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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
UNC Greensboro
Players Mentioned
Men's Basketball Starts 2009 with Win, Defeats UNC Greensboro 65-55
January 03, 2009 | Men's Basketball
PRINCETON -- After four home defeats to start the season, the Princeton men's basketball team rewarded the Jadwin Gym faithful with a 65-55 victory over UNC Greensboro Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers led for the final 38 minutes of the game, though that fact makes the win sound deceptively easy. Despite enjoying a margin that grew as wide as 15 points in the first half, Princeton saw UNCG (1-10) make it a tight game late.
Princeton (3-8) had been through games like this before. Three times already this season, the Tigers had lost games it led for more time than it trailed. Not today, however.
"Against Rutgers, we played well. Against Lafayette, we played well. The ball didn't go in the basket and then we weren't perfect defensively," said the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of Princeton men's basketball, Sydney Johnson. "It wasn't much different tonight, it's just that we hit a few more shots."
Sophomore Dan Mavraides, who led Princeton with a career-best 17 points, said Princeton wasn't going to wilt in this one.
"They're the team that's down and should have the pressure on them," Mavraides said. "We should be the confident team and I think we were tonight."
Two free throws by UNCG's Mikko Koivisto cut the Princeton lead to three at 54-51 with 1:08 to play, but Koivisto immediately followed that with a foul on Mavraides, who led Princeton at this critical juncture as well as in the overall scoring column.
Mavraides knocked down both, restoring Princeton's two-possession advantage, and the Tigers held on from there. Four Princeton players closed it out by combining to hit 9 of 10 free throws to end the game, representing all of Princeton's points in the last 67 seconds.
While the victory was of utmost importance as it ended Princeton's six-game losing streak, individual Tigers enjoyed their own successes too. Junior Pawel Buczak had his first career double-digit rebound game with 10, Doug Davis bounced back from a five-point game in Tuesday's loss to Lafayette with 15 points today, and fellow rookie John Comfort, who has played 25 of his season's 29 minutes in the last three games, scored a career-best six points.
The Tigers will enter the finals break following their next game Wednesday at 7 p.m. when Lehigh visits Jadwin Gym.