A word of caution to the Princeton Tigers: watch out for number 31 tonight.
Penn senior Tim Begley scored a career-high 37 points, as the Quakers steamrolled the Tigers, 69-54, in a simulated matchup between the two rivals on ESPN's College Hoops 2K5.
Begley was able to outscore Princeton's leading offensive weapon, Judson Wallace. Wallace had 25 points on 10-for-24 shooting.
The Tigers jumped out to an early 8-6 lead, but Penn went on a 21-6 run in the middle of the first half. The Tigers would get no closer than six points for the rest of the game.
Leading this Penn run was, of course, Begley. The Freehold, N.J., native hit a three-pointer with just under seven minutes remaining in the first half, giving Begley his 17th point. The entire Princeton squad had just 14 points.
Begley was dominant both inside and out, shooting 12-for-21 from the field and 6-for-11 from three. He also had five assists on the night.
Penn's second leading scorer was sophomore forward Steve Danley, who had 11 points while shooting5-for-6 from the field.
Danley's classmate, Ibby Jaaber, struggled from the field. It took him almost fifteen minutes to score his first point and almost 20 minutes to score his first field goal. He ended up with nine points in the game due to a strong second-half performance.
What Jaaber lacked in scoring ability, he made up for with tenacious rebounding. The guard, despite standing only 6-foot-2, collected 12 boards on the night.
Mark Zoller had eight points on the night, while fellow starter Eric Osmundson had four.
Penn shot 50 percent from the field (26-for-52) and from beyond the three-point arc (7-for-14).
However, the Quakers were equally impressive on defense.
They seemed content on letting Wallace and his backup, senior Mike Stephens, take shots, while shutting down Princeton's guards.
Wallace and Stephens combined for 37 of the Tigers' 54 points, while the team's three starting guards -- Max Schafer, Scott Greenman and Will Venable -- combined for just 13 points.
Despite his 25 points, Wallace was not dominant. He connected on just 10 of his 24 field goal attempts, missing every shot he took from the left side of the basket.
Venable, the team's second leading scorer, struggled all game to get an open look. He had just two field goal attempts and just as many points.
The Tigers has trouble from three-point range throughout, hitting just one shot from downtown.
There were a few bright spots for Princeton in the game, however, that the Tigers might be able to capitalize on tonight.
They might want to take advantage of their very deep bench, which outscored Penn's 14-0.
Also, the Tigers were able to stop Jaaber, Osmundson and Zoller from getting points in the paint as Stephens, Wallace and Andre Logan combined for six blocked shots.
