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Princeton University
Columbia
Players Mentioned
Men's Hoops Tops Columbia 88-83 to Keep Pace in Ivy Race
February 27, 2016 | Men's Basketball
| Stat Comparison | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Columbia (19-9, 8-3) |
Princeton (19-5, 9-1) |
| Points | 83 | 88 |
| FGM-A | 31-58 | 31-49 |
| FG% | 53.4% | 63.3% |
| 3 FGM-A | 4-12 | 13-21 |
| 3 FG% | 33.3% | 61.9% |
| FTM-A | 17-27 | 13-24 |
| FT% | 63.0% | 54.2% |
| Rebounds | 34 | 25 |
| Assists | 7 | 17 |
| Turnovers | 8 | 10 |
| Blocks | 2 | 2 |
| Steals | 5 | 5 |
| Individual Leaders | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Columbia | Princeton |
| Points | M. Lo - 20 | S. Cook - 23 |
| Rebounds | A. Rosenberg - 6 | S. Cook - 6 |
| Assists | G. Mullins - 4 | S. Weisz - 7 |
| Steals | M. Lo - 3 | H. Caruso - 2 |
| Blocks | K. Castlin - 1 J. Sica - 1 |
A. Bell - 1 A. Brennan - 1 |
Princeton led by as many as 17 points over Columbia Friday night in Jadwin Gym, but it took the Tigers holding off a late Columbia rally to win 88-83 and keep pace atop the Ivy League.
With the win, Princeton improves to 19-5 overall and 9-1 in the Ivy League, even in the loss column with Yale, which beat Harvard to improve to 10-1 in the league. Columbia's loss hurts the Lions chances, falling to 8-3 in the league with only one game left against either of the two teams in front of them, next Saturday at home against Yale.
Key to Princeton's completing the season sweep of the Lions was the junior trio of Spencer Weisz, Steven Cook and Henry Caruso combining to go 24-31 from the field after going 4 for 24 as a group in the visit to Levien Gym two weeks ago.
Princeton shot 63.3 percent in the win, outdoing Columbia's 53.4 percent, while hitting 13 3-pointers on 21 tries to 4 of 12 for the Lions. Cook led all scorers with 23 points, two more than Caruso's 21 and three more than Maodo Lo, who led Columbia with 20. Myles Stephens' 15 points were a career best for the Tiger rookie.
The Lions were able to narrow the gap on Princeton's shooting by outrebounding the Tigers 34-25, going 17 of 27 at the stripe to Princeton's 13 of 24 and having two fewer turnovers, 10-8.
It was nearly enough. Princeton broke open a 32-32 tie with a 10-1 run to close the half and lead 42-33 at the break. After halftime, though Columbia quickly cut the deficit to five, Princeton went on an 11-0 run to take a 57-41 lead with 15:40 to go.
The lead was 17 at 61-44 with 14:13 left on a Caruso bucket, and Princeton led by 16 just before the midway mark of the half. Columbia had one more run in it, cutting the deficit to four at 75-71 with less than three minutes left before Cook hit a 3-pointer on Princeton's next trip down the floor. After that, the Lions were no closer than the final margin of five points.