Tigers Close Weekend, Top West Alabama

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LEWISBURG, Pa. - After scoring the first 20 points, the Princeton men's basketball team cruised to a 66-42 victory over West Alabama Sunday afternoon at Bucknell to close the TicketCity Legends Classic.
Snapping a three-game losing streak, the Tigers (2-5) will look to build on the win Wednesday in Jadwin Gym against Lafayette (3-3).

West Alabama, a Division II program, dropped to 1-6 with the loss.

Mitch Henderson, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of Princeton men's basketball, said the Tigers would have a new look after shortcomings against Elon, Bucknell and Morehead State over the past five days.

"We needed a spark today," Henderson said. "You learn that even in a victory, every little thing is important too. It's more fun to teach when you're winning, but I think winning has got to be contagious. We've got to get used to it."

Sunday afternoon, that resulted in junior forward Mack Darrow getting his first career start, but no Tigers made their first appearances of the season until the final two minutes of the game when freshman Bobby Garbade and sophomore Daniel Edwards entered.

Princeton held West Alabama to 15 percent shooting (3 of 20) in the first half and without a field goal until more than 10 minutes had passed. The Tigers committed just two turnovers before the break and grabbed eight offensive rebounds as part of a 25-19 edge on the glass.

The Tigers continued their weekend-long trend of hoisting plenty of 3-point attempts, trying 35 against West Alabama, and making a greater percentage - a season-high 12, for a 34.3 percent clip - than in any game since Princeton canned 9 of 19 at North Carolina State. In the four interim games, Princeton was below 30 percent from beyond the arc.

The Tigers last made as many as 12 3-pointers when it routed Yale 82-58 with 13 3-pointers on Feb. 19, 2010 at Jadwin Gymnasium.

Princeton put up 92 3-point attempts over the three games at Bucknell after trying 64 in the first four games this season. The 35 the Tigers tried against West Alabama were the program's most in regulation since hoisting 35 against Rutgers on Dec. 3, 2004. It also set a Sojka Pavilion record a night after Bucknell put up 34, also against West Alabama, in the eight-year-old building.

Ian Hummer, who was named to the regional all-tournament team, led Princeton with 18 points in 21 minutes while Darrow nearly had a double-double in his 26 minutes of play, putting up 10 points and pulling down nine boards with five assists and no turnovers. Douglas Davis finished with 11 points as the third Tiger in double figures. T.J. Bray added a career-high six assists.

"We still have still a lot of things to improve on, especially in the turnover department and the rebounding department," Hummer said after Princeton followed up the two-turnover first half with nine after the break. "I think we're slowly getting there. It takes some time, but we're getting there."

Princeton enjoyed a 43-34 rebounding edge against a West Alabama team that was without leading scorer Ryan Fitch (13.0 ppg) due to injury and does not have a player taller than 6-foot-9. Princeton leads the Ivy League with nine players at 6-foot-8 or taller.

The Tigers led by as much as 30 in the second half despite West Alabama making 13 second-half field goals compared to just three before the break.

Wednesday's game against Lafayette will tip at Jadwin Gymnasium, and any fan who brings a non-perishable food item will receive a voucher for $4 off the price of game-day admission as part of Princeton's Holiday Hoops Food Drive.