Brown’s Rally Falls Short at Princeton
Sunday, March 02, 2014
Brown’s furious second half comeback wasn’t enough as the Bears dropped a 69-64 Ivy League decision to Princeton at Jadwin Gymnasium. Bears’ senior guard Sean McGonagill led the Bears with 19 points.
Brown falls to 15-11 overall and 7-5 in the Ivy League, while Princeton improves to 17-8, 5-6 in league play.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTPrinceton led by as many as 15 points in the second half, 45-30, with 17:30 remaining, and held a 60-53 advantage with 8:02 left on the clock.
The Bears came roaring back down the stretch, out-scoring the Tigers, 8-0, to grab a 61-60 lead on a steal and a lay-up by freshman Tavon Blackmon with 5:00 left in the game.
A trey by Princeton’s TJ Bray gave the Tigers the lead for good, 63-61, with 3:15 on the clock.
The Bears clawed back once again and pulled to within one point, 65-64, on two free throws by McGonagill with just under a minute on the clock.
Bray hit two free throws with 24.5 seconds left and Spencer Weisz hit one free throw with 17 seconds remaining to put the Tigers back up by four points, 68-64, and put the game out of reach.
McGonagill added six rebounds and five assists to go with his 19 points. He established a new Brown record with his 111th career start, breaking the previous mark of 110 starts by Alai Nuualiitia from 1999-2003. His 111 career starts are seventh in the Ivy League record book.
McGonagill also connected on two treys and tied the single season Brown record of 82 treys by Damon Huffman in 2008.
Bears’ sophomore forward Cedric Kuakumensah was once again an intimidating force in the paint. He scored 18 points and completed the double-double with 10 rebounds, while blocking five shots.
Freshman Leland King also scored in double figures for the Bears with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field.
Bray led the way for the Tigers, scoring a game high 21 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field, 3-of-5 shooting from beyond the three-point arc, while hitting 8-of-9 free throws. Spencer Weisz chipped in with 13 points for the Tigers.
The Bears looked sluggish in the opening 12 minutes, falling behind by 15 points, 31-16, on a barrage of Princeton treys and backdoor lay-ups.
McGonagill kept the Bears in the game with 13 first half points as Brown battled back to trail, 41-30 at intermission.
Brown wraps-up its regular season at home next weekend, hosting Dartmouth on Friday, March 7 and Harvard on Saturday, March 8. Both games tip-off at 7pm at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
