Princeton beats Brown for a weekend split
PRINCETON » For the 22 hours between games, Mitch Henderson could hear the little voices on his shoulder.
In a moment of honesty, the Princeton coach admitted he didn’t know what Saturday night’s contest against Brown might look like until the ball went up.
After all, the Tigers had been drilled by Yale one night earlier.
Henderson’s team answered the bell.
Ethan Wright scored a career-high 21 points, Jaelin Llewellyn and Richmond Aririguzoh had 15 each and Princeton pulled away for a 73-54 victory over Brown at Jadwin Gymnasium to split the homestead.
“Until a ball goes up, you don’t really know what’s going to happen,” Henderson said. “I talked to Richmond last night on the phone and he said we have to be more determined. Generally, that’s enough. He says what we need to do and then we do it.”
Princeton’s Jaelin Llewellyn (0) reacts after dunking the ball against Brown during an Ivy League game on Saturday night.
The Tigers (11-10, 6-2) moved back into a firstplace tie in the Ivy after Yale lost at Penn. Princeton shot 52.8% and tightened up its defense, holding the Bears (12-9, 5-3) to 36.2%.
“Funny league this year,” Henderson said. “I thought Yale was like the Lakers (on Friday). You start to think about how hard it is to win games. We rested some last night, so that probably gave us a little bit of an edge. We just got our pants … we
were terrible and maybe that contributed. I thought we were focused and (got) a really good win.”
Wright scored 16 of his 21 points in the first half on 7-for-7 shooting. He ended up 9-for-10 from the field, with his only miss on a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired late in the second half.
“He’s putting us on his back,” Henderson said. “I thought he was terrific. Choir boy good looks, but he’s got a little sass in him.”
Brandon Anderson notched 16 points for the Bears, who had a five-game winning streak snapped.
Now Princeton turns its attention to a four-game road trip. Given the 1-7 start to the season, Henderson likes where his team is at.
“The regular season finishes in three weeks, so here we go,” he said. “I always say if you’re walking out of this gym and it’s still light out, you’re playing good basketball.”