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Princeton University
Manhattan
Players Mentioned
Men's Basketball Rallies for 61-54 Win over Manhattan (Video Included)
November 19, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Two games in, with the still-developing team the Tigers have, that's really all Sydney Johnson and staff can ask for.
Princeton rallied from significant deficits in each half and was ahead when it mattered against Manhattan Wednesday night at Jadwin Gym, defeating the Jaspers 64-51.
“It means a lot just because I think that they're game-ready. We don't want to go too far into our season, lose games like this, come in and watch film and say, 'Hey, this is what we could have done here,'” said Johnson, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of men's basketball. “They seem to be figuring it out as we go in the moment, and I think that's all the difference in the world in terms of winning a game like that.”
The Tigers are 2-0 for the second time in Johnson's three-year tenure. As the other such occasion ended in a 6-23 campaign two seasons ago, Johnson knows how fragile a positive start like this can be.
"I don't know what the future holds, but I don't know if I'm coaching 'believe, believe, believe.' I don't know if that's this team anymore," Johnson said. "Get back to the scouting report, understand what we're trying to accomplish as a group offensively and defensively, remind them of that, try to execute it as much as possible and that's been the difference."
For the second time this season, the Tigers showed they had some gumption when things got tight.
Manhattan burst out to leads of 12-2 and 18-6, with Princeton missing six of its first seven shots. As bad as that start was, the Tigers turned it around completely, going on a 17-2 run to take its first lead at 23-20 on a three-pointer by the 6-11 center Pawel Buczak.
From there, no team led by more than three points until Manhattan went on a 10-3 after Ian Hummer tied it at 40-40 with a free throw at the 12:59 mark of the second half.
That put the Jaspers ahead 50-43 with 8:18 to go, but Princeton responded once again, closing the game on an 18-4 run.
A 35-29 rebounding advantage allowed Princeton to counter a slight shooting disadvantage, 41.3 percent to 39.6 percent in favor of Manhattan.
All seven Tigers who played more than 10 minutes scored points, led by Zach Finley (16 points), Dan Mavraides (13 points) and Buczak (11 points).
Finley and Mavraides finished in double digits for the second straight game after last Saturday's three-point win at Central Michigan, in which Mavraides co-led Princeton with 16 and Finley added 13.
For Manhattan, Darryl Crawford had a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards, while Rico Pickett added 14 points and Laurence Jolicoeur 13 points.
The Tigers will look to start 3-0 for the first time since 2003-04 when they host Army Saturday at 2 p.m.