Wild Finish Caps Senior Night as Men's Hoops Tops Columbia, 85-83

Saturday, March 7

Jadwin Gym

6:00 PM

Princeton University

Columbia

Stats Notes

Men's Basketball's Hans Brase to Miss Season Due to Injury

March 08, 2015 | Men's Basketball

By: Princeton Athletic Communications

	Game 29 • Princeton vs. Columbia Princeton, N.J. • Jadwin Gym
85	Box Score • Postgame Interview & Highlights	83
(15-14, 8-5)		(13-15, 5-9)

You'd have been hard pressed to find better theater in Princeton Saturday night than what unfolded at Jadwin Gym.

Scoring the final 11 points, Princeton made an incredible final-minute comeback to win the final game in Jadwin for four Tiger seniors and keep the chance at a winning season alive, beating Columbia 85-83.

Columbia's Maodo Lo, who put the Ivy scoring race out of reach with his 37-point effort, hit a 3-pointer, his 11th of the game, to give the Lions an 83-74 lead with just more than two minutes to play. It was all Princeton from there, yet Columbia just about pulled out the win just the same.

Following that Lo 3-pointer, Hans Brase completed an and-1 play to make it a two-possession game. Columbia went empty on its next trip, and Pete Miller put in a couple of second-chance free throws to make it a four-point game, still with 1:19 left.

Columbia went empty again on its next trip down the floor, and senior Clay Wilson took advantage by nailing a 3-pointer to pull Princeton within one at 83-82. Columbia then had its third straight empty possession, and once again, Princeton didn't miss the opportunity, as Brase drove to the rim for the go-ahead bucket and a foul with 15 seconds left.

Though Brase missed the following free throw, Princeton again held firm, getting a turnover when a Lo pass missed the mark with four seconds left, giving the ball back to Princeton, this time with a one-point Tiger lead, yet Princeton still wasn't in the clear.

Columbia, needing to foul, tagged Wilson to head to the line, and Wilson split the trip to put Princeton up 85-83 with 2.4 seconds left.

Lo, who would tie the Jadwin Gym opponent scoring record if he hit the game-winner, sailed down the court nearest the team benches and lofted a shot near the left wing, beyond the arc. Looking true, the shot hit the backboard, got a soft bounce off the front of the rim, hit the backboard, the rim once again and fell away, saving the victory for Princeton.

After Princeton won 20 in a row from Columbia in Jadwin from 1994-2013, Saturday night's game was the second straight visit from the Lions that came down to the final play, though unlike last year's 53-52 finish, this one went Princeton's way.

Columbia saw its chance at an even regular season slip, falling to 13-15, while Princeton can still have a winning regular season, standing at 15-14 heading to Tuesday's 7:30 p.m. game at The Palestra against Penn. The game will be televised by CBS Sports Network.

Princeton also clinched a winning Ivy season with the victory, improving to 8-5 while solidifying a third-place finish in the league.

Hans Brase led Princeton with 23 points, bettering his career best by three, while going 8 of 13 from the field and 7 of 10 from the free-throw line in a team-high 34 minutes. Lo, who never left the court, finished three points short of the Jadwin Gym opponent scoring record, set by Monmouth's Rahsaan Johnson in 2001 with 40 points. Lo's 11 3-pointers were an Ivy League record, surpassing the previous mark which was co-held by Spencer Gloger '05, who nailed 10 at UAB in 1999.

All four Tiger seniors started the game, with Wilson joining Ben Hazel, Daniel Edwards and Bobby Garbade along with freshman Amir Bell in the lineup. Edwards had five early points including a 3-pointer to set a career best in his final Jadwin appearance.

Stat	FG% (Made-Att.)	3FG% (Made-Att.)	Reb. (Off.-Def.)	Assists	Steals	Blocks	Turnovers (Fewer)
Leader
Margin	56.8% (25-44) 48.3% (28-58)	56.5% (13-23) 31.3% (5-16)	30 (11-19) 22 (4-18)	12-8	3-2	3-2	8-5

Points	Rebounds	Assists	Steals	Blocks

Brase • 23	Brase • 6	Bell • 3	Miller • 1 Weisz • 1	Bell • 1 Brase • 1 Miller • 1
Lo • 37	Cohen • 8	Cohen • 6	McComber • 1 Lo • 1 Hickman • 1	Castlin • 1 Hickman • 1

Hans Brase's hands weren't the only Princeton paws in the late-game comeback, but his and-1 with 1:55 to go started the 11-0 run and another hoop-plus-harm with 15 seconds left put Princeton up 84-83, a lead that Princeton retained through the final buzzer.

• Princeton has won 11 of the last 12 meetings with Columbia with the only loss since 2010 coming last season in Jadwin Gym.

• Princeton's 85 points were its most against Columbia since an 88-52 win in 1999. Princeton's 85 points matched a season high against a Division I opponent, though the other time came in an 89-85 loss at Fairleigh Dickinson in December.

• Columbia's 83 points were its most against Princeton since the then-eighth-ranked Lions beat Princeton 92-74 in the 1968 Ivy League playoff.

• Columbia's 13 3-pointers were the most Princeton has allowed since Duke hit 14 in 2010. The Lions' .565 shooting clip was the best for a Princeton opponent since San Diego hit at a .647 clip this past November, going 11-17.

• Columbia took 14 more field goal attempts than Princeton, but Princeton took 24 more free throws than the Lions. Princeton was 30-39 from the stripe, Columbia 14-15.

• Princeton's .568 shooting clip from the field was its best since the team shot .642 in a 91-51 win at Cornell a year ago to the date, March 7, 2014.

• Princeton continued its home March winning streak to 13 games with the last home March loss coming in 2008.

• Princeton's five turnovers were a season-low total and the team's lowest since January 2014 when the team turned the ball over just four times at Liberty.

Princeton will make its annual trip to The Palestra Tuesday looking to clinch a winning season. The game will be the second half of a doubleheader with the women's team with the men's game starting at approximately 7:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.