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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Columbia
Princeton Pulls Away for 68-59 Win over Columbia in Men's Basketball
February 25, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 25, 2005
Box Score
NEW YORK - Friday nights hadn't been great for the Princeton men's basketball team in Ivy League play. But thanks to the same kind of execution on both ends of the court that the Tigers had last Saturday at Brown, Princeton finally got its first Friday night Ivy win.
Luke Owings scored 14 of his game-high 19 points in the second half, including 10 straight points as the Tigers began to pull away, and Scott Greenman added 15 points and a huge three-point shot to put the Tigers ahead by 11 with 2:31 left as Princeton won at Columbia, 68-59, to improve to 4-6 in Ivy play.
The Tigers, who swept the season series with Columbia for the fourth straight year, put the game away by scoring 10 consecutive points in a five-minute span late in the second half, turning a 53-50 advantage into a 63-50 lead with 1:51 left. Judson Wallace and Mike Stephens had big baskets in that stretch, and Greenman then hit the three-point shot with 2:34 left. Princeton (13-11, 4-6) led 34-32 at halftime and trailed 38-37 after two Tito Hill free throws with 14:08 left. But Owings' three-point play then put the Tigers back ahead on Princeton's next possession, and his two backdoor layups gave the Tigers a 44-40 lead. A three-point shot from the left corner by Owings then gave Princeton a 47-42 lead with just under 10 minutes left, and four free throws by Owings gave Princeton a 53-46 lead with 6:12 left.
"We learned that you can't play for just 33 or 35 minutes," said Owings, who shot 6 for 8 from the field and 5 for 5 from the line. "You have to play the whole game. We've learned a lot in practice and now you're seeing it on the court."
Princeton shot 54% for the game (20 for 37) and 7 for 13 from three-point range, and held the Lions to just 44% shooting in the second half after Columbia shot 62% (13 for 21) in the first 20 minutes.
"Our defense was tremendous in the last few minutes of the first half and the whole second half," said Princeton head coach Joe Scott. "That's how you win on the road in the league."
Princeton trailed 32-24 with 2:39 left in the first half after a John Baumann three-point play for Columbia, but the Tigers scored the final 10 points of the half to take a two-point halftime lead. Princeton had two steals in that stretch, including one by Wallace in the final seconds, leading to two Greenman free throws that gave the Tigers a 34-32 lead.
Baumann led Columbia with 14 points off the bench, while Jeremiah Boswell had 13 points. Princeton forced 23 Columbia turnovers. The Lions' leading scorer, Matt Preston, had just six points and seven turnovers before fouling out of the game.
Columbia cut Princeton's advantage to 66-59 in the final minute, but the Lions were called for a technical foul for calling a timeout without having one left and Greenman made two free throws for the final margin.
Princeton plays at Cornell Saturday night. The game will be televised live by the YES Network beginning at 7 p.m.