By: Nick Borowski
PHILADELPHIA – On Saturday, Drexel University (4-5) and Princeton University (6-2) faced off at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. Drexel went down early and could never come back, leading to a 83-63 victory for the Tigers.
Princeton guard Matt Allocco had 19 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists.
Princeton began on a hot start opening the game with a 9-0 run over the first five minutes of the game. Drexel shot 0-7 from the field to begin the game. Freshman guard Justin Moore finally stopped the bleeding with a layup to score the Dragons’ first points of the game.
The Dragons concentrated on attacking the paint with their first three baskets all being at the rim. When Drexel head coach Zach Spiker was asked after the game if there was an effort to get to the rim, he replied, “We always look to attack. That’s the highest percentage shot.”
In the following minutes before the under 12-minute media timeout, the teams traded baskets more often with Princeton opening a 16-6 lead.
The two teams continued to score back and forth before Oral Roberts transfer Jamie Bergens opened a solo 5-0 run cutting the lead to 21-18, Princeton leading. The crowd was getting back into the game before Princeton guard Deven Austin hit back-to-back 3-pointers to inflate the lead back to 9 at 27-18.
Drexel vs. Princeton - PSD Highlights by Nick Borowski
Princeton carried that momentum into the halftime break maintaining a 36-27 lead.
The beginning of the second half was the opposite of the first half. Both teams came out firing and in the first five minutes, Drexel had outscored Princeton 11-10.
Moore began to take over on the offensive end. The local product from Archbishop Wood scored six points in a row and had an impressive assist to Amari Williams after dropping his defender. Following these eight points scored or assisted on, Drexel cut the lead to six with Princeton leading 50-44.
Drexel forward Lamar Oden Jr. continued his hot shooting day with a 3-point shot to cut the lead to five, but Princeton guard Blake Peters immediately responded with a 3-point shot of his own.
Princeton kept a comfortable double-digit lead following Peters’ three. Oden Jr. was impressive offensively, but Princeton began to pull away going on a 12-2 run in the last five minutes of game time.
After the game, coach Spiker addressed key takeaways in the loss.
“Win or lose, we got better for league play. It really stinks to tell you that after a loss,” said Spiker.
Tomorrow, Drexel travels to inner city rival La Salle at Noon while Princeton takes on Monmouth at home at 7 p.m.