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Princeton University Athletics
Tigers Pull Away for 64-54 Win at Lehigh
November 20, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 20, 2005
Box Score
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Joe Scott certainly had happy memories of the last time he coached at Lehigh's Stabler Arena, Princeton's epic win over Penn in an Ivy League playoff in 1996. But he also had pretty good memories after watching the 2005-06 Tigers put on a terrific performance in their first road game of the year.
That's because his Tigers used a 15-1 first-half run to take a double-digit lead they wouldn't relinquish. That's because his team outrebounded Lehigh and got points from nine different players. That's because the Tigers went on the road and defeated the Mountain Hawks, 64-54, in a game that wasn't really as close as the final score indicated.
Princeton (1-1), which won its 22nd straight game against Lehigh (1-3), never led by fewer than 10 points in the second half, extending to as much as a 19-point lead in the game's final minute. Noah Savage tied a career high with 18 points, and Luke Owings had 17 points and a career-best seven rebounds, as the Tigers shot 51% for the game and 8 for 15 from three-point range.
"We had four hard practices after the Drexel game Monday and came out ready to play today," Scott said. "We did a good job of keeping them from making three-point shots, and were able to take advantage of things offensively both inside and outside."
"We worked on some things this week and were able to do them in a game situation today," said Savage, whose points came both in the post and from three-point range. "Everybody who played today contributed and that ends up in a win." Princeton's game-changing run came midway through the first half with the Tigers clinging to a 13-12 advantage. Owings' three gave Princeton a 16-12 lead, and Savage's layup in the post with 7:11 on the clock made it 18-13. Another Owings three made it 21-13, forcing a timeout from Lehigh coach Billy Taylor, but Kyle Koncz and Savage then banged three-pointers in the next two minutes to give Princeton a 27-13 advantage.
Lehigh missed all four of its field-goal attempts in the Princeton run, finally ending an eight-minute scoreless run when Kyle Neptune scored in the final minute of the half.
"We did it on the defensive end of the court and on the boards today," said Scott, whose team outrebounded Lehigh 24-23 and limited the Mountain Hawks to just 25% shooting (5 for 20) in the first half. "We got steals and were very active the whole game."
Princeton had been outrebounded 46-17 by Drexel in its season-opening loss to the Dragons Monday night at Jadwin Gym.
Princeton limited Lehigh's leading scorer, guard Jose Olivero, to just 1 for 7 shooting from the field. The Mountain Hawks scored 20 of their 54 points from the foul line.
The Tigers also got a career high nine points off the bench from junior center Patrick Ekeruo, who played 21 minutes spelling Harrison Schaen, who was plagued with foul trouble. Princeton shot 58% in the second half and made 11 of 13 second-half free throws.
Lehigh's smallest second-half deficit prior to the final seconds was with 18:12 left, when an Olivero three-point play made it 29-19. But the Tigers then scored seven of the next eight points, getting a nice backdoor feed from Owings to Ekeruo and a Savage three-pointer to take a 36-20 lead with 14 minutes left.
Princeton hasn't lost to Lehigh since 1930, though the teams were playing their first game since 1996 today. The Tigers also improved to 10-3 against Patriot League competition in the past five seasons.\
Neptune shot 7 for 9 from the field and scored a team-high 22 points for Lehigh, while Olivero scored eight of his 10 points from the foul line. The Mountain Hawks, who nearly defeated Northwestern at the BCA Invitational last weekend in Wyoming, had 14 turnovers.