Princeton’s three at buzzer off the mark as Tigers fall to St. Joe’s

Jackson Hicke (33) led Princeton with 20 points, but Tigers lost nailbiter to Saint Joseph’s Sunday. (Photo by Princeton Men’s Basketball)

By Andrew Hefner (@Ahef_NJ)

TRENTON, N.J. — The perennial Jersey Jam at the Cure Insurance Arena in New Jersey’s capital was a story of closure for both Saint Joseph's and head coach Steve Donahue, as the Hawks collected a much-needed win over the Princeton Tigers.

The game came down to the wire, as the back-and-forth battle ended with St. Joe’s taking the win over an injury-plagued Princeton squad, 60-58, as Jackson Hicke’s three-point attempt at the buzzer misfired.

The Tigers, coming off a 0-3 week at the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando, were already without star guard Dalen Davis, and in addition, lost sophomore starter CJ Happy to illness and big man Malik Abdullahi to a foot injury midway through the first half.  

“Yeah, we're banged up, and the timing of the games has been rough,” said Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson. “But we're right there, we're knocking on the door, finding lots of different ways to shoot ourselves in the foot. But, these games are gonna help us in the long run.” 

Princeton did get off to a hot start in the game, though, climbing to a 14-5 lead in the first off of huge Jack Stanton threes to open the scoring. Stanton, a breakout sophomore for Princeton, has been on a tear to open the season and has become one of the top three-point shooters for a pretty long-range dependent program. 

Alongside Stanton in the early game was Hicke, who has also come into his own early on in the season, cementing himself as one of the biggest weapons and leaders of the team, alongside Davis. The junior finished his night with 20 points, his third straight game reaching that plateau.

“Without those two guys, we'd be in big trouble,” remarked Henderson. “We aren't experienced, but each one of these games is a notch, and we get a little bit better and stronger and more experienced. It's helping us.” 

Henderson’s squad is without any seniors for this year’s campaign, as both Xaivian Lee (transferred to Florida) and Caden Pierce (sitting out) departed the program ahead of the season. As a result, Henderson has relied heavily on his young core of sophomores and especially freshmen to carry him and the team through a difficult stretch. 

“We had five freshmen play, they gotta keep getting better,” he said. “This is unusual. I don't see many people playing a lot of freshmen, but we're asking a lot of them. We gotta find the right balance of being supportive and being demanding. Practice time will help with that.”

Landon Clark was one of those freshmen who kept Princeton fighting deep into the second half, as a big three coming down the stretch was able to bring the game level for the Tigers late in the second half. He finished with a career-high nine points and played 33 minutes. On the flip side, St. Joe’s was the beneficiary of an excellent transfer class led by Deuce Jones, the Jersey Jam player of the game. Jones, who grew up in Trenton, transferred to the Hawks from La Salle and has made a name for himself early on. 

“I thought a couple of the best things he did today is he got downhill and he stopped and pivoted and found cover,” Donahue said of Jones. “The other thing is he has nine rebounds for a guy that does those kinds of things. He can impact the game on the defensive end, rebounding, make plays. Scoring, to me, should be a bonus.” 

Donahue, the longtime coach of the Tigers’ Ivy League foe Penn, picked up his first win over Princeton in his last 13 tries, while St. Joe’s got its revenge after a tough loss at home in last year's contest between the two sides. The game came down to the final buzzer, as Hicke was able to win a three-point play with less than a minute to go to make it a two-point game, before the Hawks missed a three-pointer, giving the Tigers one more shot to tie it up. With seven seconds on the clock, Princeton set up in its own end, but fantastic defensive pressure forced Hicke to take a three just shy of the logo that bounced off the rim and out to seal a St. Joe’s win at the buzzer. 

“Could you blame me for thinking that it was going in?” Donahue joked, “because it's gone in quite a few times. I have great respect for the program, and we've all had injured guys. I've had numerous guys hurt when I went against them, and they were shorthanded today.”

Donahue and St. Joe’s rise to 4-3 on the season with the win. 

After four games in a week, Henderson and the Tigers have another tight turnaround before a New Jersey battle at Monmouth on Wednesday.