Cannady, Stephens Score Big as Tigers Win at FDU

Sunday, November 26

Hackensack, N.J.

2:00 PM

Princeton University

2-3

Fairleigh Dickinson

3-3

Princeton

Fairleigh Dickinson

Devin Cannady had a game-high 22 points for the Tigers.

November 26, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Shooting 66 percent from the field, the Princeton men's basketball team rolled to an 83-76 win Sunday afternoon at Fairleigh Dickinson to make it back-to-back wins after a challenging start.

A 13-0 first-half run tipped the game in Princeton's favor as the Tigers broke open a 10-6 lead just more than four minutes into the game to a 23-6 lead, part of a larger eight-and-a-half minute stretch in which Princeton didn't allow an FDU field goal.

Princeton led by as many as 27 points at 49-22 late in the first half, and though Princeton was up 20 with eight minutes to go at 73-53, the Knights went on a 20-4 run to pull within four inside the final minute before four Mike LeBlanc free throws inside the final 30 seconds effectively ended the threat.

"We let them get back into it," junior Myles Stephens said. "We started to turn the ball over, got a little lackadaisical on 'D.' They started to hit some shots, get some confidence. It really started with us turning the ball over. We overcame it, but it was a close one."

FDU shot 58.8 percent from the field in the second half after shooting 36.4 percent in the first half and went 6 of 11 (.545) from 3 after going 0 for 9 before the break. The Knights had turned the ball over 11 times in the first half to five for Princeton before turning that around for 12 second-half turnovers from the Tigers and five of their own.

Devin Cannady tied a season high with 22 points on 6-of-6 shooting from deep, while Stephens matched his season high with 21 on 9-of-10 shooting from 2. Cannady's six 3-pointers give him 159 for his career and moved him from 12th place to eighth on Princeton's all-time career list, past Noah Savage '08, Bob Scrabis '89, former teammate Steven Cook '17, and Kyle Koncz '08. Cannady is close to sixth, with Sydney Johnson '97 (162) and Dan Mavraides '11 (166) up next before a big gap until another former teammate, Spencer Weisz '17 (209) in fifth.

"We are going to be, I think, very difficult to guard come January," Mitch Henderson, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 men's basketball coach, said. "Devin was, what is that called, out-of-your-mind hot? Brian Earl ('99) used to have games like that when I was (playing) here. You knew he wasn't going to miss, so you sort of just found him. We've got to continue to look for him, but I think we defended and we didn't turn the ball over."

Sophomore Richmond Aririguzoh picked up his first career start, playing 15 minutes while going 4 of 6 from the field on the way to a career-best eight points.

"It's early in the season. We're still experimenting, really, with our lineup, especially at the center position," Aririguzoh said. "We all provide different things, different elements, so it might change game-to-game depending on what we need. (Henderson) just wanted me to provide like a spark defensively, just energetically, talking, definitely on defense, just extra-effort plays, defensive rebounds. That's really what he wanted me to do."

The lineup was the third combination in Princeton's five games this season.

"He brings something to the table that we haven't had here in my years here, an athletic big that can really crash the glass," Stephens said. "He's physical inside, and defensively, he's a presence to guards and bigs, so that's something that's huge that we're really looking for."

The Tigers will host Lehigh Wednesday at 8 p.m. in Jadwin in the second half of a doubleheader with the women's team hosting Villanova at 5:30.

Postgame Notes

• Princeton is now 3-1 all-time against FDU with all four games coming over the last five seasons. FDU had won the only meeting at FDU, three seasons ago.

• Princeton's 66-percent field goal clip was its best in the Henderson era. The previous best was .649 against Brown on Jan. 13, 2017 in a 97-66 win.

• Princeton's 9-of-16 3-point FG rate was the second time this season Princeton has hit better than half its 3 tries. Princeton went 9 of 15 in the opener at Butler.

• In addition to his career-best eight points, sophomore Richmond Aririguzoh's seven rebounds matched a career best and were his best against a Division I opponent, as were his two assists, his first two of the season. Aririguzoh had seven boards and two helpers last season against Rowan.

• In going 6 for 6 from 3, junior Devin Cannady improved his 3-point field goal percentage to .618 (21-34) on the season. He's only had one game of the five this season in which he's made fewer than half his 3-point tries, going 1 of 4 against BYU.

• Rookie Jerome Desrosiers has scored all eight of his points over the last two games, including a season-high best five today. He also had his first two career assists against FDU.

• Senior Mike LeBlanc tied his career best with three assists. He also had a career-best four free throws and a career-high 33 minutes.

• Rookie Sebastian Much has scored 19 of his 25 career points over the last two games and added a career-best three assists at FDU in a career-best 21 minutes.

• Rookie Ryan Schwieger had a career-best seven points and made his first two free throws at FDU.

• Junior Myles Stephens tied a career best with four assists and had a career-best three steals.