Men's Basketball: Princeton sweeps last home series

When senior guard and co-captain Marcus Schroeder stepped to the free throw line for the third time on Saturday night, the men’s basketball team trailed Harvard by one point with 57 seconds left on the clock.

The Tigers had clawed their way back from a 25-20 deficit at the half to take the lead when sophomore guard Doug Davis netted a three at 13:54. Princeton maintained a narrow advantage until guard Brandyn Curry netted a three-pointer with 1:15 left to play, putting the Crimson ahead 51-50. Guard Jeremy Lin then fouled Schroeder, who calmly converted both shots to give Princeton the 52-51 edge. In the final minute, Princeton held Harvard scoreless and Schroeder added two more points from the charity stripe to secure a 54-51 win for the Tigers.

“I felt good out there, and I just didn’t want to let my teammates down because they had played so well all night,” Schroeder said. “I just felt like we had the mentality of refusing to lose tonight.”

This season, Princeton (19-8 overall, 10-3 Ivy League) has not enjoyed the typical benefit of home-court advantage. The Tigers went into this weekend 6-1 on the road and 3-2 at home in conference play. Princeton had road victories over Harvard and Dartmouth under their belt, and the rematch in Jadwin Gymnasium gave the Tigers the opportunity to prove that they own Carril Court. Princeton trounced Dartmouth (5-23, 1-13) 71-43 on Friday night squeezed by Harvard (21-7, 10-4) on Saturday to secure second place in the Ivy League and a chance to play in the postseason.

“It means a lot that we are showing that we can play well at home,” head coach Sydney Johnson ’97 said. “I think we’ve been pretty good on the road — you know, 6-1 is not bad in conference play. But we’ve had a couple bumps at home, and our effort has been flat at times. So I was very happy with how we went about our business as a team on Friday and Saturday.”

The Tigers struggled to get on the scoreboard on Saturday night against Harvard, letting the Crimson go on a 7-0 run until junior forward Kareem Maddox stole the ball and junior guard Dan Mavraides made a lay-up at 15:27. Harvard never led by more than seven points throughout the game, and Princeton’s victory marks the only time this season that Harvard lost a game it had led at halftime. Maddox is also a contributing news writer for The Daily Princetonian.

Maddox’ career-high 18 points were the team best for the night and the second time he has recorded a career-best in the past three games. Schroeder, who played the whole game, contributed a total of eight points, five assists and two steals. Just as important as Schroeder’s perfect free-throw shooting in the final minute of the game was the Tigers’ smothering team defense.

On Harvard’s first possession after the Tigers regained the lead, Maddox stuffed Lin, the Crimson’s leading scorer, and Mavraides scooped up the loose ball. On offense, Princeton missed a layup. With 26 seconds to go, Harvard got the ball to Lin, but senior center Zach Finley played clean defense and forced a weak shot. Finley came up with the rebound, and Harvard made an obligatory foul with 12 seconds left, sending Schroeder to the line again. In the final seconds, Harvard was unable to get open for a three, and guard Oliver McNally tossed up an off-balance shot that hit the rim as time expired.

The strong defensive stand in the final minute of the game “was indicative of how we played the entire half,” Johnson said.

One key to Princeton’s defense was shutting down Lin, who has been in the national spotlight this season after scoring 30 points against Connecticut last December. He was named one of 11 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, which goes to the best point guard in the nation. Lin also earned a spot as one of 20 finalists for the John R. Wooden Award, given to the national player of the year.

“[Lin] puts so much heat on you because he’s pretty aggressive with the ball and he tries to get low and draw fouls,” Johnson said. “He’s a very good player, but we were able to slow him down enough to win, and obviously that’s key because they need him badly to be productive.”

Lin averages 16.6 points, 4.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game, but Princeton was able to hold Lin to eight points, two assists and zero steals. Maddox, who was matched up on Lin for much of the game, stressed the team mentality of Princeton’s defense.

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“I really believe this — that’s why I always say it. It was great team defense,” Maddox said.

“Kareem is long and is able to disturb people,” Johnson added. “When you put him out there with four guys who are covering for each other and helping him out to defend whoever we are trying to make life difficult for, it’s a pretty good combination.”

The Tigers put up a total team effort against Dartmouth, with every Tiger seeing minutes in the second half. Princeton got off to an early start when senior center Pavel Buczak scored a lay-up 29 seconds into the game, giving the Tigers a lead they would never relinquish. Princeton went on a 17-2 run in the first six-and-a-half minutes of the game.

“I thought defensively we were pretty good,” Johnson said. “I was a bit nervous myself because I think it reminded me of Brown, where we were ahead early and kind of really stopped applying ourselves and stopped playing hard.”

“Coming into this game we knew we couldn’t let the same thing happen,” Davis said. “We couldn’t get complacent with the lead, we just had to come out and be more aggressive both on the offensive and defensive end, and I think we did that.”

Princeton went into the second half with a 39-20 advantage, and the Big Green was never able to crack the Tigers’ 19-point lead. Davis led the Tigers with 15 points, while sophomore forward Patrick Saunders added 11. Princeton combined for a total of 40 points in the paint.

“I think a lot of that started with offensive rebounds,” freshman center Brendan Connolly said. “We had a lot of good passes down there, too. It wasn’t necessarily just post-ups — there was a lot of good team offense ... A few people looked pretty sharp with their moves, too. So it was a big combination of those three, I think.”

Tuesday night is Senior Night for the Tigers, who will take on Penn in their last game of the regular season. If the Tigers win, it will be the first time in Ivy League history that three conference teams have recorded 20 wins in one season (the other two are Cornell and Harvard). A win would also put the Tigers in good position for a postseason berth in the National Invitational Tournament.

“I think [our team has] worked very, very hard, and I think that we are a good team,” Johnson said. “The first time I said that was coming off a loss and I was talking to a good friend of mine — coach [John] Thompson [III ’88] at Georgetown — I told him I really believed in this team and that we were good. I think we’ve shown that in the last month or so. If postseason comes calling for us, I think they’ll have a good team involved in their tournament because we’re showing something.”