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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Columbia
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Montgomery Leads Late Run, Helps Columbia Defeat Princeton 58-53
February 09, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Columbia held Princeton without a field goal for an eight-minute stretch late in the second half and used some key plays from Mack Montgomery to pull away for a 58-53 win over the Tigers in an Ivy League men's basketball game played at Levien Gym Saturday night.
Princeton (5-14, 2-2 Ivy), which led 43-39 after a Lincoln Gunn jumper with 9:20 left, was outscored 12-1 in that key second-half stretch. Columbia (10-11, 3-3 Ivy), which had taken the lead at 45-43 on a K.J. Matsui three-pointer with 7:30 left, then extended it thanks to Montgomery, who made driving layups on consecutive possessions to make it 49-44 and then another scored again in the paint to make it 51-44 with 2:10 left.
The Columbia senior then made another big play in the game's final 30 seconds, as his steal and coast-to-coast layup made it 57-51 Columbia after the Tigers had cut it to 55-51 on a Gunn three-point shot with 40 seconds left.
"They made some big hustle plays and did some nice things at important times," said Gunn, who had a game-high 17 points, 13 of which came in the second half. "It's frustrating. We didn't make the same kind of plays late in the game."
"We're disappointed in the outcome, but it's only four games in with 10 to go and a big rivalry game on Tuesday, so we can't worry too much about this one," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson. "I felt like loose balls and a couple missed defensive assignments on our part really gave took away our momentum after we got the lead again."
The Tigers made a trifecta of three-pointers in the first six minutes of the second half, the last coming from Noah Savage, to take a 38-31 lead and finish a 15-6 run to begin the half. But the Lions' K.J. Matsui and Niko Scott then made threes of their own on consecutive possessions to cut Columbia's deficit back to one.
Princeton trailed 53-45 with 1:20 left after two Scott free throws, but Gunn converted a three-point play after grabbing an offensive rebound of Noah Savage's miss from deep to make it 53-48 with 57 seconds left. Brett Loscalzo made two free throws for the Lions on the other end, but Gunn hit a deep three 15 seconds later for Princeton to make it 55-51.
Kevin Bulger then missed both ends of a two-shot foul opportunity with 39 seconds left, but Montgomery then had his steal on the other end to put the game away.
Savage scored 12 points for Princeton, while Kyle Koncz had 11. Princeton made just eight of 27 three-point attempts; Columbia, on the other had, had only 14 three-point attempts but made eight of them. The Lions shot 20 for 39 (51%) from the field for the game.
Princeton led early in the game but went cold from the field, going 0 for 7 from the field in a first-half stretch as Columbia took the lead.
Neither team made a field goal in the final 5:24 of the first half, however, with Columbia holding on for a 25-23 halftime advantage after Lincoln Gunn's long three-point attempt for Princeton at the buzzer was short. The Tigers shot just 33% in the first half, including 3 for 14 from three-point range.
Scott led Columbia with 12 points, while John Baumann had 10 points but did not score in the second half. The Lions defeated Princeton at Levien Gym for the third straight season.
Princeton plays at archrival Penn Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at The Palestra (CN8). The Quakers also fell to 2-2 in the Ivy League Saturday night with a loss at Cornell, which improved to 6-0 in league play.