NEW YORK – Princeton's Devin Cannady hit a game-tying trey with five seconds left in regulation and the Tigers stormed back from a seven-point deficit in overtime to hand the Columbia men's basketball a stunning, 88-83, defeat on Saturday night.
The Lions (17-8, 6-2) also held a nine-point advantage with 3:58 to play in the second half, but Princeton (16-5, 6-1) closed the gap to 67-64 at the 1:50 mark despite only converting on one field goal during that span.
Both teams traded buckets until the 17 second mark with Columbia in front, 74-70. The Tigers raced up the floor and Cannady drilled a triple to make it 74-73 with 11 seconds remaining in regulation.
On the ensuing possession, the Lions threw over the top of the Princeton full-court pressure and Lo walked in with a layup with eight seconds left before Cannady's deep 3-pointer from the right wing sent the game into overtime.
Columbia got to the lane on its first three offensive trips and went ahead, 83-76, after a Grant Mullins free throw with 2:12 on the clock. The Tigers responded with back-to-back old fashioned 3-point plays to pull within one cut the deficit to one with 49 seconds left.
On the other end, Princeton came up with a stop and Cannady came up with another clutch shot, a runner in the lane, with 49 seconds left to give the Tigers their first lead since 2-0 at the start of the contest.
The Lions were forced to call timeout with five seconds left on the shot clock on the next possession, but turned the ball over and were forced to foul with 17 seconds left. Henry Caruso sank both tries to extend the margin to 86-83. Columbia had two good looks from downtown to try and extend the game, but both were rattled off the rim and Princeton iced the game with a pair from the charity stripe.
Columbia led by as many as 12 points, held the Tigers to just 33.3 percent shooting and forced seven turnovers, yet only took a 31-27 advantage into halftime. The Lions shot just 31.7 percent for the half and Princeton went 8-of-9 from the foul line to stay within striking distance.
Mullins notched his first career double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Maodo Lo recorded 19 points and Alex Rosenberg posted 18 points and seven boards. Isaac Cohen dished for seven assists and grabbed four rebounds, but fouled out with 3:48 to go in regulation.
Cannady led the Tigers with 23 points off the bench. Pete Miller carried the offensive load for much of the early portion of the contest and finished with 20 points, going 9-of-10 from the floor, to go with a game-high 13 rebounds.
The Lions will host Harvard on Friday, February 19 at 6 p.m. on the American Sports Network and the Ivy League Digital Network. There are a limited number of tickets available. Don't miss out on the action, get your tickets by clicking here.
