.png&width=24&type=webp)
Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Marist
Players Mentioned
Saunders' Perfection Leads Tigers to 77-58 Win at Marist (with video)
January 07, 2010 | Men's Basketball
The sophomore buried his first three-pointer 50 seconds into the game, hit another one less than a minute later, another less than two minutes after that and hit his fourth three-pointer before eight minutes were gone.
Not only was the Princeton men's basketball team off to a winning start in its eventual 77-58 victory, but it looked like Saunders was after coach Sydney Johnson's record of 11 straight three-pointers made over two games in 1997.
The record is safe, at least for 17 more days, which is how long the Tigers will be able to enjoy their winning finish to a pre-finals break schedule before hitting the court again on Jan. 24 in the final tune-up before Ivy play against Goucher.
Saunders hit another three-pointer less than four minutes into the second half and was 3 for 3 from inside the arc for good measure, giving him a career-high 21 points on an 8-for-8 shooting performance that was only a bit better than the rest of his team did on their way to improving to 8-5 on the season.
Despite accomplishing all he did in just 22 minutes, Saunders was characteristically modest afterward.
"I felt pretty comfortable out there. The shots I got were open," Saunders said. "They just ended up falling."
Saunders and the rest of the Tigers would like to be just as accurate on their upcoming final exams as Saunders was from the floor.
Video: Sydney Johnson, Patrick Saunders and Dan Mavraides in the postgame press conference.
"It's definitely not a relief to be heading into finals at Princeton," Dan Mavraides said after the last game of an eight-day, four-game stretch that included three straight on the road at Saint Joseph's, Maine and now Marist, all since last Saturday.
Other than the logistics surrounding the rescheduled Maine game that made this week's schedule jam-packed, traveling hasn't been a problem for the Tigers at all this season.
"That's all I feel like I heard when I was coming in as a coach, 'This team can't win on the road and has struggled on the road' and this and that," Johnson said after the team's fourth win on the road this season in eight tries, two years after Princeton lost all 16 games away from Jadwin Gym.
One game after feeling the pain of a two-point defeat at Maine thanks to a dismal 34 percent shooting performance, the Tigers responded with their best night of the season from the floor, scoring a season-high 77 points and hitting 27 of 47 shots (57.4 percent). Princeton was even better from distance, making 10 of 17 (58.8 percent).
The bounce-back game came against a Marist team that dropped to 1-13 with the loss and didn't come within one possession of the lead once Douglas Davis hit a three-pointer that gave Princeton a 15-9 edge six minutes into the game.
The Tigers committed a season-low seven turnovers and had 10 players grab a rebound, led by Dan Mavraides' four boards to go with his 14 points.
While recognizing the success Princeton enjoyed against Marist, Johnson said the Tigers still have improvements to make before the all-important Ivy schedule begins at the end of the month.
"I think we were a bit frustrated by how well they shot it," Johnson said after Marist hit 21 of 43 attempts (48.8 percent). "Those (shots) probably weren't as tough as we'd like them to be."
If the Tigers can keep the defense tight, Princeton's opponents shouldn't be seeing any mirror-image performances of the night Saunders had on the banks of the Hudson.