Gamecenter: Princeton 48, South Carolina 54

	1st	2nd	Final
Princeton (7-4)	22	26	48
South Carolina (7-2)	35	19	54


Colonial Center – Columbia, SC	Boxscore

Keys to the Game
Key sequence	Marcus Schroeder had pulled Princeton to within 25-22 with a three-pointer at the 2:06 mark of the first half. But Bryce Sheldon answered with a three at the other end, and after a charging foul on a drive by Justin Conway, Tre Kelley worked his way through the matchup zone for a layup. Luke Owings was too strong with a three-point for the Tigers, then fouled Brandon Wallace on a dunk in transition, and the big man converted the free throw for a double-digit lead. Schroeder committed a costly traveling violation with five ticks left, Kelley once again drove through the Tiger zone to capitalize on the mistake with a layup at the horn to go into halftime with a 13-point lead. Kelley scored the first three points of the second half to cap off a run of 13 unanswered points bridging halftime, putting South Carolina up 38-22.
Key sign it was over	Schroeder passed up a layup inside, dishing out to Lincoln Gunn for a three-pointer that drew Princeton to within three at the 1:56 mark. But Kelley found Dominique Archie for dunk to put South Carolina up five. Mike Strittmatter got a great look at a three from the corner, but couldn’t knock it down and the Gamecocks grabbed the rebound with under a minute left. South Carolina broke the Princeton press, but the Tigers caught a break when Archie missed a quick layup in transition. Strittmatter misfired on a leaning jumper and fouled Wallace with under 30 seconds left, but the center missed the front end of the one-and-one to give Princeton new life. Strittmatter missed from beyond the arc and Wallace was fouled once again, and once again blew the front end of the one-and-one to give the Tigers yet another chance. Inside of ten seconds, Gunn tried to lean in for a foul on a three-point attempt, but didn’t draw contact and his shot hit only backboard. Kelley was fouled with just three ticks left, and the game was over.
Key performance	Kelley led all scorers with 24 points on 10-for-21 shooting, adding four assists against just one turnover. The South Carolina guard played all 40 minutes.
Key statistic	For the second straight time, a major conference opponent shot the lights out against Princeton in the first half, as the Gamecocks followed in Rutgers’ footsteps with torrid first half. South Carolina shot 13 of 19 (68.4 percent) from the floor in the first 20 minutes. The Tiger defense would improve in the second half, holding the hosts to 36.8 percent shooting, but the damage was done.

Notes

– Koncz was the top scorer for Princeton with 19 points on 5-for-7 three-point shooting. Gunn had a breakout game, hitting on 5 of 8 attempts from beyond the arc on the night to finish with 15 points.

– Led by Koncz and Gunn, Princeton had an excellent night shooting the three, going 12 of 26 (46.2 percent) from the arc.

– The Gamecocks were just as willing to run clock as the Tigers, resulting in a game played at an incredibly slow pace with just 45 possessions per team.

– South Carolina dominated inside, outscoring Princeton 24-6 in the paint.

– The Gamecocks also owned a huge edge in free throw attempts (19 to 3), but they shot an abysmal 8-for-19 (42.1 percent) at the line — including a number of missed front ends of one-and-ones.

– Princeton fared better than expected on the boards, rebounding at 28.0 percent offensively and limiting South Carolina to 34.8-percent rebounding at their offensive end. Second-chance points were 12-6 in the Gamecocks’ favor.

– The Tigers’ road trip will continue with a visit to winless Iona (0-9) on Saturday, December 30 at 2:00 pm ET.

Basketball U.

Gamecenter: Princeton 48, South Carolina 54

Jake Wilson

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Basketball U.

Basketball U.

Jake Wilson

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Basketball U.