(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) ROAD WARRIOR: Princeton University junior forward Kyle Koncz battles through two Lafayette defenders in Princeton's 44-42 win over the Leopards last week in Easton, Pa. The Tigers improved to 5-2 with a 53-51 win over Northwestern State last Saturday in a consolation game at the Blue and Gold Classic in Milwaukee, Wis. Koncz has been a pivotal player for Princeton, leading the team in scoring with a 12.4 average, reaching double figures six times. The Tigers, who have not yet played a game in New Jersey this season, make their home debut on December 6 when they host Lehigh.

PU Men's Hoops Overcomes Bumps in Road, Ready to Shine in Home Debut Against Lehigh

By Bill Alden

By early December last season, the Princeton University men's basketball team was at 2-5, floundering on the way to a 3-12 start.

Princeton head coach Joe Scott was juggling his lineup, running players in and out of games as he tried to find the right combination.

The Tiger players, meanwhile, struggled to find a rhythm as their playing time went up and down.

Sparked by the insertion of Justin Conway into the lineup in January and the marvelous play of heady senior Scott Greenman down the stretch, the Tigers caught fire as they won nine of their last 12 games.

Although Greenman has graduated, Princeton has picked up where it left off last season, starting 2006-07 with a solid 5-2 mark.

Princeton won its fifth game of the season last Saturday as it edged Northwestern State 53-51 in a consolation game at the Blue and Gold Classic in Milwaukee, Wis.

Senior star Luke Owings led the way, scoring 19 points while freshman Zach Finley, starting in place of an injured Conway, chipped in eight points and eight rebounds.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Princeton's good start is the fact that the Tigers have not played a game yet at home.

Princeton finally gets to show its stuff to its home fans at Jadwin Gym this Wednesday as the Tigers host Lehigh (4-6).

Last week in a 44-42 win at Lafayette, Princeton gave a glimpse of the gritty play it has exhibited in the early going this season.

Trailing 22-19 at the intermission, the Tigers started the second half with a 12-0 run to grab an eight-point lead at 31-23. The Tigers then kept their nerve as they held off a late surge by the Leopards.

Scott, for his part, thought the performance exemplified the progress the Tigers have made this season.

"I thought it took us a little time to come on; we're still in the growing stage of learning that, you know what, we could be a pretty good basketball team," said Scott.

Princeton was particularly impressive in the early part of the second half as it went on a 20-8 run to build a 39-30 advantage.

"We came out in the second half and executed extremely well," asserted Scott, whose team shot 58.3 percent from the field in the second half and committed only six turnovers.

"We played our way of basketball and we did it really well. I thought we were terrific in the first 15 minutes of the second half. Our defense was good, our offense was good; we scored. I'd like us to play the whole way like we did in the first 15 minutes of the second half; I think we are capable of doing that."

Princeton's surge was not the product of any halftime broadside from the fiery Scott. "I didn't really talk that much at half," recalled Scott, now in his third season as the head coach at his alma mater. "I sat outside. The guys are starting to learn and are talking to each other. They know what they have to do."

Junior star Kyle Koncz, who had 12 points, said that the Tiger players took it upon themselves to iron out the glitches in their game.

"We got into the locker room at halftime and we talked about how they were scoring points because of our mistakes," said Koncz. "We weren't talking well enough on the court; we weren't communicating. We knew we had to come out in the second half and pick up our defense and run our stuff. I think we did a good job of improving what we messed up on in the first half."

Scott praised the consistently good job he has been getting from Koncz, who is leading the Tigers in scoring with a 12.4 average and has been in double figures in six of Princeton's seven games.

"That's the difference," said Scott, referring to Koncz's consistency. "It's a point of emphasis for all of our returners to play well every night. Juniors and seniors are supposed to play well every night; that doesn't mean that you have to make every shot you take. The way I look at it a junior or a senior might go out and shoot 2-for-6 but they defend, they rebound, they take care of the ball; they play well every night. That's what Kyle has been doing."

Scott has also been getting good play just about every night from precocious freshman point guard Marcus Schroeder, who is averaging 5.6 points a game and leading the Tigers with 23 assists while playing nearly every minute of every game.

"He's tough as nails; he's a basketball player," said Scott, who has also been starting freshman Lincoln Gunn, Schroeder's high school teammate at De La Salle in the San Francisco area. "He doesn't turn it over, he rebounds the ball, he gets steals; he causes havoc for the other team."

Lafayette head coach Fran O'Hanlon certainly noticed the difference in the Tigers this season. "They are much better this year," said O'Hanlon, who is in his 12th season coaching the Leopards.

"The two young kids Schroeder and Gunn ran this system for the last four years so they don't play like freshmen. When you have guys like a Noah Savage or a Michael Strittmatter coming off the bench; that's a very formidable team."

In Scott's view, his team's early road swing should make it more formidable as the season unfolds. "We have been playing in different environments," said Scott, whose team hosts local rival Rutgers on December 9.

"We have had seven cracks off the bat to play on the road and at neutral sites and that's extremely important. Now we have to go to another mentality; a home mentality where you gotta be great at home. That's going to be a learning experience for us too and I think we are going to be prepared for that."

Koncz, for his part, believes the team is prepared to keep benefitting from the learning process.

"We always talk about what we did wrong each game and we try to correct it," said Koncz. "I think the guys are coming along. I think we showed it in the last two games. In the first half we didn't do our stuff well and in the second half we did. We have to keep working on that stuff and keep improving."

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