PRINCETON, N.J. -- Last night against Drexel, the Princeton Tigers could do no wrong.
The defense was there, the shots were there, and everything was falling.
Then, inexplicably, the Princeton Tigers could do no right.
Sound familiar?
Just like last year's epic collapse at the Palestra, Princeton's 54-41 loss to Drexel in front of 2,352 fans at Jadwin Gym in the first round of the Preseason NIT can be traced to one stretch in which everything fell apart.
This time, that span came quite a bit earlier.
With just under five minutes gone in the game, the Tigers held a 13-5 lead on the strength of hot shooting from the outside. Yet in the 14 minutes that followed, Princeton managed to score only three more points and fell behind, 26-16.
What happened in between was a mixture of everything that could go wrong, including 1-for-11 shooting and a stretch of four straight turnovers.
"Something changed right there at that point in time," Princeton coach Joe Scott said, referring to those turnovers. "It sort of got [the Dragons] out of their funk."
With the win, Drexel advanced to the second round, where they will host Sam Houston State on Thursday.
Three juniors topped the scoring charts for the visitors. Guard Dominick Mejia led the way with 18 points, including 13 in the first half, while forward Chaz Crawford chipped in with 13 points and guard Bashir Mason added 10.
Princeton sophomore forward Noah Savage was his team's leading scorer, recording 15 points for the Tigers -- who showed no signs of changing their traditional style of methodically working down the shot clock.
Whereas the Tigers' offense revolved mainly around the perimeter game, Drexel was able to exploit its superior athleticism, pushing the ball inside for easy scores and pulling down 19 offensive rebounds.
The resulting statistical differences were astounding.
Drexel grabbed a total of 46 rebounds, led by 6-foot-7 sophomore forward Randy Oveneke's 14. Princeton only managed 17 boards on the night.
"I thought we had an advantage in rebounding the ball at both ends, and that's what we tried to do," Dragons coach Bruiser Flint said.
The real difference in the scoring came at the free-throw line.
Whereas Drexel shot 18-for-25 from the charity stripe, Princeton managed only one free throw in just three attempts.
Despite all their struggles, the Tigers were by no means out of the game in the second half.
A three-pointer by Princeton sophomore forward Kyle Koncz brought the score to 36-32, but Drexel reapplied its pressure defense to launch a 12-3 run that put the game away.
Last night's game marked the return to the Tigers' lineup of 6-foot-9 sophomore center Harrison Schaen after he took last year off from school. Schaen connected on three three-pointers but was largely ineffective inside the paint.
On a night when little went well for the Tigers, they can thank Savage for making the score as close as it was.
The Princeton, N.J., native shot 5-for-8 from behind the arc but was hindered by foul trouble, as he picked up three in the first half and tallied his fourth with 9:30 to play.
While Penn may look forward to facing the Tigers' depleted offense, that showdown will have to wait until Feb. 14.
Penn gets a shot at Drexel much earlier -- a week from this Saturday at the Palestra.
