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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
The College of New Jersey
Players Mentioned
Men's Hoops Wins Final Pre-Ivy Game over TCNJ
January 08, 2012 | Men's Basketball
In its last game Sunday before beginning the 14-game conference schedule at Cornell next weekend, Princeton defeated The College of New Jersey 79-68 at Jadwin Gym. The Tigers (9-7) led by as much as 22 following a strong start to the second half, but the victory pointed out some points of emphasis for Mitch Henderson '98 in the days to come.
"We've identified and earmarked our defense as being the thing that's going to make us win games. They had 35 points at the half, which is way too many," Henderson, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of men's basketball. "I think if anything it identifies some of the things that we can get better at. That's what we're about. We've got to work. We come to work, that's what we do."
TCNJ (6-8) has now provided three of the four closest games in Princeton's annual non-Division I near-finals home game, losing by nine in 1998 to a team with Henderson and current assistant coach Brian Earl '99 that would go on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and by 10 in 2001 to a team that went on to win the Ivy League.
Last season's game saw Princeton win by 33 points, and this one appeared headed in that direction again once the Tigers found their stride after the break.
Leading just 37-33 with little more than three minutes to go in the first half, Princeton went on an 18-4 run bridging halftime to take an 18-point lead less than five minutes after the break.
After holding relatively steady from that point, Princeton nudged the lead as high as 22 at 73-51 with 4:56 to play on a split from the free-throw line by John Comfort.
All 15 Tigers in a uniform saw game action and none played more than T.J. Bray's 25 minutes. Ian Hummer, the team's leading scorer on the season, dropped in 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting in just 15 minutes of play, while Brendan Connolly scored a career-high 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting in 17 minutes on the floor.
"We were definitely looking to spread the minutes around," Henderson said. "We wanted to play everybody if we could."
The Tigers shot well, making 53.7 percent from the field to TCNJ's 41.7 percent, and cleaned up on the glass, outrebounding the Lions 46-20 including 15 offensive boards that led to 21 second-chance points. But Princeton left 11 points at the free-throw line, going 15 for 26, and had 13 turnovers to five for the Lions.
TCNJ led by as much as four closing in on the midway point of the first half, taking a 20-16 lead on a bucket by Skyelar Ettin, a Princeton High alum who led his team with 15 points.
From that point, Princeton went on a 14-2 run to take an eight point lead at 30-22 with seven minutes before the break and never saw its lead cut to less than four the rest of the way.
Henderson said after the game that he'll aim for his team to get the game in its favor earlier, and the defensive end will be the key to accomplishing it.
"I have no doubt that especially with these two guys (Connolly and Patrick Saunders) included, we'll get back to our roots, which is defending," Henderson said.
TCNJ was playing with a decided height disadvantage with only one player above 6-foot-6 on its roster, the 6-foot-8 freshman Drew Grapstul, who saw nine minutes of action and scored five points. The Lions, who were playing their fourth game in six days, were also without freshman Kyle Cancillieri, who was the team's leading scorer and rebounder heading into the game.
The game was Princeton's lone respite from a streak of 12 straight games against Division I opponents on the road, the last five of which will come in Ivy League play. Princeton has gone 5-2 on the string so far, with both losses coming by four points.
Friday's game at Cornell (5-9, 0-0 Ivy) will tip at 7 p.m., as will Saturday's game at Columbia (11-5, 0-0).