Red-hot St. Joe’s hands Princeton 1st loss of season
By DYLAN LUTEY
The Princeton-St. Joe’s game was arguably the biggest game on the college calendar on Sunday.
With a win, Princeton would improve to 9-0 and potentially enter the AP Top 25 on Monday. A win for St. Joe’s would extend their winning streak to five games with another quality victory.
In a back and forth affair at Hagan Arena, Billy Lange’s St. Joe’s club came out with a 74-70 win behind a game-high 21 points from Erik Reynolds II and 18 points from Lynn Greer III.
“Huge shoutout to [the fans],” Reynolds told reporters post-game. “I really feed off their energy; I feel like we all do. I really feel like their energy and their presence right there caused them to miss a couple of free-throws.”
The Hawks improved to 8-2 and would likely be a Top 25 team were it not for a home loss to Texas A&M Commerce on Nov. 17.
Turning defense to offense #THWND pic.twitter.com/mVl6P6bIXJ
— SJU Hawks MBB (@SJUHawks_MBB) December 10, 2023
Princeton missed four free throws in the final 1:30 of the game, while Reynolds made 6-of-6 down the stretch.
Reynolds, who leads the team with 16.7 points per game, reached the 20-point mark for the third time this season.
With 1:54 left and a tie game the team’s leading scorer Xaivian Lee (20 points) went to the line and missed both of his shots from the charity stripe. Then, with 1:17 and a 70-68 lead in favor of the Hawks due to 2 clutch free-throws from Reynolds, Dalen Davis failed to convert either of his attempts.
Lange was happy with his team’s performance against a team he expressed a lot of respect for.
“Princeton’s a great team, not a good team, a great team,” Lange said. Their players are great, not good, great. We had to play very well tonight and we played well when we needed to. This is a good win for us right now.”
Despite the tough loss, Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson hopes it’s a learning experience.
“Guys were hanging their heads in the locker rooms… it’s not always gonna go our way,” Henderson said of the loss in a post-game press conference. “Thankfully this is not happening in the league right? Great environment, great college basketball game, [and] lots of things for us to take away from this one. I don’t really believe in good losses or anything like that but they were terrific.”
Looking ahead for each team, the Hawks will take on Iona (3-6) on Dec. 16 as part of the Holiday Hoopfest at UBS Arena (the home of the New York Islanders) and the Tigers will face Bryn Athyn, a Division 3 school, on Dec. 13.
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