Second Half Struggles Lead Brown to 75-64 Loss to Princeton
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Second Half Struggles Lead Brown to 75-64 Loss to Princeton
{image_1)The Brown University Bears (10-14, 1-6 Ivy) fell 75-64 on the road to (11-11, 4-2 Ivy) Princeton on Friday night. Brown has now lost six of their last seven games and has not won a road game since December 22. The Bears are 2-9 on the road overall this season.
See the five takeaways slideshow below.
The Brown Bears trailed by one point, 30-29, at the half but in the second half, Princeton took control right away. The Tigers, sparked by a Steven Cook jump shot and three pointer on back to back possessions, went on a 12-0 run to go up 42-29 in the game with 16:30 left to play.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBrown would battle back, getting as close as three, 49-46, with ten minutes to go, however, they would not get any closer the rest of the game.
Brown was led by Rafael Maia who posted his second consecutive double-double with 16 points and a career high 16 rebounds while Tavon Blackmon followed up with 15 points of his own.
Princeton was led by Steven Cook who had a game high 18 points while his teammate Hans Brase followed up with 14.
Brown returns to action on Saturday, February 14 when they visit Penn. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
For a further look at the Brown loss, see the five takeaways slideshow below.
Five Takeaways From Brown's 75-64 Loss to Princeton
Turnovers
One area that head coach Mike Martin has to be happy with is in the turnover department.
On the road against Princeton, Brown only turned the ball over five times in the game and Princeton got four points off those turnovers.
Only turning the ball over five times on the road is a really impressive number for Brown, one of their best games of the season, as far as holding onto the ball.
Princeton turned the ball over eight times and Brown got seven points out of it.
Tavon Blackmon
Tavon Blackmon netted 15 points, 12 in the second half, on 6-of-17 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 from the free throw line.
Tavon Blackmon has reached double figures in five of Brown's last six games but has only shot over 50% from the field in one of those games.
Against Princeton, Blackmon also grabbed five rebounds and dished out four assists in 37 minutes of play time.
Steven Spieth
Steven Spieth did not have a good night against Princeton.
Spieth registered only two points on 1-of-8 shooting from the field and pulled down one rebound, dished out one assist and had two turnovers in 30 minutes of play time.
Spieth has found himself in single digits in two straight and three of the last five games for the Bears
Rafael Maia
Rafael Maia led Brown with 16 points and a career high 16 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double and his fourth one of the season.
Maia's 16 points came on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and 6-of-9 from the free throw line.
Maia has reached double figures in scoring in three of the last four and five of the last seven games for the Bears.
Points in the Paint
Brown got blown out in the points in the paint battle, losing it 42-16 to Princeton and the rest of the stats reflect that.
Brown only shot 34% from the field while Princeton shot 51%, and Brown shot 25 free throws while the Tigers shot 32 free throws.
Brown needed to me more productive in the paint whether it's going in to Kuakumensah and Maia more or having their guards drive. Better shots equal a higher shooting percentage and an increased chance to get fouled and go to the line.
