PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Rutgers limited center Judson Wallace
to just five points and made four key throws down the stretch to hold off Princeton
51-49
on Saturday to improve to 5-1 in front of a season-high crowd of 6,102 at the
Louis Brown Athletic Center.
Wallace, averaging 22.8 points per game, was the 12th-leading scorer in
the nation coming in.
But he connected on just 1-of-8 from the field and 3-of-6 from the foul line
due to tough post defense by senior forward Sean Axani (Red Bank), sophomore
forward Adrian Hill (Canton, OH) and senior center Herve Lamizana (Abidjan,
Ivory Coast).
The win was Rutgers' fifth straight over Princeton, marking just the
second time in RU history the Knights have won five straight over the Tigers
(the previous five-game winning streak was a stretch from 1973-1976).
Princeton (4-2) got to within two points six times in the second half, but
never could draw even.
The key possession was when Princeton trailed, 49-45, in the final minute.
Wallace followed his own miss but traveled because of Hill's strong defense.
It was one of six turnovers for Wallace in the game.
Princeton cut it to two when Wallace fed Ed Persia for a layup with 27 seconds
left but junior guard Juel Wiggan (Bronx, NY) sank two free throws to push
the lead back to four with 16 seconds remaining.
Persia passed to Andre Logan, who had 11 points off the bench, for a layup
to make it 51-49 and Princeton fouled, putting freshman guard Quincy Douby
(Brooklyn, NY) on the line.
Douby, who finished with nine points, missed the front end of a one-and-one
with six ticks left and Princeton had one final chance but Logan missed a 17-footer
at the top of the key and the buzzer sounded
Junior guard Ricky Shields (Upper Marlboro, MD) scored 13 points to lead Rutgers
in scoring while Lamizana tallied a game-high 11 rebounds along with seven
points and three blocked shots.
Rutgers shot 52.4 percent from the field in the first half to establish a
27-19 lead at the break. The Scarlet Knights cooled down to 33.3 percent
shooting in the second half, while Princeton converted 46.2 percent from
the floor. The Tigers outscored Rutgers 30-24 in the stanza, but the Scarlet
Knights never yielded the lead.
"That was ugly," said Rutgers head coach Gary Waters. "I
even told our kids this could be an ugly game here. Because we're going
to defend them and they're going to make some baskets because they run
their offense as well as anybody in the entire country.
"We go into each game with a game plan, and if you remember last year
when we beat them at their place, the game plan was to stop every backdoor,
don't give the backdoor cuts. That wasn't our game this year," Waters
added. "Our goal was we cannot give them three-pointers because they
came into the game shooting 50 percent from the field from three-point range.
They hit some threes but we held them to 23 percent and that's what we
do. Sometimes when you rush out there with high hands, you're going to
have some back cuts.
Rutgers shot 52.4 percent from the field in the first half to establish a
27-19 lead at the break. The Scarlet Knights cooled down to 33.3 percent shooting
in the second half, while Princeton converted 46.2 percent from the floor.
The Tigers outscored Rutgers 30-24 in the stanza, but the Scarlet Knights never
yielded the lead.
Both teams finished the game with nearly identical numbers from the field,
as Rutgers shot 42.9 percent while Princeton hit on 42.2 percent. The Scarlet
Knights performed better at the line, however, connecting on 11-of-13 free
throws compared to just 6-of-14 for the Tigers.
The Scarlet Knights are next in action on Sat., Dec. 27 when they play host
to LIU at the Louis Brown Athletic Center. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m.
WITH THE WIN
With the 51-49 victory over Princeton, the Scarlet Knights improve to 5-1 on
the season. Rutgers has now won five straight games over Princeton. It is the
second time in series history that RU has won five consecutive games over the
Tigers. The previous five-game stretch came from 1973-76.
SCARLET KNIGHTS RESPOND
After falling behind 8-0, Rutgers responded with a 17-4 run, limiting Princeton
to just one field goal in a span of 6:38. During the run, Ricky Shields scored
eight points and Herve Lamizana made a three-pointer to give RU its first
lead of the game.
CLAMPING DOWN ON DEFENSE
The 19 points allowed by Rutgers in the first half was a season-low. The previous
low came when the Scarlet Knights held Wisconsin to 21 points on Nov. 29,
2003. It was also the fewest points Princeton had scored in a half this season.
Rutgers has held its opponents to 21 points or less in a half in three of
six games this year.
TAMING THE TIGERS
Princeton, which was shooting .402 (43-of-107) from three-point range on the
season, was held to 5-of-21 (.238) today by the Scarlet Knights.
A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING
Herve Lamizana once again had a solid all-around game, netting seven points,
11 rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots.
DOUBY WITHOUT A THREE
For the first time in his six-game Rutgers career, Quincy Douby did not hit
a three-pointer. Coming into the game, Douby was leading the team with 11
threes. He still managed to score nine points.
RU FROM THE LINE
Rutgers once again was able to convert from the free throw line, hitting 11-of-13
(.846). Over the last three games combined, RU has shot 38-of-45 (.844)
RU SHUTS DOWN WALLACE
Coming into the game, Princeton's Judson Wallace was averaging 22.8 points
per game, good for 12TH in the nation. Today, RU held Wallace to just five
points. In Rutgers' previous outing against Penn State, Jan Jagla was
averaging 19 points per game entering the contest, and a stingy RU defense
held him to just nine points.
NEXT UP
The Scarlet Knights will entertain Long Island University on Saturday, Dec.
20 at 7:30 p.m. at the Rutgers Athletic Center.
Official Basketball Box Score
Princeton vs Rutgers
12/13/03 2:00pm at Louis Brown Athletic Center
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VISITORS: Princeton 4-2
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 WYSOCKI, Konrad..... f 3-4 1-2 0-0 0 2 2 1 7 0 4 0 0 23
30 WALLACE, Judson..... c 1-8 0-2 3-6 2 2 4 4 5 3 6 1 1 27
03 GREENMAN, Scott..... g 0-4 0-4 1-2 1 4 5 1 1 1 0 0 1 30
10 PERSIA, Ed.......... g 4-12 3-9 0-0 2 2 4 2 11 7 1 0 1 38
22 VENABLE, Will....... g 4-6 0-1 2-5 0 3 3 2 10 2 1 0 1 30
12 SCHAFER, Max........ 0-2 0-2 0-0 2 1 3 2 0 2 1 0 0 12
20 OWINGS, Luke........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
25 LOGAN, Andre........ 5-7 1-1 0-0 2 3 5 1 11 1 0 1 1 19
33 STEPHENS, Mike...... 2-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 2 4 0 1 0 0 15
54 SCHAEN, Harrison.... 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
TEAM................ 3 3 1
Totals.............. 19-45 5-21 6-14 13 17 30 15 49 16 15 2 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 7-19 36.8% 2nd Half: 12-26 46.2% Game: 42.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-9 22.2% 2nd Half: 3-12 25.0% Game: 23.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 3-6 50.0% Game: 42.9% 3
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HOME TEAM: Rutgers 5-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 LAMIZANA, Herve..... f 3-6 1-1 0-0 2 9 11 3 7 3 3 3 1 30
32 AXANI, Sean......... f 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 5 2 0 0 0 0 15
04 HILL, Adrian........ c 2-4 0-1 2-2 2 0 2 2 6 0 1 0 0 22
02 SHIELDS, Ricky...... g 4-11 1-5 4-4 1 3 4 2 13 0 2 0 2 35
11 WEBB, Marquis....... g 3-5 2-2 0-0 1 3 4 2 8 0 2 0 0 33
05 DOUBY, Quincy....... 3-11 0-5 3-5 1 2 3 0 9 1 3 0 1 28
13 WIGGAN, Juel........ 1-2 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 4 4 1 0 1 22
21 JOYNES, Byron....... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 2 2 1 0 0 15
TEAM................ 1 1 1
Totals.............. 18-42 4-14 11-13 8 18 26 17 51 10 13 3 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-21 52.4% 2nd Half: 7-21 33.3% Game: 42.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-6 16.7% 2nd Half: 3-8 37.5% Game: 28.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-4 100 % 2nd Half: 7-9 77.8% Game: 84.6% 1
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Officials: Mike Kitts, Bob Donato, Reggie Greenwood
Technical fouls: Princeton-WALLACE, Judson. Rutgers-TEAM.
Attendance: 6102
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Princeton..................... 19 30 - 49
Rutgers....................... 27 24 - 51
ID-222143
Points in the paint-PRINC 28,RUTGERS 20. Points off turnovers-PRINC 20,RUTGERS 14.
2nd chance points-PRINC 13,RUTGERS 4. Fast break points-PRINC 4,RUTGERS 6.
Bench points-PRINC 15,RUTGERS 15. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-1 time.
Last FG-PRINC 2nd-00:07, RUTGERS 2nd-03:38.
