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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Manhattan
Players Mentioned
Davis' 27 Not Enough as Manhattan Tops Men's Basketball 70-60
December 14, 2008 | Men's Basketball
NEW YORK -- Rookie Doug Davis set a career high with 27 points, but Manhattan never trailed in a 70-60 win over the Princeton men's basketball team Sunday afternoon at Draddy Gymnasium.
The loss drops Princeton to 2-6 with four games remaining before the 2 1/2-week finals break and five before the Ivy League season begins.
Davis was outshone only by Manhattan's (5-3) Chris Smith, who scored 35 points as each team had two players in double-figures. Junior Pawel Buczak had a career-best 15 points for Princeton, while Antonie Pearson, who had 22 points when the two teams met a year ago in Jadwin Gym, scored 13 in the rematch.
The Tigers fell in a hole from the start, as Manhattan hit six of its first seven shots to open a lead of 14-6 four minutes into the game. Princeton got no closer than four before the halftime break, and although the Tigers made surges in the second half, Manhattan never relinquished the lead.
"He (Smith) hurt us early and then we were chasing the game and that really makes it hard to get back into it," said Sydney Johnson, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of Princeton men's basketball. "We did and then a couple other times down the road, we couldn't turn the corner. That's kind of been our season right now, but we have to move on."
Princeton got its closest at 46-43 with 9:24 to play on a Davis three-pointer and had the same margin after a pair of Dan Mavraides free throws moments later, but a 9-2 Manhattan run over the next five minutes all but put the game away.
"What we have to do is make sure we learn from it, because we're going to be in games like this all season long, where we have a chance down the stretch to turn the corner," Johnson said. "We've just got to do it."
Senior Jason Briggs had a career-high 11 rebounds in the defeat, while freshman John Comfort had his first career points on a late three-pointer, his only shot of the game.
The Tigers will travel to Central Connecticut State next Saturday.