Men's Basketball: Leopards reduced to kittens

The Tigers began the scoring at a brisk pace, as senior guard and tri-captain Dan Mavraides notched five unanswered points early in the first half to give the team a 9-4 lead. Mavraides finished the game with 17 points, two less than the 19 he tallied against Siena but more than his season average of 15.1 points per game.

Once Princeton managed to pull ahead first at the start of the game, it never looked back. Relying on a combination of stifling defensive play and confident shot-making, the Tigers had a 22-12 lead after the first 10 minutes of the game. Though a hot shooting streak helped the Leopards close the gap to single digits, Princeton was able to head into the locker room sporting a 40-31 lead at halftime.

The story of the second half was the same as the first. After trading baskets to start the period, the Tigers took advantage of a string of Lafayette turnovers to begin another torrid shooting streak and extend their lead back into double digits. Strong rebounding rebounding by Mavraides and senior forward and tri-captain Kareem Maddox — who together tallied six boards in the half — kept the Leopards out of the game and ensured that Princeton would secure a victory.

“We came out and really competed from the very beginning of the second half,” Maddox said. “We had a bit of lead at the end of the first half, but I don’t think the score really indicated how both teams were playing. When we started the second period, we knew that we had given up these kinds of close games before — even during this season. We couldn’t make any mental mistakes.”

Though they were never able to surmount Princeton’s lead, Lafayette played physical, tough basketball in the second frame. The Leopards committed 12 of their 19 total fouls in the second half and forced the Tigers to resort to gritty and physical play of their own.

“The second half was really physical on both sides, and you can see that in the number of fouls,” Maddox said. “The score might not indicate it, but Lafayette played tough throughout the entire game, and they were trying to push us around a bit.”

Tuesday’s game was another standout event for sophomore forward Ian Hummer, who is quickly establishing himself as an offensive weapon for the Tigers. Finding what appears to be a consistent place in Princeton’s starting lineup, Hummer led the team with 22 points — better than his season average of 16 points per game.

Junior guard Doug Davis rounded out Princeton’s trio of double-digit scorers with 16 points of his own, thanks in part to four three-point field goals on the night — a team best. Davis has had six double-digit scoring games out of seven this season and, with 832 career points, is likely to hit the next century mark before early January.

“It’s good to get this win, especially because the game was a lot closer than it might look from the score,” Maddox said. “Lafayette is a really good shooting team — probably one of the better ones we play this year — and we were able to compete hard for the entire game and get the win.”