By Michael Kelley

The Lafayette Men’s Basketball (3-4) team lost Wednesday night against the Princeton Tigers (3-5) by a score of 69-54.

The Leopards struggled offensively, shooting 42.9 percent from the field. Primarily a 3-point team, the team knocked down only six 3-pointers and shot 35.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Ryan Willen ‘12 led the team in scoring with 16 points. Jim Mower ‘12 and Joey Ptasinski ‘15 each contributed nine points while Rob Delaney ‘12 knocked down eight.

Although the Tigers struggled from beyond the arc, they were able to dominate the inside game, scoring 38 points in the paint compared to the Leopards’ 20. The Tigers were also able to turn 15 Lafayette turnovers into 20 points.

Additional areas of concern for the Leopards were in free throw shooting and rebounding. Lafayette only made it to the line eight times and was out-rebounded 35-24. Over Thanksgiving break, Lafayette squared off against Fairleigh Dickinson (1-4) and Delaware (2-3).

Against Fairleigh Dickinson, Mower led the Leopards to an 85-74 win with a school record ten 3-pointers en route to a career-high 37 points. Mower scored 28 of his 37 points in the second half and also surpassed the 1,000-point plateau during the game. Mower is now the 38th player in Lafayette history to score more than 1,000 points.

Against Delaware on Saturday, the Leopards lost 81-78. Down by 14 at halftime, the Leopards chipped away but came up short. Mower again led the team in scoring with 19 points and was followed by Delaney who put up a career high 17. Down by three with 4.1 seconds left, the Leopards had one last chance to tie the game but a Mower half court shot hit off the front iron.

The Leopards play Long Island at home on Monday night at 7:00 p.m., followed by a road game against Penn State on Wednesday.