More non-conference wins than last year already

• 57-45 win for the Tigers. Really nice win. Everything came together perfectly in the second half, but free-throw shooting as poor as it was over the first three games still could have killed the Tigers. Instead, Princeton literally made them all down the stretch, and the result is a 3-1 record.

Get it into Schroeder's hands

• Manhattan fouls immediately on the inbounds--Gunn to the line. Princeton in double-bonus. Gunn makes 'em both. 55-45 Princeton with 22 seconds to play.
• Buffmire steal. Pushes ball downcourt, fouled with 7.5 seconds to go. Conway shouts, "Yeah, baby" and exchanges some fist pounds with Koncz. This game is over. Buffmire hits both free throws. Now it's really over.

Buffmire slaps ball loose

• Pops into hands of Schroeder who is fouled bringing it up and gets another one-and-one. He drains them both with 29.5 to play. 53-43 Tigers. Darryl Crawford comes back with a layup for the Jaspers to cut the Princeton lead to eight with 24.8 to go...Manhattan timeout.

Can Schroeder seal it?

• Freshman at the line for one-and-one. Hits first. Clutch free-throw shooting for Princeton. Schroeder hits the second for 51-43 lead.

Jaspers right back atcha

• Antoine Pearson has really come alive off the bench for Manhattan, he attempts a three and is fouled by Conway. Pearson misses the first, makes the seocond, misses the third. Big rebound by Koncz. 49-43 Princeton with 39.4 to go.

1:01 on the clock

• The Tigers forced a Manhattan airball on the other end, but the loose ball got slapped around before landing in the hands of Jasper Antoine Pearson who drops in a layup. 47-42.
• Manhattan is pressing in the backcourt as Princeton brings up the ball. Conway is crushed to the floor, sixth Jasper foul.
• Seconds later, Koncz takes the inbounds pass and draws the seventh Manhattan foul. Princeton in the bonus. Koncz to the line shooting one-and-one. Hits the first. 48-42 Princeton. Swishes the second 49-42 Princeton.

Buffmire blasts off bench

• Seconds after the PA announcer makes Buffmire's entrance into the game known, the senior guard blows past his man to the basket for a driving layup. He's fouled, but misses the free throw. 47-40 Princeton with 1:15 to go.

Manhattan in the bonus

• With 3:44 on the clock, but Patrick Bouli misses the front end of a one-and-one.
• Conway flies to the rack and cashes in on a strong layup. 43-36 Princeton.
• Antoine Pearson answers for Manhattan with a pretty tear-dropper with 2:30 to go.
• Koncz is feeling it, no doubt. He fakes out his defender from behind the three-point line and takes a dribble forward to drain a two-pointer from just in front of the line.
• Pearson answers again with yet another impossible-looking floater, this one from the baseline. 45-40 Princeton with 1:31 to go.

This is an impressive performance

• When all is said and done, Manhattan could be just as good a team as (if not better than) Loyola, against whom Princeton looked overmatched in its season-opening loss. The improvement on defense has been the most impressive. The matchup-zone defense has been neutralizing Manhattan's athleticism to an astonishing degree. On offense, it's just been a matter of knocking down shots that hadn't been knocked down previously.
• Koncz gets open, calls for the ball with a series of "woo-woo"s, gets it, and swishes home a three from the left wing. Princeton's up 41-34.
• Crazy Manhattan floater falls through, cutting Tiger lead to five with four minutes remaining.

Strittmatter doing it all

• The 6-8 sophomore flies out in the face of a Jasper three-point shooter and forces him into an airball. Those back-to-back threes he hit were huge. Offensively, his inside-outside game is a thing of beauty, and it's easy to envision him getting 20-25 minutes a game by season's end, if not contesting for a starting spot. He had 17 in the Tigers' season-opening loss to Loyola.
• Strittmatter does it again, in the paint this time. He unleashes a series of pump-fakes right under the basket then goes up strong for a layup. 38-34 Tigers, biggest Princeton lead of the game.

Tigers lead!

• Strittmatter comes off the bench and nails a three-pointer from the top of the arc with a man in his face to put the Tigers up 31-30. Manhattan answers with a layup.
• Strittmatter finds the bottom of the net on yet another three-pointer. Manhattan answers again, another two-pointer.
• Marcus Schroeder nails a three now! Princeton is up 36-34 with 8:24 to go in the game

Koncz again

• The junior forward doubles his scoring output with his second three of the game, making it 30-28 Manhattan with 11:46 to go.
• On the other end, the Tigers are playing really solid defense, forcing the Jaspers into a lot of awkward floaters and turnaround jumpers that aren't coming close to falling. Gunn and Schroeder are also leading a half-press, which is throwing off the Manhattan guards.
• A few more breaks here and there, and the Tigers could be on top. Heck, take away that Dubois halftime layup and this is a a tie game. It'll be really interesting to see what will happen if those two points end up making any significant difference in the final outcome. It sounds like video evidence really can be submitted as proof for an over-ruling of the refs, and there's some guy here videotaping the game.

Two more for Owings

• From the charity stripe, and Princeton is back within two with 15:11 to go in the game. Owings now leads the Tigers with seven points, just shy of his season average of 7.7 points going into the game. Conway is right behind him with six points.
• Owings also leads Princeton with three rebounds. Dubois has five for Manhattan.
• Christian Jackson swishes a pretty three from the top of the arc (his second of the game) to put the Jaspers back up five. So far, it's been close but no cigar for Princeton as far as the lead goes.

Owings cuts deficit down to three

• After Koncz scores his first points of the game--knocking down a trey from the top of the arc--Owings drains a pair of free throws to sort of make up for his two bricks at the line earlier in the game.
• Manhattan comes right back with a layup, but Princeton scores on its next two possessions. A goal-tending call gives Gunn two points, then a wide-open Conway throws in a reverse-layup seconds later.
• The Tigers are within one point, trailing 24-23 with 17:11 to go in the game. That's a 9-2 Princeton run to start the second half.
• Jasper three-pointer puts them back up four.

Working the refs

• Photographer Bill Allen goes over with his laptop to one of the refs as he takes the court for the second half and tries to show him the conclusive photo on Dubois' "buzzer-beater."
• The ref says, "I don't want to see that, man."
• Meanwhile, Princeton radio announcer Dan Loney--who has seen the photo--tells another ref about it, and the ref seems genuinely fascinated to hear about his mistake. A third ref walks over to him and is also smiling at the news of their error.

Halftime stats

• For Princeton, no scoring standouts to speak of--Conway with four, Schroeder and Gunn with three apiece, Finley and Savage with two each (a gigantic, rim-rattling two for Savage).
• Dubois leads Manhattan with 10 points (eight if you're anybody but a ref or a Jasper fan).
• Princeton is shooting just 31.6%, while Manhattan is shooting 47.4%. Princeton might be lukcy to be down just six points (20-14). On the other hand, the Tigers are extremely unlucky to not be down just four points.
• Princeton is only being out-rebounded 13-11, and each team has eight turnovers.

Photographic proof

• Bill Allen, photographer for NJ Sports Action and frequent contributor to the Daily Princetonian, runs back over to the press desk from his station underneath the basket and has a perfect shot proving that the ball was still in Dubois' hands when the buzzer sounded and the red lights surrounding the backboard came on.
• Bill goes over to some sideline officials and shows them the evidence, but he's told that only video evidence can be considered in overturning a call, as per NCAA regulations. This photo Bill has is pretty cool, though--the ball is right on Dubois' fingertips and there is no doubt that the light is on to indicate the end of the half.

Hatred before haltime

• Head coach Joe Scott and the rest of the Tigers stalk of the court in an absolute fury of rage after the refs make an extremely questionable call to end the half. With just over three seconds left in the half, the Jaspers took control and pushed the ball downcourt. When it seemed as though the ball-handler had no time to do anything but shoot the ball, he instead fired a bullet pass into the hands of a cutting Dubois, who tossed a layup up and in. But it was almost certain that the buzzer had sounded before the ball left Dubois' hands.
• The entire Tiger bench jumped up at once, collectively signaling that there was no way the basket should count. After a delay, one ref pointed his finger emphatically downward to indicate that the basket would count, and the Manhattan faithful at Draddy Gymnasium erupted.
• Scott walks off the court with his face turning red chewing out the refs as Owings runs over and pleads his case with another ref.
• To no avail, Jaspers lead 20-14 at halftime. Big play.

Owings ends the drought

• First Princeton threee-pointer comes 18 minutes into the game. Owings swishes it in from the left baseline, cutting Manhattan's lead to four, 18-14. How'd this game get so low-scoring? The Tigers, of course, are eating clock like no other, but there hasn't been an overabundance of turnovers or missed shots on either side.
• Good sized crowd of Princeton fans made the trip up to the 242nd-street stop on the 1-train tonight, occupying a big chunk of one side of the arena.

Where have all the shooters gone?

• Princeton remains 0-6 from downtown. That doesn't look like it will be changing anytime soon, either. On the floor are Conway, Schroeder, Finley, Buffmire, and Strittmatter--probably the least outside-shooter-friendly lineup that Princeton has had on the floor all season. Strittmatter is the only guy who can consistently knock down threes.
• Jaspers lead 18-11 with 3:35 to play in the half.

Ten days of practice worked wonders for this kid

• Finley drops a picture-perfect bounce pass from the top of the key to a cutting Conway, who rattles home a reverse layup to cut the Princeton deficit to five.
• Arturo Dubois answers on the other end for the Jaspers, hitting a falling-down baby hook from the sideline. Dubois has eight points.

Zach Finley in the game

• The freshman forward has gotten a few minutes now in each of Princeton's first four games. He has looked a whole lot more like a freshman than starters Gunn and Schroeder, but in high school he was the kind of guy who threw down Savages with regularity.
• Finley just made a nice cut to the bucket and hit a smooth reverse layup off a lob pass. Second bucket of his career pulls the Tigers within seven.

Sweet mercy!!!

• Noah Savage just unleashed a monster dunk, no other way of describing it. He got a step around his defender and straight-up exploded towards the rim, throwing it down with one hand and authority. If that doesn't get Princeton fired up, nothing will. Jaspers still lead 16-7 with 8:10 to go in the half.
• That play alone earns Savage a starting spot in my book. As if being the leading returning scorer from last season shouldn't have already.
• Definitely the first dunk of Princeton's season, if you were wondering. My count from all of last season was two. Might have been one.

Tripling up

• Manhattan now leads 16-5 after a fast-break pull-up jumper. The Tigers are getting killed on layups and put-backs inside, just like they were in their opening loss to Loyola. The problem of interior defense seemed to have been shored up in the subsequent two games--and Princeton was supposed to have worked on it in practice, but so much for that.
• Princeton has as many turnovers (5) as points.
• Offensive foul on Marcus Schroeder.

This 5-8 guy is not 5-8 at all

• Victor Jackson (who, in the great tradition of 5-3 former Charlotte Hornet Muggsey Bogues, wears #1 on his jersey) is sitting on the Jaspers' bench in his warm-ups and there is no way he is 5-8. It must be noted that, according to the team website, his father is Manhattan College Provost Dr. Weldon Jackson.

Conventional three-point play

• For freshman guard Marcus Schroeder, who's struggled hitting the new-fangled type of three-pointers. Tigers lead 5-4 with 15:25 to go.
• The PA announcer here really likes to say Dubois' name, sounding happy to say it even after Dubois committed an offensive foul. Who can blame him.
• Kyle Koncz picks up his second foul just over five minutes into the game.

ExJasperated

• Manhattan's starting center tonight is Arturo Dubois, who is 6-10 and averaged 19 points and 6.7 rebounds per game last season. He's getting great post position on Luke Owings and Kyle Koncz downlow, but his guards aren't getting it two him. He looks like he's going to explode, making all sorts of funny faces.
• Seconds later, he gets the ball and turns around for a pretty baby hook off the glass and in to tie the game.
• Dubois pronounces his name "doo-BWAH," not "doo-BOYCE" like W.E.B.

Koncz, Owings, Schroeder, Gunn, and Conway

• Take the court as starters again, no surprises there.
• As the Jaspers line up, one notices that they have both a seven-foot, three-inch player and a player who is very, very generously listed at 5'8". The 7-3 guy is wearing a red fleece jacket--he's Shagari Alleyne, a transfer from the University of Kentucky, who is sitting out the season per transfer rules. This guy is a blocking machine who actually played a little at Kentucky, so it's too bad we won't see the Tigers get to force him to awkardly step out on three-point shooters.
• Speaking of which...Princeton senior foward/center Justin Conway just swished a two-pointer with his foot on the three-point line from the top of the arc to open scoring. 2-0 Tigers after just over a minute of play.

Standing in Princeton's way

are the Jaspers, who were the regular-season champions of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference last year. The Jaspers, like the Tigers, lost their first game of the season but have won two straight. Manhattan's most recent win was an impressive 79-77 overtime triumph over Hofstra.

Express from the BX

What's up what's up,
"Sideline Dispatches" is coming at you live from Draddy Gymnasium in the neighborhood of Riverdale, the Bronx, New York. The Princeton men's basketball team will tip off against the Jaspers of Manhattan College (not in Manhattan, right) in just under three minutes. The Tigers are looking to improve on the 2-1 record with which they started the season at the Black Coaches' Association Classic in Columbus, Ohio, 10 days ago. With a win, Princeton will surpass its non-conference win total from 2005-6.