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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
North Carolina State
Players Mentioned
N.C. State Rallies to Defeat Men's Hoops 60-58
November 17, 2011 | Men's Basketball
RALEIGH, N.C. -- It was undoubtedly a step forward from Saturday's season opener, but the Princeton men's basketball team would still like to have had a win Wednesday night over North Carolina State.
Instead, the Wolfpack's DeShawn Painter hit a bucket from the free-throw line with four seconds left that put N.C. State ahead 60-58. After a desperation attempt from half-court by Ian Hummer failed, Painter's basket was the difference.
"I think we took a step forward from Saturday, but I don't think there's a guy in there or on this team that feels like we can't be better," Mitch Henderson, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of Princeton men's basketball, said.
The game was Princeton's first in the TicketCity Legends Classic, an event that will take the Tigers to Bucknell next weekend for a trio of games to close out the tournament.
One game after turning the ball over 28 times in a 16-point home loss to Wagner, the Tigers turned it over only 11 times -- and just twice in the second half -- on the home floor of an Atlantic Coast Conference team that advanced to 3-0 with the win.
"The way we played last week was unbelievable, 28 turnovers," Hummer said of the Wagner game. "The fact that we took an ACC team to the final seconds and they won on basically a final shot, that shows that we increased our level of play."
The Wolfpack were coming off a 30-point victory over a Morehead State team that was busy knocking off Louisville in last year's NCAA Tournament while the Tigers were threatening Kentucky. Both Morehead State and Princeton -- who will meet each other next weekend at Bucknell -- lost significant players to graduation and are looking to find new ways to win.
While Princeton (0-2) seeks a third scoring option beyond their two returning double-digit scorers from a year ago, Douglas Davis and Hummer, the pair held true to form against N.C. State. Davis scored a game-high 21 points, his most since pouring in 23 last Nov. 24 against Presbyterian. Hummer added 15 points.
Davis, who made a name for himself around the college basketball world by hitting the buzzer-beating shot that won the Ivy League playoff last year and sent the Tigers to the NCAAs, tried to pull some midnight magic again.
Princeton fell behind 58-55 on a 3-pointer by N.C. State's Alex Johnson, which was the only bucket the Wolfpack buried from long distance on the night. That came with just under two minutes to play, and after Lorenzo Brown missed the front end of a 1-and-1 for N.C. State with 31 seconds left, Davis buried the game-tying 3-pointer to knot it at 58-58.
Davis' final points came on the last of nine 3-pointers that Princeton made on 19 attempts, one of the few stats that went Princeton's way against N.C. State.
The Wolfpack outshot Princeton 48.1 percent to 39.6 percent and outrebounded the Tigers 40-24. That included 12 offensive rebounds for the Wolfpack, a stat Princeton hoped to rectify after allowing 15 offensive boards to Wagner in the opener.
Princeton led by as much as nine in the first half on a Will Barrett bucket with 5:50 before the break that put the Tigers ahead 31-22. N.C. State cut it to three at 35-32 by halftime and Princeton somehow stayed in the game despite not scoring a field goal for a nine-minute stretch in the second half.
After a Hummer basket made it 42-38 Princeton with 14:34 to play, the Tigers missed 10 straight field goals until Patrick Saunders stepped up to cut the deficit to one at 50-49 with a 3-pointer and 5:36 to play. The other four Princeton points in the interim came on free throws from Davis and Hummer.
While Princeton lacked during that stretch on the offensive end of the floor, Henderson said the team made up for it in the other half.
"We were able to stay in this game and tie it up at the end because of our defense," Henderson said. "It's something we really stressed in the last two days, three days."
The Tigers will continue their work in progress Saturday when Buffalo comes to Jadwin Gymnasium for a 12:30 p.m. tip.