Free up some space in your trophy case.

Ryan Langborg scored 17 points, Toson Euboamwan came alive late, and the Princeton men’s basketball team overcame a scoring drought with 7:24 left in the second half to beat Northeastern 56-54 in the championship game of the inaugural London Basketball Classic at Copper Box Arena on Saturday .

“It’s a really special trip,” coach Mitch Henderson said in a postgame interview with HoopsFix. β€œYou have to use these things in the future. They should be influential as you move on through the season.”

Eubuomwan, a Newcastle native back on home soil, scored nine of his 13 points in the final 6:30 to help the Tigers (4-2) erase a nine-point deficit.

“I’m very grateful for everything and it’s very important to do it here,” said Eubuomwan, who was named tournament MVP. β€œThe team has been through a lot this season and I’ve been through a lot with injuries. I’m just grateful. I could have played better to help my team earlier in the game, but I’m thankful we did it in the end.”

Neither team shot the ball well — both were under 40 percent for the game — but things looked bleak for Princeton after a seven-plus minute scoring drought that allowed Northeastern (1-5) to pull ahead. The Huskies led 47-38 with 6:45 remaining before Evbuomvan and Langborg started a 15-2 spurt.

Langborg hit a big 3-pointer with 4:03 to go to cut the deficit to one, and Evbuomwan followed with an old-fashioned 3-point play on the next drive to give the Tigers their first lead since 20-19 midway through the first. half

“We were really bad for 35 minutes of the game,” Henderson said. β€œIt was an ugly game, but in the end we made Towson go there. … Our defense saved us. All season we could score, and we couldn’t score.”

Jahmil Telfort had a game-high 18 points for Northeastern, but the Tigers held him scoreless for the final 16 minutes.

Javian Lee had 12 points off the bench for Princeton, including two huge free throws with 8.9 seconds left. Matt Aloka scored just two points, but he made a blue-chip shot with 43 ticks left to keep the Tigers ahead.

β€œIt’s great to be able to do it here,” Eubuomwan said. β€œFor people to see what college hoops is all about and for all the young people who are looking to get into it, it was great.

Source link