PRINCETON — In what’s shaping up to be a wild race for the final two spots in the Ivy League Tournament, the Princeton men’s basketball team is suddenly in a hazardous position. A season-ending injury and an abysmal showing on Friday night will do that. Playing for the first time without sopho more guard Jack Stanton, who broke his foot last Saturday at Penn, the Tigers were boat-raced by Cornell for the second time this season, this time by the score of 89-65 at Jadwin Gymnasium. “They’re really good, they’re a good team,” quipped Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson, who was visibly frustrated in the postgame media room. “They’ve got good players, and they thumped us.” Princeton (8-16, 4-5) has simply had no success defending Cornell (12-10, 5-4), which shot 63.6 percent from the field on Jan. 30 and 55 percent on Friday, including 14 3-pointers and 38 points in the paint. Senior guard Jake Fiegen starred with 20 points on 7-for-7 shooting, three assists and three steals on a night when 11 different Cornell players scored. The Big Red connected on their first five field goals to quickly go up 13-4 at the 16:39 mark. The lead ballooned to 20 with 2:17 left in the half, and the Tigers got no closer than a 14-point deficit the rest of the way. Simply put: Cornell’s track-meet style of play filled with 3s and quick actions in the paint has been a bad matchup for Princeton. “There’s nothing learned here,” Henderson said when asked if it’s easier to teach his players after a loss than a win. “You’ve got to step up and play tomorrow, pick up the pieces. We’ve been in this spot before. We were in this spot two weeks ago, and we’ve got to just grow up really fast.” Offensively, the Tigers had their second-worst shooting percentage (37.3 percent) in nine Ivy League games and dished only 10 assists, tied for their fewest since Dec. 10 vs. Merrimack. Dalen Davis had 19 points and Malik Abdullahi added 14, but clearly the Tigers will need to dig deeper without Stanton, who had been the team’s top 3-point shooter and third-leading scorer (10.9 points per game). “A real challenge. He’s so much for us off of the court as well as on,” Henderson said. “Jake Stanton was a terrific leader, so we’re gonna miss his voice.” Henderson also discussed the challenge of coaching a team with no seniors, explaining that he has to be more patient and give his players more opportunities to fail. They also played a tough nonconference schedule and were without top scorer Dalen Davis for nine games early in the season. Henderson has had only one losing season (2017-18) in 14 years at the helm and his program was in the Sweet 16 three years ago, so this winter hasn’t been easy. “It’s been very challenging in one way, but in another way, very rewarding,” Henderson said. “They’ve been doing everything we’ve been asking them to do. It’s just not showing up in the win column. All these guys work really hard and there’s a lot of expectations here, and so I feel for them. But what I’m seeing on a day-to-day basis is the stuff you want to see as a coach.” With the loss Friday combined with Penn’s win against Columbia, Princeton is now tied with Dartmouth and a game behind Penn and Cornell for the third or fourth spot in the Ivy League Tournament with five games remaining. Princeton returns to Jadwin on Saturday night to host Columbia (14-9, 3-6), whom they beat in Manhattan on Jan. 31, 80-68. “Compete, just got to compete,” Henderson said when asked what he wants to see from his team on Saturday. “Opportunity, can’t let teams take you out of what you’re doing. You’ve got to compete.” ...read more read less