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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Columbia
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Players Mentioned
Men's Hoops Ends Levien Streak, Beats Columbia 67-52 (with video)
February 28, 2010 | Men's Basketball
It had been five years since Princeton last won in Columbia's gym, and seven years since the Tigers last posted a double-digit victory here.
No wonder then that even with three games left on Princeton's regular-season schedule, Tiger head coach Sydney Johnson locked senior co-captain Marcus Schroeder in an embrace as Schroeder left the game for the last time with 18 seconds remaining.
"It was important to have their first win at Columbia," said Johnson, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of men's basketball. "It was absolutely very, very important for us to try to get a win here coming off of the disappointment of last night for our seniors and our program. We feel pretty good."
Video: Sydney Johnson, Kareem Maddox and Douglas Davis in the postgame interview.
Princeton (17-8, 8-3 Ivy) had come up three points short to two-time defending Ivy League champion Cornell for the second time in as many weeks last night, and the missed opportunity left an impression.
It was plain to the eye how the Tigers felt leaving Ithaca. The question was whether Princeton would be able to leave it in Central New York before heading to Manhattan.
"I thought that our team showed a tremendous amount of maturity," Johnson said. "When our energy is low, we get beat at home. When our energy is high, we can have two great efforts on the road."
It had been a tough week for the Tigers, who fell in a surprising upset to Brown last Saturday in Jadwin Gym with the defeat attributed to an effort level that was less than desirable.
That led to the first-place showdown at Cornell, followed by a quick turnaround tonight to try and bounce back.
It didn't happen immediately against the Lions.
Princeton trailed 14-7 less than eight minutes in, but responded with a 16-2 run to take a lead it wouldn't give up.
The advantage was as large as 19 as late as the 5:24 mark of the second half when Kareem Maddox, whose career night against the Lions included a collegiate best 17 points and 10 rebounds, buried two free throws for a 54-35 lead.
Columbia's (10-16, 4-8) rally thereafter never brought the game closer than nine points.
While the win was encouraging as a bounce-back from the Cornell game, it featured big contributions from usual high-scorers like Dan Mavraides, with 22 points, and Douglas Davis, with 14.
Davis' double-digit night was a rebound of its own after his smallest two-game scoring output of the season in the losses to Brown and Cornell, while Mavraides returned to the 20-point level he hit three and four games ago against Penn and Yale.
Maddox bringing Princeton the team's first double-double of the season was inspiring as well.
"He has clearly helped us," Johnson said of Maddox. "All along the way, you're pushing kids because you want to cheer for them. You want to see them succeed."
Cornell won Saturday night to move within a victory of clinching the Ivy League title, but goals of a strong finish and a second-straight second-place Ivy ranking for a Tiger team that won three league contests in 2008 are motivation enough.
Princeton looked like those possibilities provided sufficient reason to hold Columbia to 38.8 shooting and out-rebound the Lions 35-20.
"We haven't played great here," Johnson said of the last several trips to Columbia, including his only two previous visits as head coach. "We stayed true to what has gotten us here, and that's good defense and sound offensive possessions."
The work continues next week when Dartmouth and Harvard visit Jadwin Gym.