BLACK AND BLUE: Princeton University men’s basketball player Matt Allocco, center, gets sandwiched by a pair of defenders in recent action. Last Saturday against Delaware, junior star Allocco scored 11 points, including a pair of three-pointers down the stretch, but it wasn’t enough as a late Princeton rally fell short in a 76-69 loss to the Blue Hens. The Tigers, now 8-4, host Division III Kean University on December 23. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Coming off a tough 70-64 defeat to Iona earlier in the week, the Princeton University men’s basketball team was looking to get back on the winning track as it hosted Delaware on Saturday.

Instead, Princeton dug an early hole, trailing the Blue Hens 37-25 at halftime. Things got worse for the Tigers as they found themselves behind 58-43 with 9:46 left in regulation.

“I thought they dictated every single part of the game, we were on our heels throughout the entire game,” said Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson.

Mounting a furious rally, the Tigers had Delaware on its heels, going on a 25-11 run to narrow the gap to 69-68 with 53 seconds remaining in the game as the Jadwin Gym crowd was roaring.

“It just meant more, we get down, that is our panic time,” said Tiger junior guard and co-captain Matt Allocco, reflecting on the Princeton comeback.

Allocco hit a fall away three-pointer from the corner that got the Tigers to within one.

“I was open, we hit a couple of shots in a row,” said Allocco who previously hit a three with 3:03 remaining to narrow the gap to 67-65. “We were starting to make a run, it is just how the game goes sometimes.”

Things didn’t go well for the Tigers in the waning seconds as Delaware held off their charge to pull away to a 76-69 victory before 1,599 at Jadwin.

The late rally provided little solace to a subdued Allocco. “We need to get to the point where we play like that for 40 minutes,” said Allocco, who ended up with 11 points, six rebounds, and two assists in the contest as Princeton dropped to 8-4. “It is tough to swallow, but we didn’t deserve to win that game.”

It was a tough loss for Henderson to swallow as well. “It is a real eye-opener for us, we got a break here, we are in exams,” said Henderson, who got 16 points from Ryan Langborg in the defeat with Xaivian Lee tallying 12 points in 17 minutes off the bench and Caden Pierce and Keeshawn Kellman scoring 10 apiece. “I don’t think we are sick enough of losing. We have got to get more sick about it.”

In order to get well, it will take a collective effort from the Tigers.

“We have to do it together,” said Henderson. “We are very capable of getting to a point where we can come back in games but it is really hard to come back and win.”

Committing 16 turnovers against the Blue Hens make it very hard for Princeton to win.

“I figured we would be tougher, I think this is a tough team but we are not tough with the ball,” said Henderson. “We had 16 turnovers against a team that really doesn’t pressure you. It is really a tough one for us. We have to learn something from this too, like we did on Tuesday.”

With Princeton hosting Division III Kean University on December 23 and then starting its Ivy League campaign by hosting Harvard on December 31, the Tigers will be doing some soul searching in the wake of the loss to Delaware.

“We are not coming ready to play now, our heads may have gotten a little too big there in that eight-game winning streak,” said Henderson. “We got a little bit of humble pie here and we have to be ‘OK, how are we going to respond?’ We are going to find out what is going on now. The light shines on you a little bit more, it exposes you. There is a lot of blame going around right now. We have got to get it corrected here in an exam period and then have a Division III game and a break and a short amount of practice before Harvard.”

Henderson is cautiously optimistic that Princeton can right the ship. “Let’s hope we are not sitting here in two weeks doing the same thing,” said Henderson. “We have some stuff that can really be corrected — turnovers is the eye-opener. That is the one.”

Tiger tri-captain Allocco, who took the defeat to the Blue Hens personally, is determined to get things corrected.

“We just weren’t ready to go. I am supposed to be a leader and get us ready to go,” said Allocco. “I didn’t hold up my end of the deal, I have got to be better.”