Comeback Falls Just Short as Brown Defeats Princeton

Friday, March 8

Princeton, N.J.

4:00 PM

Princeton University

16-10, 8-5Ivy

Brown

19-10, 7-6Ivy

Brown

Princeton

Richmond Aririguzoh had a double-double with 20 points and 11 boards, both matching career-high totals.

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

Comeback Falls Just Short as Brown Defeats Princeton

March 08, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Despite a spirited late comeback try, the Princeton men's basketball team saw the beginning of the final weekend of the regular season go to Brown, which held off the Tigers in a 67-63 win Friday in Jadwin.

The result precludes the Tigers from attaining the No. 1 seed in the Ivy League Tournament, but the Tigers are in the event next weekend in New Haven and will either be the third or fourth seed when the tournament begins Saturday afternoon at Yale and will face either Yale or Harvard in that semifinal game.

Taking care of the ball was key in the game, as Princeton had 25 turnovers, uncharacteristic for a team that entered the game 13th in the nation in fewest total turnovers. The total was the highest since head coach Mitch Henderson's debut with the Tigers in 2011, a 28-turnover game against Wagner.

"Credit goes to Brown, but you can't have more than 15 turnovers in any college basketball game," Henderson, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of Princeton men's basketball, said. "We had 25."

That number helped to outweigh a 45-31 rebounding edge for Princeton and, for Brown, added to a 43.6 percent to 35.9 percent shooting edge from the field.

Brown scored the game's first five points and never trailed, as Brown led by as many as nine points in the first 20 minutes and held a 31-23 advantage at the break. The Bears' lead peaked at 13 points as late as with just more than two minutes to go at 60-47, but Princeton went on an 8-0 run in a minute to get within five.

Princeton got within two at 62-60 on a Jose Morales 3-pointer with 46 seconds to go, but empty possessions on the next two trips down the floor stalled the comeback, and though Ethan Wright hit a 3-pointer to bring Princeton within three at 66-63 with seven seconds left, Brown's Brandon Anderson split at the line and Princeton's final possession didn't turn up any points.

"We were preparing for (Brown's defense) all week," rookie Jaelin Llewellyn said. "We just weren't making aggressive plays that we needed to, that we know we can make."

Junior Richmond Aririguzoh tied his career high with 20 points and had his third double-double of the season with 11 boards, also tying his career best. Rookie Wright had his rebounding best with 10 and came up a point short of a double-double with nine points.

Six Tigers split Princeton's points, and Llewellyn and senior Myles Stephens, with 11 points apiece, and junior Morales, with 10, joined Aririguzoh in double figures. Stephens' 11 points put him at 1,319 for his career, just two out of sharing 10th place on Princeton's all-time scoring list with Geoff Petrie '70 at 1,321.

Princeton will host senior night prior to Saturday's 6 p.m. game against Yale, recognizing the Tiger Class of 2019.

Postgame Notes

• Princeton's .359 shooting clip from the field snapped a six-game streak of shooting better than 40 percent from the field.

• Brown's .292 3-point percentage marked the 13th time in Princeton's 26 games this season that the Tigers have held their opponent below 30 percent shooting from distance.