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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
North Dakota State
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North Dakota State Comes From Behind to Defeat Tigers, 57-50, at Blue & Gold Classic
December 01, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Mike Nelson scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half, including a key three-point shot with 1:09 left that staved off a Princeton rally, as North Dakota State defeated the Tigers, 57-50, on the first day of the Pepsi Blue & Gold Classic at the Bradley Center Friday night.
Nelson's three-pointer, his third of the second half, gave the Bison (4-2) a 51-45 lead and helped North Dakota State complete a comeback from a 15-point first-half deficit.
Princeton (4-2) had a chance to pull within one point just a minute before Nelson's three-pointer, but Luke Owings, who had made a three-point shot on the previous possession, missed a similar shot with 2:28 left. The Tigers then pulled within three at 48-45 when Edwin Buffmire made one of two free throws with 1:42 on the clock before Nelson's big shot near the end of the shot clock on the next possession.
The Tigers led 23-8 with six minutes left in the first half and 26-12 at the final media timeout of the half with 3:43 left, but the Bison then scored the final nine points of the half and then the first five points of the second half to tie the game at 26 less than a minute into the second half.
"I feel like we don't have the experience yet to put a team away in that situation," said Joe Scott, the Cappon-Green head coach of men's basketball at Princeton. "We let them get a steal and a couple offensive rebounds, they started to feel better about themselves and the tone of the game shifted away from us."
"The momentum really shifted when we made a couple of bad plays late in the first half," said point guard Marcus Schroeder, who played all 40 minutes for the fifth time in six games. "We didn't really run our offense on a couple possessions, let them get a couple things going and they were right back into the game."
North Dakota State had 15 offensive rebounds and outrebounded the Tigers by a 38-19 count overall. Andre Smith had 11 rebounds for the Bison, while Brett Winkelman had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Schroeder had nine points, four assists and two steals for Princeton, while Justin Conway had nine points, three assists and two rebounds for the Tigers before leaving the game due to injury with five minutes left on the clock.
Princeton, which was led by Kyle Koncz's 13 points, was scalding from the field, and from three-point range, after a slow first five minutes for both teams. Koncz, Lincoln Gunn and Schroeder each made three-pointers in a three-minute span, giving the Tigers an 11-2 lead, another three-pointe rby Koncz and two free throws by Schroeder put the Tigers ahead 18-4 at the 10-minute mark.
Koncz's driving layup in the lane with 6:08 left in the half gave Princeton its biggest lead, 23-8, and another three-pointer, this time by Noah Savage, was Princeton's sixth of the half and put the Tigers ahead 26-12 at the final media timeout of the half.
Princeton made six of its 12 three-point attempts in the first half, but entered the break with just a 26-21 lead after Nelson scored in the paint with 1:16 left, completing a 9-0 run to end the half.
Ben Woodside led North Dakota State with 20 points, 13 coming in the second half. His layup with 10 minutes left tied the game at 38, and Mike Nelson's two free throws a minute later gave the Bison a lead they would not relinquish.
After seeing their lead evaporate early in the second half, Princeton again took a seven-point lead, 35-28, after a Schroeder driving layup with 15:38 left, but NDSU then went on a 14-3 run after that to take control.
Princeton saw a four-game winning streak come to an end with the loss. The Tgiers shot just 38% in the final 20 minutes, including 3 of 11 from three-point range.
The Tigers will play the loser of the Northwestern State/Marquette game in Saturday's consolation round of the Blue & Gold Classic. The game will begin at 6:30 p.m. ET.
NOTES
* Conway suffered an apparent rib injury on a successful layup attempt with 5:55 left that pulled the Tigers within one at 42-41. The senior's status for Saturday's tournament consolation game was uncertain after the game.
* Princeton has been outrebounded 71-33 in its two losses this season and has outrebounded its opponents 99-94 in its four wins this season.
* Koncz has now made 20 of his 36 three-point attempts this season. The Tigers as a team made nine three-point shots and have made at least eight "threes" in five of their first six games.
* North Dakota State is in its last season as a Division I independent before joining the Mid-Continent Conference next year. The Bison nearly won at Texas Tech several weeks ago before falling to Bob Knight's Red Raiders 85-81.