. Layups by Daniel Ewing and Lee Melchionni gave the Devils a 21-12 lead, and a Shelden Williams dunk and Melchionni short jumper pushed Duke's lead to 13 points. Four free throws by J.J. Redick, including two when a technical foul was called on Princeton head coach Joe Scott, gave Duke an insurmountable 29-12 lead.
"We were able to play Princeton basketball and be perfect in our own ways for maybe 20 minutes out of 40," said Scott. "That's nowhere near good enough for this place, against this team. That stretch was certainly the key to the game."
Princeton certainly didn't give up despite trailing 33-18 at halftime, using a 9-1 run early in the second half to get back within single digits. Luke Owings made Princeton's only three-pointer of the game with 15:26 on the clock to make the score 37-25, and Wallace's dunk on a backdoor cut less than a minute later made it 38-27. Venable then drove and scored to make it 38-29, and the Tigers got possession of the ball when Ewing fouled Venable on the floor after the goaltended layup. Wallace's hook shot then made the score 38-31 Duke.
Nelson's three-point shot on Duke's next possession stopped the Princeton run, and the Devils would extend their lead to as many as 18 points with 3:30 left on two Ewing free throws.
"I don't think we had enough discipline on offense," said Venable, who shot 8 for 13 from the field and 5 for 6 from the foul line. "We were able to get some layups, but not enough of them came out of our offense."
"Will is a senior and he gives a lot to us," said Scott. "He gave that 100 percent effort tonight, and that will be an important thing for us in the league."
Redick scored a team-high 21 points for Duke, shooting 14 for 14 from the free-throw line. Duke shot just 36% from the field for the game but made 22 of its 25 free throws. Venable shot all of Princeton's six free throws.
Wallace added a career-high five steals for Princeton, which shot just 1 for 17 from three-point range, its worst performance from beyond the arc since a similar 1-for-17 performance in a loss at Penn State in the 2000 NIT.
"When a lot of teams play them, they want to take away backdoor cuts," said Krzyzewski. "But they take more than half their shots from three-point range, so we're going to defend the three. "We did a good job with that tonight."
Princeton led 8-5 four minutes into the game on a Venable layup, but Duke then scored 12 of the next 14 points to establish a seven-point lead. Venable scored Princeton's first 10 points before Andre Logan scored on a backdoor layup thanks to a Venable assist with 9:32 on the clock to stop a 7-0 Duke run.