Marist men fall short against powerhouse Princeton

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. >> Marist College coach John Dunne would like to bottle the enthusiasm and energy his men’s basketball team displayed in the second half of Saturday’s 6255 non-conference loss to perennial Ivy League powerhouse Princeton at the McCann Arena.

After falling behind by 20 points just before the end of the first half, the Red Foxes regrouped at the intermission and looked like an entirely different team in the second half.

The Red Foxes’ defense cooled off Princeton’s redhot 3-point shooters and started chipping away until they pulled to within 5351 with 3:17 left on a thunderous dunk by freshman Isaiah Brickner.

But the Tigers (2-2) survived by going 7-for-8 from the foul line in the final 2:49 to stave off the upset bid by a young Marist (1-3) club that is looking to rebuild after losing its entire starting five and three key reserves from a year ago.

“It was two different games,” Dunne said. “First half, low energy. Not a lot of ball movement. Princeton came out with a lot of passion. They took our spirit (away) a little bit in the first half, but then in the second half they did what I asked and I think they grew up. Unfortunately, we fell short.”

Princeton sprinted to an 18-2 lead with 14:22 left in the first half as senior guard Ryan Langborg canned three largely uncontested 3-pointers during the run that forced Dunne to burn a pair of timeouts to try and stem the tide.

The Tigers also neutralized Marist’s 6-foot11 center Patrick Gardner by throwing two defenders at him whenever he touched the ball in the first half. Gardner, who led the Red Foxes in scoring at 16.7 points per game heading into the contest, managed only three points in the first half.

Marist’s main outside threat, Noah Harris, shot 0-for-5 from the field and was held scoreless in the first half. But Marist came out flying in the second half and Gardner had six points in a 9-0 run that brought the Red Foxes to within 47-43 on his 3-pointer with 6:43 remaining.

Gardner scored 12 of his game-high 15 points in the second half. Dunne gave freshmen Brickner (seven points, five rebounds), Jaden Daughtry and Trace Salton plenty of playing time and liked what he saw from the trio.

Veteran Princeton coach Mitch Henderson agreed the game was a tale of two halves.

“I think (Dunne) is such a good coach that I was very pleased and a little surprised that we had the lead that we had,” he said. “But we did a good job taking care of the ball and we made shots (7-for-15 on 3-pointers) in the first half. In the second half, we couldn’t make them and they made all of them.”

After shooting 48 percent overall in the first half, the Tigers made just 32 percent of their field goal attempts in the second half. Marist shot 46.4 percent from the field in the second half after a dreadful 27 percent shooting performance in the first half.

Although Princeton cooled off from 3-point range after the intermission (4 of 12), junior guard Matt Allocco’s two long treys with defenders right in his face in the final six minutes provided enough of a cushion to keep the Red Foxes at bay.

“Those were the biggest shots of the game,” Henderson said. “We were in trouble. They were desperate shots. They went in. Sometimes you make those on the road. You get a little lucky. We’ve been a little unfortunate this year, so we needed a little luck.”

Allocco (14 points), Langborg (11) and senior Tosan Evbuomwan (11 points, eight rebounds) led Princeton, which was picked to finish second in the Ivy League behind Penn, according to the league’s preseason poll. Evbuomwan, a 6-8 forward from Newcastle, England, was the Ivy League Player of the Year last season.

Red Foxes junior forward Javon Cooley, who had 11 points and eight rebounds, is confident his team will bounce back from the loss.

“You need to have these hiccups to know how to react when these times happen,” he said. “I think it’ll be good for us going down the road.”

Marist travels to Maryland Eastern Shore on Tuesday for its next contest.

Following a game at Bucknell on Nov. 26, the Red Foxes return to the McCann Arena to meet Ivy League foe Columbia at 7 p.m. on Nov. 28.