On Tuesday night, men’s basketball (8–4, 0–0 Ivy League) faced Monmouth (1–10, 0–0 Colonial) at Jadwin Stadium, ultimately defeating the Hawks 71–67. After a scrappy, low-scoring game, the Tigers ultimately rebounded from a disappointing loss against Furman on the road last week to secure the win led by senior guard Blake Peters’ strong showing behind the arc.
“We needed [tonight’s] win, for sure,” junior guard Xaivian Lee told The Daily Princetonian in a press conference after the game.
The game was defined by back-and-forth action and long periods of no scoring for either team, with 25 lead changes bringing the matchup down to the wire.
“Just because we would like that game to have gone a little bit more in our favor doesn’t mean that’s still not a good win,” Head Coach Mitch Henderson ’98 said.
The night started slow, with Monmouth winning the jump ball and the game’s first basket. A few minutes later, sophomore guard Dalen Davis secured Princeton’s first three-pointer of the game, putting the Tigers up by two. After forcing a turnover from Monmouth, the Tigers threw the ball down the court to junior forward Caden Pierce for two more, extending their lead over the Hawks to four — the biggest lead of the game by either team.
Midway through the half, Monmouth nailed a three-pointer, and Princeton tried to respond with the same but couldn’t convert the shot. Layups by Davis in the tenth minute and first-year guard Peyton Seals in the 13th minute brought back a narrow Tiger lead, 18–17.
In a sequence of buckets behind the arc with four minutes remaining in the half, a Monmouth three was followed up by a three-pointer from Peters. This was the start of Peters’ dominant three-pointer-heavy showing, with four converted threes for a success rate of 50 percent.
After a shot by Monmouth and a quick layup in response by senior forward Philip Byriel, the Tigers finished the first half up 30–29.
The Tigers returned from the locker room fired up ahead of what would be a half full of pivotal blocks and three-point conversions, along with a veritable rainstorm of fouls and free throws from both teams.
After a three-minute scoreless stretch to start the second half, what followed was another sequence of threes. Monmouth’s sophomore guard Abdi Bashir Jr. started the scoring with his triple, followed by a jumper two minutes later to put the Hawks up 35–32. Princeton responded with another Peters three-pointer, marking his second of the night to tie up the score.
In an impressive demonstration of individual dribbling prowess, Lee stole the ball on Monmouth’s side of the court and scrappily pushed his way to the Tigers’ basket. His attempted layup was ultimately tipped in by Pierce in a collaboration between the team leaders to make it 41–40 Princeton.
A little over halfway through the second half, Monmouth committed their seventh foul, putting Princeton in the penalty. Peters then committed his second personal foul of the night, landing both teams in penalty with eight minutes left in the half.
Thanks to a layup by guard Madison Durr and a three-pointer by Bashir, the Hawks then grew their largest lead of the game, 55–51, with five minutes left on the clock. In a crucial possession, Peters nailed another three to cut the deficit back to one almost immediately.
With a Davis foul marking Princeton’s tenth of the night, Monmouth entered the double bonus.
Knowing they were in the final minutes of play, Princeton’s offense pushed forward, not wanting to let the win slip out of grasp. Davis made a tough drive towards the basket, but his shot was quickly palmed away by Monmouth. Thankfully, the ball landed directly into the hands of Lee, who scored a three to regain a Princeton lead, 57–55.
With another change in the lead and only 56 seconds on the clock, Peters again saved the day by hitting his fourth and final three of the night to pull the Tigers ahead for the final time, 65–63.
“Blake’s threes, Xaivian’s threes saved us — won the game for us,” Henderson elaborated. “Those were gigantic threes.”
Peters attributed his high success rate — converting four of eight free throw attempts and being dominant on defense — to his role in guarding Bashir.
“I thought guarding Bashir really helped me lock in,” Peters said. “It gives me a lot of confidence that [the coaches] believe in me to guard someone like that.”
The rest of the game was defined by the double penalty, with Lee playing a pivotal role in almost every play. Valencia fouled Lee, who converted both free throws to bring Princeton to a four-point lead over Monmouth at 67–63, seeming to call the game with 20 seconds left on the clock.
“I was happy to see myself still be able to take control and stay confident at the end of the game because my teammates and our coaching staff trust me to make those plays,” Lee expanded.
However, the game did not end without a bit of controversy. After jumping up to defend a shot, Pierce got called for fouling and for goaltending, giving Monmouth an opportunity to potentially tie up the game with 14 seconds left on the clock.
Fortunately for the Tigers, after the refs reviewed the play, no basket was credited — but Monmouth still converted both free throws, bringing the score to 67–65 Princeton.
With just eight seconds remaining, Monmouth’s Cornelius Robinson III. fouled Lee, who missed his first free throw, but converted the second to give Princeton a lead of 69–67.
Bashir then attempted a drive down the line in a last-ditch effort to salvage the game for Monmouth, but excellent defending by Abdullahi made him step out, forcing a ball turnover. Lee then sealed the back-and-forth game with two final free throws to end at 71–67 Princeton.
While they still got the win, Princeton was expected to have had a more dominant game over the visitors.
“They’re better this year, [and] they have a lot of talent,” Henderson elaborated. “[But] we need to improve and execute better. I didn’t recognize us tonight in a lot of ways.”
Peters echoed a similar sentiment.
“The record is what it is. But tonight, they certainly played like a team that’s much better than what the record would suggest.”
The Tigers have an 11-day break before a big game against Rutgers (6–4, 1–1 Big 10) at the Prudential Center on Dec. 21.
“The New Jersey games people get up for,” Peters said.
Leila Eshaghpour-Silberman is a Sports contributor and contributing Features writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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