They’ve done it again.
In a season filled with thrilling comebacks, the Princeton men’s basketball team (14–4 overall, 3–0 Ivy League) overcame the Columbia Lions (11–5, 0–3 Ivy) on a late three-pointer by junior guard Xaivian Lee. After trailing by 19 points with under eight minutes remaining, the Tigers clawed all the way back into the lead in the game’s waning seconds.
“We’ve had some great wins, but that one was unbelievable,” Head Coach Mitch Henderson ’98 told The Daily Princetonian in his post-game press conference. “I don’t know how that happened; you’ve just got to get lucky sometimes.”
The Tigers entered Monday’s game on a hot streak, winning each of their last six games and nine of their last 10. Recently an anxious watch, the Tigers had launched double-digit comebacks in four separate games before entering Monday’s contest.
Standing between the Tigers and a 3–0 Ivy League start was Columbia, perhaps the most enigmatic team in the Ivy League. A shock 90–80 away win over Villanova set the tone for an 8–0 run to start the season, but the Lions have floundered since then. The Tigers, who entered the game atop the conference, hoped to quickly assert dominance over the visitors.
Donning their new white script uniforms for the first time, the Tigers took the court in front of a packed Jadwin Gymnasium. Despite snow the night before, Princeton hosted a solid crowd with a full student section.
Right out of the gate, the Lions ripped off a 14–2 run fueled by Tiger fouls and a barrage of bricks on the home end. Columbia looked fast-paced and ferocious, and the Tigers looked sluggish and unprepared.
The Tiger defense held its own, keeping Columbia to a 37.5 percent field goal percentage. However, Princeton’s offense did nothing to capitalize. The team went eight minutes with only one score, then followed that up with another seven-minute scoreless drought.
When the dust settled, the team was down 33–15 at halftime, by far their lowest first-half offensive output of the season. With an abysmal 18.8 percent shooting percentage, “Make Shots” seemed like more of a desperate plea than a team motto.
“They were faster than us; they were shifting everywhere; we were on our heels,” Henderson said of Columbia postgame. “We lack urgency early in games, and I’ve never been through it before with a team.”
At the outset of the second half, senior forward Philip Byriel drilled back-to-back threes and gave the Tigers some momentum. For the first time, the Tigers looked potent on offense. Though Princeton briefly brought the game within 10 points, Columbia fought back to regain a 15-point lead with five minutes left.
With time running short, the Princeton full-court press sprung into action. Caden Pierce gave the Lions fits on inbounds, almost single-handedly willing his way to the ball and preventing Columbia from breaking the press. After reducing the lead to seven and forcing a Lions turnover, Pierce and the Tigers had a golden opportunity.
In the biggest moment of his young career, first-year guard Jack Stanton stepped up and drained a three-pointer to bring the Tigers within four. Stanton, who had seen almost no playing time all season, met the moment and kept the Tiger train rolling.
“He destroys our team every day in practice, and I’m the knucklehead that doesn’t play him,” Henderson said of Stanton. “I was looking for him to do what he does against us, and he did it.”
“I just know that the guys have faith in me, and I have faith in them,” Stanton said postgame. “When I got checked in [to the game], Coach just came up to me and whispered in my ear, ‘shoot it.’ I knew I had to put it up or else I wasn’t getting another chance.”
Suddenly, the most stunning comeback of the season was well within reach as the visiting team scrambled to control possession. Amid the stifling defense and clutch shots from the Tigers, the Jadwin crowd found its voice.
As Columbia continued to flounder against the press, the Tigers pulled back within two and stole another inbound. The ensuing possession was pure chaos, as Lee missed three straight layups but secured three of his own rebounds. He kicked it out to senior guard Blake Peters, who pulled up from way outside the arc. Splash. Tigers lead.
Down on the other end, the Lions made a layup to get ahead by one. The Tigers stormed up the court and put the ball in the hands of Lee, their finisher. After a Lions foul, Lee stepped to the line for a free throw. He missed. The ensuing scramble for the ball needed replay review to sort out, but the ball was given to Princeton after the delay.
Once again, Lee stepped up with the game on the line. Trailing by two, Lee took his time, pulled up from the left side of the arc, and let yet another game-deciding three-pointer fly. As the electric Jadwin crowd rose to their feet, Lee’s shot found its mark and went in without so much as grazing the rim.
CLUTCH!@xaivianlee connects on the three and puts the Tigers in front, 69-67, with 10 seconds remaining!#MakeShots 🐯🏀 pic.twitter.com/K3Z8jxgHY8
— Princeton Men’s Basketball (@PrincetonMBB) January 20, 2025
A crowd that had been desperate for a reason to go wild all game exploded, unable to believe what they’d just seen. After Columbia missed their chance to retake the lead, Peters nailed a pair of free throws to ice the game, 71–67.
“Caden [Pierce] made the right read, and he hit me and I had a good matchup,” Lee said of his game-winning shot to the ‘Prince.’ “I knew I was going to get a clean look, and I knew I was bound to hit one.”
To watch the Tigers play is to expect the unexpected. Time after time, the Tigers dig themselves into deeper and deeper holes, as if to see if they can keep climbing back out. They usually do. They did it from down 16 against Iona. They did it from down 15 against Akron. They did it down two against Dartmouth with five seconds remaining on Saturday. Today, they did it again, this time from down 19 with under eight minutes to play.
Henderson doesn’t know how much deeper they can dig. “It’s not sustainable,” an exhausted Henderson said after the game. “Not for my heart, not for anything. We need to play really, really hard, all the time.” Though the team’s come-from-behind playstyle leaves so much to chance, when the final whistle blows, the Tigers are almost always on top.
The Tigers’ upcoming schedule gets even tougher, with a homestand against Yale, Cornell, and Brown. The Bulldogs and Big Red are undefeated to start Ivy play, and the Brown Bears knocked out the Tigers in last year’s Ivy League Tournament.
“We always think we’re gonna win,” Lee said postgame. “I always feel like we’re about to make a run, and then sometimes it happens.”
Joseph Uglialoro is an assistant Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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