Men's Hoops Heads Into Holiday Break With 65-47 Win Over Liberty

Monday, December 22

Jadwin Gym

7:00 PM

Princeton University

Liberty

Stats Notes

December 23, 2014 | Men's Basketball

By: Princeton Athletic Communications

	Game 13 • Princeton vs. Liberty Princeton, N.J. • Jadwin Gym
65	Box Score • Postgame Interview & Highlights	47
(5-8)		(5-7)

Princeton went into the holiday break with a 65-47 win over Liberty Monday night in Jadwin Gym, heading into a seven-day break away from competition before playing on New Year's Eve at Wake Forest.

Princeton knocked down seven of its first 10 shots to take a 17-9 lead with seven minutes gone in the half, but the Tigers hit just four of 15 the rest of the half as Liberty whittled away the lead and tied Princeton at 23-23. Princeton took a 31-27 lead into the break.

At the half, 20 of Princeton's 25 field goal tries were from 3-point range while just 1 of 21 were for Liberty. The Tigers ended the game having taken 32 of their 48 field-goal tries from distance.

Princeton never trailed in the game and held Liberty scoreless for nearly four minutes around the midpoint of the second half, rattling off nine straight points to break open a four-point game and take a 53-40 lead. From there, Liberty was never closer than 11 points.

Liberty committed 21 turnovers in the game, the third time on the season the Flames have turned the ball over at least 20 times, and Princeton capitalized with 27 points off those giveaways. The Tigers hit 10 3-pointers, making it the fifth time in the last six games Princeton has done so and just the second time a Liberty opponent has made at least 10 3-pointers. Liberty entered the game allowing just a .265 clip from distance, and Princeton did just better than that at 31.2 percent (10 of 32).

Stat	FG% (Made-Att.)	3FG% (Made-Att.)	Reb. (Off.-Def.)	Assists	Steals	Blocks	Turnovers (Fewer)
Leader
Margin	20-48 (41.7) 15-40 (37.5%)	10-32 (31.3%) 1-6 (16.7%)	30 (6-24) 27 (6-21)	12-3	10-9	7-2	21-14

Points	Rebounds	Assists	Steals	Blocks

Cook • 16	Brase • 9	Bell • 4	Weisz • 4	Miller • 2
T. Johnson • 10 Andoh • 10	Smith • 6	Retic • 2	Smith • 3 Retic • 3	Smith • 1 Maxwell • 1

Liberty had gone on a 6-0 run to trip a 10-point deficit to four with less than 12 minutes to go, but Spencer Weisz's 3-pointer started Princeton on a 9-0 run, and the Tigers never led by fewer than 11 points once that run was complete.

• Monday's game was the back end of a home-and-home series for the Flames and Tigers. Last season, Princeton went down to Liberty and came home with an 80-74 win.

• Steven Cook's 16-point game was the second-most of his career after a 28-point game against Stony Brook on Dec. 6.

• Senior Daniel Edwards had the final basket of the game, his first field goal since Feb. 25, 2012 against Dartmouth.

• Freshman Aaron Young, against a Liberty team from the town where he went to high school (Lynchburg, Va.), had a career-best nine points. He's scored in all four games in which he's played, beginning with his debut Dec. 6 against Stony Brook.

• Princeton has now held an opponent below 40 percent from the field in back-to-back games for the first time this season. In only one of the team's first 11 games did the opponent shoot below 40 percent overall.

• Over the last three games, Princeton's opponents have shot .167 (5-30).

Princeton will have a break from competition before traveling to Wake Forest for a Dec. 31, 1 p.m. tip. The Demon Deacons (6-6) beat Bucknell tonight and will face Richmond on Dec. 28.