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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Bucknell
Players Mentioned
Men's Basketball Pulls Away from Bucknell 66-55
November 24, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Video: Mack Darrow, head coach Sydney Johnson, and Dan Mavraides in the postgame media conference.
HARRISONBURG, Va. - A bounce-back win was what the Princeton men's basketball team needed Tuesday evening, and that's what the Tigers got.
A night after the Tigers had a woeful second half from the field against James Madison, seeing a lead that was as high as 20 points evaporate and turn into a one-point loss, Princeton rallied from a slow start to beat Bucknell 66-55.
"That's the best thing, I think, from a player's standpoint also from a coach's standpoint," Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson said of the short turnaround after Monday night's loss. "You want to get right out there and so I think that we were fortunate with a 4:30 game, we could address what we have to address. Obviously, I'm very happy with how we bounced back this time."
Princeton (2-2) will conclude its participation in the Harrisonburg subregional of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic with a 4:30 p.m. game Wednesday against Presbyterian, which was a 71-47 loser against Bucknell Monday night before facing James Madison later Tuesday.
The Tigers will then return home to face Siena Sunday afternoon.
Princeton missed its first five field goals against the Bison (2-4) while Bucknell ran out to a 9-2 lead. Undertaking the opposite role of the previous night, Princeton was the team that had to chip away.
The Tigers' first big run came over the last seven minutes of the half, outscoring Bucknell 17-2 with Dan Mavraides' eight points during that span leading the charge.
Princeton took a 30-26 lead into the halftime break and inched the advantage forward in the second half to as much as 13 at 52-39 before the Bison went on an 11-0 run of nearly five minutes to make it a two-point game.
From there, the Tigers buckled down on defense, seeing Bucknell miss nine of its last 10 attempts from the field while Princeton scored 14 of the last 19 points.
"Right now we've got four games in and it looks like we've got some character," Johnson said. "They get all the credit for that. I'm happy with that. We just have a very long season, and so if we're going to be the type of team where four games in we're feeling too good about ourselves, that will be a problem. But for right now, I see the fact that we can face adversity and keep battling and I like that. I like what I've seen so far."
Mavraides and Davis co-led Princeton with 16 points, one short of G.W. Boon's game-high 17 for Bucknell. Kareem Maddox finished a bucket and two rebounds away from a double-double with eight points and eight boards, while Mack Darrow scored a career-best 13 points including a key three-pointer and a pair of free throws during the win-sealing run.
Darrow, a sophomore, played sparingly during his freshman year but has seen double-digit minutes in all four games this season while accruing a career-high 27 minutes against Bucknell. Darrow and Brendan Connolly, also a sophomore, have seen the biggest increase in minutes after fellow big men Zach Finley and Pawel Buczak graduated last spring.
"I'm very pleased with the effort and the willingness to compete," Johnson said. "I think that's a good thing for Mack and Brendan. They spent a lot of time on the bench learning from Pawel and Finley. I've been happy with them getting in there and not shying away from competing. I think that's huge."
Mavraides, a senior, passed the 700-point mark during the game, standing at 710 while Davis, a junior, continued his charge toward the next century mark, increasing his career total to 782.