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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Penn
Players Mentioned
Men's Hoops Makes it 100 Over Penn (with video)
March 10, 2010 | Men's Basketball
In a game they led by as many as 28 and, later, by as few as seven, the Tigers ultimately pulled out a 68-56 win.
Princeton's all-time record with Penn now stands at 122 to 100 in favor of the Quakers. Coupled with the Tigers' win at The Palestra last month, Princeton recorded its first season sweep of Penn since 2001.
"It's an important win for us, 20th win, 100th win against our rival," said Sydney Johnson, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of men's basketball, who beat Penn in Jadwin 13 years ago on his own senior night. "We've had a heck of a turnaround and we've had four seniors who spearheaded it for the most part. They've been tremendous."
Video: Sydney Johnson, Zach Finley, Marcus Schroeder, Nick Lake and Pawel Buczak in the postgame press conference.
The four seniors, whose senior-night starts were their first as a group since the opening three games of the season, remained on the floor together for the first five minutes and helped the Tigers to an 8-2 lead.
In the four's freshman season, Princeton won just two Ivy League games. After improvements to three and then eight wins, the Tigers have nearly reversed that 2007 league record to 11-3 and 20-8 overall.
The first half suggested a blowout of series-record magnitude. Princeton held Penn (6-22, 5-9) without a point for nearly eight minutes, from the 11:54 mark when the Quakers' Dan Monckton hit a three-pointer to cut the Princeton lead to 12-8 to when 4:03 remained before the break and a Jack Eggleston bucket ended a 23-0 run.
Princeton led 35-10 at that point and scored four of the next five points to realize its largest lead at 39-11 with less than two minutes to go before the half.
The stifling Princeton defense that led the Tigers to so many wins was there in a big way in the first half and was ultimately enough for Princeton to reach the 20-win mark for the first time since 2004. But the second half was another story.
After a first half that saw the Ivy League's leading scorer, Zack Rosen, go 0 for 5 from the field, the sophomore guard heated up after the break to score 17 of his team-high 18 points and propel the Quakers out of a laugher and into a threat.
Conversely, Princeton sophomore guard Douglas Davis, who had 16 points before the break on 6-of-7 shooting overall and 4 of 5 from beyond the arc, had five points in the second half and was held to 2 of 7 from the field.
Penn had a 10-0 run that bridged halftime, making it a 17-point game at 40-23 with 15 minutes left. After Princeton led 56-40, an 11-2 Quaker run made it a seven-point game with 2:16 to play.
Where Princeton was above 50 percent from the field in the first half, it fell to below 25 percent after the break. The reverse was true for Penn.
"We felt lucky to get out of there with a win tonight," senior center Zach Finley said. "The second half was a little sloppy, but it's nice to end our Ivy League careers on a win, especially against Penn."
Princeton let Penn no closer. The Quakers sent the Tigers back to the free-throw line for six pairs of attempts in the final two minutes and Princeton responded by making 10 of those 12 to seal it.
The next question for Princeton is whether its next game will be in March or November. Since the NIT began as the first of the current postseason tournaments in 1938, Princeton has never won 20 games and not played after its final regular-season game.
"We feel like we're deserving," Johnson said. "I hope that we're happy on Sunday (when postseason fields will be announced). We've won 11 of our last 14 games. We want to keep this thing going."
Co-captain Marcus Schroeder, who has spent 3,315 minutes on the court in the past four seasons, wants the chance for at least one last opportunity.
"Wherever we get put," Schroeder said, "we'll be ready to play."