Gamecenter: Princeton 35, Yale 43

1st 2nd Final
Princeton (9-8, 0-3 Ivy) 24 11 35
Yale (8-10, 4-1 Ivy) 22 21 43
Lee Amphitheater – New Haven, CT Boxscore
 
Keys to the Game
Key sequence Princeton rode a barrage of three-pointers to an early 17-7 lead, but the stretch that followed dramatically changed the course of the game. While the Tigers were going scoreless over a 5:30 time span, Yale scored on five straight possessions for an 11-0 run that gave the hosts an 18-17 lead with 3:53 left in the half. Princeton recovered to take a two-point lead into halftime when Lincoln Gunn banked in a 35-footer at the buzzer, but the Bulldogs opened the second half with an 8-0 spurt to go in front 30-24.
Key sign it was over Travis Pinick broke a 35-35 deadlock with a turnaround jumper with 2:29 left in the contest. At the other end, Pinick blocked Justin Conway’s layup out of bounds, then grabbed the defensive board after a subsequent Conway missed hook. Marcus Schroeder took the ball away from Eric Flato on a drive to the hoop, but with the shot clock approaching zero, Edwin Buffmire watched his jumper from above the free throw line rim out. Caleb Holmes controlled the rebound, and Flato hit a pair of free throws to make it a two-possession game with just 25 ticks left. Kyle Koncz got an open look at a three from the corner, but his shot also rolled out, and Pinick added two free throws for a six-point Bulldog lead. When Schroeder missed a layup, the final six seconds were a technicality.
Key performance Pinick didn’t start, but his performance off the bench made all the difference for the Bulldogs. The sophomore scored six points on 2-for-3 shooting, while grabbing 10 rebounds and recording two blocks and a steal in 19 turnover-free minutes.
Key statistic After a decent first half in which the Tigers took 17 three-pointers and hit a solid seven of these attempts, things fell apart offensively following halftime. Princeton could manage only 11 second-half points, shooting just 4 of 24 (16.7 percent) overall and 2 of 12 (16.7 percent) from three.
Notes

– Flato was the game’s only double-digit scorer with 12 points, despite a pedestrian 4-of-11 shooting night.

– Koncz came off the bench to lead Princeton with nine points, though all of his scoring came in the first 10 minutes as he connected on his first three three-point attempts. However, he seemed to wear down offensively as the game wore on, missing his final four shots — all of which came from outside the arc.

– Yale was 14 of 26 (53.8 percent) from inside the arc, while Princeton was just 3 of 16 (18.8 percent) from two-point range.

– The Tiger forwards struggled with their shooting as Conway and Luke Owings combined to go just 3 of 17 from the field on the evening.

– Princeton had a surprisingly productive offensive rebounding effort, grabbing 32.4 percent of their own misses against the nation’s top defensive rebounding team. The bad news was that the Tigers allowed the Bulldogs to rebound at a 38.1-percent clip at the other end.

– The loss drops Princeton to 0-3 in the Ivy League for the first time in school history.

– The Tigers will look to break into the Ivy win column when they travel to Brown (6-13, 1-4 Ivy) for 7:00 pm ET tipoff on Saturday, February 3, while Yale welcomes Penn (12-7, 3-0 Ivy) at 6:00 pm ET in a game televised on CN8.

Jake Wilson

Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Basketball U.

Jake Wilson wrote 754 posts

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