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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Yale
Players Mentioned
Men's Basketball Suffers First Ivy Loss at Yale, 60-48
February 13, 2009 | Men's Basketball
From the first minutes, in which Yale had a half-dozen offensive rebounds on its first two possessions, the Bulldogs controlled the game inside. That didn't change the rest of the way and the Tigers never found a spark, losing 60-48.
Princeton (9-9, 4-1 Ivy) now drops into second place in the Ivy League, a game behind Cornell. Last weekend's inspiring wins over Cornell and Columbia, each by 20 or more points, had some Princeton fans whispering in remembrance of the kinds of dominating seasons the Tigers put together in the late 1990s. But Friday's game looked more like the Tiger team that struggled through a six-game losing streak earlier this season before putting together the seven-game string that ended in New Haven.
“It was a physical game and the physicality seemed to favor them, so we just have to respond better than that,” said Sydney Johnson, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of Princeton basketball. They dictated the way the game was played and the tempo and that's why we were trying to figure things out to try and come back. Obviously, it didn't quite work out for us.”
Princeton's 48-point output was just four points more than its season-low, which still stands at 44 against Rutgers in December. It is a quick and cruel turn of the stats for Princeton, which held Columbia and Cornell to a combined 71 points last weekend, the lowest for an Ivy weekend by a Princeton opponent since 1984.
Yale (9-12, 4-3), which outrebounded Princeton 43-23, never saw those fortunes change from the multiple chances it received off the glass in the opening minutes. At the half, Yale's rebounding edge was 25-11.
The Bulldogs never trailed after a Michael Sands bucket gave them a 14-13 lead with 12:09 left in the first half. Yale's largest lead was 24 on a Greg Mangano bucket with 6:31 to play. A total of 38 of the Bulldogs' 60 points came from front-court players, with Ross Morin achieving a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Alex Zampier led all scorers with 13.
Princeton had achieved the seven-game winning streak with four players leading the team in scoring in games during the stretch, but against Yale it was Douglas Davis, who had been relatively quiet during the Cornell-Columbia weekend, with a team-best 11 points and no other Tiger in double-figures. Davis, a freshman who is still the team's leading scorer even after the scoring had been more diversified in recent games, led Princeton in points five times over the team's first 10 games but just once during the winning streak after his share of the scoring load was lightened.
The Tigers will look to return to the win column Saturday with a 7 p.m. tip at Brown.