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Vol. LXIII, No. 1
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Wednesday, January 7, 2009
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Vol. LXIII, No. 1
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Wednesday, January 7, 2009
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(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction)
ON LINE: Princeton University men’s basketball player Dan Mavraides follows through on a free throw last Saturday in Princeton’s 65-55 win over UNC Greensboro. Sophomore guard Mavraides went 6-of-6 from the line in the last 1:07 of the game on his way to a career-high 17 points as the Tigers snapped a six-game losing streak. |
It would’ve been understandable if Dan Mavraides had felt jitters as he stepped to the foul line for the Princeton University men’s basketball team with 1:07 left in the second half last Saturday against UNC-Greensboro.
With the Tigers coming into the day having lost six straight games, blowing some late leads in the process, it looked like history was on the verge of repeating itself.
After building a 40-27 lead early in the second half, Princeton’s advantage over the visiting Spartans had shrunk to 54-51 as Mavraides toed the line.
The sophomore guard, though, wasn’t flustered as he held Princeton’s fate in his hands.
For the Princeton University women’s hockey team, its annual foray to Harvard and Dartmouth has typically proven to be mostly fruitless.
Coming into last weekend, the Tigers hadn’t posted a sweep in Cambridge and Hanover since the 1993-94 campaign, going 0-10-1 in its last 11 contests at Harvard and having lost five of its last six games at Dartmouth.
But as the Tigers rode on their bus to New England on New Year’s Day, Princeton head coach Jeff Kampersal had a feeling things might be different in 2009.
Last winter, the Princeton High boys’ basketball team traveled to Allentown, Pa. for the William Allen Holiday Tournament and came away with two losses.
Last week, PHS took another crack at the Allentown event and suffered an initial case of déjà vu as it fell 63-58 to Springfield (Delco) in an opening round contest.
Although the Little Tigers faced the prospect of another winless trip to Pennsylvania, the PHS players kept their chins up.
The last game of 2008 for the Hun School girls’ basketball team presented the kind of challenge that Raider head coach Bill Holup relishes.
Finishing play in the Blue Chip showcase event outside Philadelphia last week, Hun faced undefeated St. Francis (Md.), the top-ranked team in Baltimore and the No. 4 team in Maryland.
In addressing his players before the game, Holup urged them to seize the moment.
Although the Stuart Country Day basketball team went into the holiday break by falling at Gill St. Bernard’s to suffer its first loss of the season, Tartan head coach Tony Bowman liked the way his players reacted to the setback.
“The girls were saying that’s a team we can beat,” said Bowman whose team fell 75-62 to Gill to move to 4-1 on the season. “We just need to do a few things better.”