Men's Basketball Team Comes Up Just Short Against Middle Tennessee in Hawaii, 69-67

Friday, December 22

Honolulu, Hawaii

5:30 PM ET

Princeton University

5-7

Middle Tennessee

8-2

Middle Tennessee

Princeton

Devin Cannady led Princeton with 16 points against Middle Tennessee.

Photo by: Courtney Metzger

Men's Basketball Team Comes Up Just Short Against Middle Tennessee in Hawaii, 69-67

December 22, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Princeton Game Notes vs. Akron

Princeton took a Middle Tennessee team that has won a game in each of the last two NCAA Tournaments down to the final shot, but the Blue Raiders prevailed 69-67 in Friday afternoon's opener of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.

The Tigers will take on Akron, which fell 84-53 to USC Friday, in a consolation game Saturday at 1:30 p.m. local time and 6:30 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed on ESPN3.

Princeton led by as many as seven points in the first half and was up five at the break, holding the Blue Raiders to 29 percent from the field. Middle Tennessee started the second half on an 11-2 run to go up four at 34-30 less than three minutes in, and the game was within four points the rest of the way.

Aaron Young hit a 3-pointer with one minute left to put Princeton up one at 63-62, but Middle Tennessee answered on its next possession and made enough from the stripe to put Princeton down three at 67-64 with 24 seconds to go. Sebastian Much hit a 3 to tie it up on Princeton's next possession, but the Blue Raiders' Giddy Potts nailed a long jumper to give his team the lead and a Myles Stephens 3 from halfcourt was off the mark.

The Tigers left a lot of points at the free-throw line, going 14 of 23 (.609) to fall short of their .722 clip on the season coming in. Middle Tennessee did the opposite, entering the game shooting .639 before outperforming that by making all of its first nine free throws and 14 of 18 (.778) on the day. Princeton's 9-of-25 (.360) clip from 3-point range was still the third-best average for a Middle Tennessee opponent this season.

Devin Cannady led the Tigers with 16 points, with Amir Bell (11) and Much (10) joining him in double figures. Stephens had a career-high 12 rebounds, surpassing the 10 he had twice last season, last against Penn in the Ivy League Tournament semifinal, and the junior missed his second career double-double by just a point.

Postgame Notes

• This was the first meeting between Middle Tennessee and Princeton.

• Princeton's .609 free-throw percentage was its third-lowest of the season. Princeton shot .600 against both Lehigh (15-25), in an 85-76 loss on Nov. 29, and George Washington (3-5), in a 71-60 loss on Dec. 6.