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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Northwestern State
Players Mentioned
Tigers Show Guts in 53-51 Win over Northwestern State at Blue & Gold Classic
December 03, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Princeton committed 25 turnovers and let an early lead slip away for a second straight game. The Tigers were playing without their captain due to a freak Friday injury and with an untested freshman playing center. But on Saturday against Northwestern State at the Blue & Gold Classic, Princeton found a way to earn an important win.
Luke Owings scored a game-high 19 points, including a clutch baseline layup with 21 seconds left that put his team ahead by three, and freshman center Zach Finley grabbed one of his Princeton season-high eight rebounds on Northwestern State's final chance as the Tigers defeated the Demons, 53-51, in the tournament consolation game at the Bradley Center.
Princeton (5-2) led 51-50 after Trey Gilder made the second of two free throws with 50 seconds left, and Owings appeared to be trapped in the right corner on the next possession. But the Princeton senior split the double team and drove the baseline for a driving score, making it 53-50.
Gilder then missed a three-pointer for Northwestern State (4-4), but Noah Savage missed two free throws for Princeton on the other end. The Tigers then elected to foul instead of giving up a three-point shot, and Luke Rogers missed the second of two free throws. Finley then grabbed the rebound and fed the ball to Marcus Schroeder, who ran the clock out on the victory.
"It's really important that we came out of here with a win in the tournament," said Owings, who shot 7 for 9 from the field overall and made three-pointers on consecutive possessions early in the second half to give Princeton a 37-36 lead with 13:12 left. "There were four good teams here, so to get a win over a good team means a lot."
"I think this was a really nice win for us against a team that's won 26 and 22 games the last two years," said Joe Scott, the Cappon-Green Head Coach of Men's Basketball at Princeton. "We're 5-2 after seven games away from home, and now we can work on becoming a good home team starting on Wednesday."
The Tigers trailed 46-40 with 8:17 left but tied the game at 47 three minutes later on Mike Strittmatter's three-pointer and went ahead on two Edwin Buffmire free throws with 2:31 left. The Demons would tie the game 20 seconds later on a Colby Bargeman free throw, but Savage then hit two free throws with a minute left to give Princeton a 51-49 lead.
Princeton shot 17 for 31 from the field (55%), getting several backdoor layups against the aggressive Northwestern State man-to-man defense, and the Tigers outrebounded the Demons 30-17 after getting outrebounded 38-19 against North Dakota State a night earlier. The Tigers limited Northwestern State to 40% shooting, including a 5-for-15 performance from three-point range.
Finley, starting his first career game after starter Justin Conway suffered an injury to his abdomen Friday night, shot 3 for 3 from the field, scored eight points and had eight rebounds, the most by a Princeton player this year.
The Tigers jumped to a 12-4 lead after a contentious first eight minutes, which included a technical foul on Northwestern coach Mike McConathy at the 14-minute mark. But the Demons then scored 13 straight points after that, taking a 17-12 lead on a Gilder jumper in the lane with 7:32 left. Princeton would recover to take a lead late in the half before Northwestern's Kennan Jones hit a three-pointer in the final minute of the half to give the Demons a 26-25 halftime lead.
Gilder had 13 points for the Demons, while Keithan Hancock came off the bench to score 11 points. The Demons made just 10 of 18 free-throw attempts for the game.
Princeton plays its first home game Wednesday night, facing Lehigh at Jadwin Gym at 7:30. The Tiger women play NJIT in the first game of the doubleheader at 5:00.
NOTES
* The Tigers played their first significant minutes of the season without freshman point guard Marcus Schroeder, who left the game less than four minutes into the first half after picking up his second personal foul. Schroeder did not return in the first half and played just 24 minutes after playing 238 of a possible 240 minutes in the team's first six games.
* In Princeton's five wins this season, the Tigers have combined to outrebound their opponents 129-111. In their two losses, the Tigers have been outrebounded by a combined total of 71-33.
* Conway's status will be reevaluated when the Tigers return home to New Jersey on Sunday. The senior captain had started the last 19 games for the Tigers, but was not in uniform Saturday night.
* Princeton won a game in a four-team consolation/championship tournament for the sixth straight time.
* The Tigers have won 22 straight games against Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks last defeated Princeton in 1930.