NCAA Game Summary - Princeton vs. Texas
03.18.2004
|
Denver, CO (Basketball News) - Brandon Mouton scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half to lead Texas to a 66-49 come-from-behind victory over Princeton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Pepsi Center.
Royal Ivey added 15 points and pulled down eight rebounds for the third-seeded Longhorns (24-7), who advanced to Saturday’s second round for a matchup with the winner of the North Carolina/Air Force game. Brian Boddicker chipped in 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor, as Texas won for the third time in the last four contests.
Will Venable paced the 14th-seeded Tigers (20-8) with 16 points and eight boards, as the Ivy League champs had a nine-game winning streak snapped.
With the win, Texas evened its all-time series with the Tigers at four wins apiece. The Longhorns escaped with a narrow 57-54 win over Princeton in Austin last season.
Down 25-22 at halftime, Texas opened the first 4 1/2 minutes of the second half on a 14-4 run to go on top, 36-29. Mouton, who shot 5-of-6 from three- point range, keyed the run with eight points on a pair of threes and Kenton Paulino chipped in the other six.
Mouton’s layup 3:48 later staked the Longhorns to their first double-digit lead of the game at 46-33.
Texas’ lead hovered between eight and 12 points for the next several minutes before Judson Wallace hit a driving layup with 3:45 remaining to bring Princeton within 56-48.
However, the Tigers could not convert another field goal the rest of the way as Texas closed out the contest on a 10-1 run, sparked by a three-point play from Ivey, to seal the win.
Texas shot just 46 percent (23-of-50) from the field for the game, but made an impressive 15-of-25 shots in the second half for a 60 percent clip. Princeton converted only 18-of-51 attempts for a 35 percent mark.
The Longhorns also held a strong 43-23 advantage on the boards, which led to 19 second-chance points as compared to Princeton’s eight.
Texas went up 6-2 on a Brad Luckman tip-in 4:11 into the contest. But the Tigers countered by going on a 12-0 run over the next seven minutes, keyed by the initial seven points from Venable, to grab a 14-6 advantage.
Princeton pushed its lead to 20-12 with 4:54 to go until halftime on an Andre Logan free throw. Texas, though, responded and outscored the Tigers 10-3, including five straight points from Boddicker, to pull within one at 23-22 with 45 seconds remaining.
Logan ended the Longhorns’ flurry with a running baseline jumper to beat the buzzer and give Princeton a 25-22 edge at the intermission.
Texas evened its record in the NCAA Tournament to 24-24. This season marks the school’s 22nd appearance in the tournament.
