PRINCETON — Jack Stanton was sick of losing.
It may have taken an extra five minutes, but it was worth it for Stanton and his Princeton teammates to close out 2025 with a much-needed victory.
Stanton scored a career-best 19 points to lead four players in double figures and the Tigers responded to coughing up a 13-point second half advantage with a dominant overtime and beat Vermont, 75-67, in a Tuesday matinee at Jadwin Gymnasium.
“It wasn’t like ‘oh boy it’s happening again,’ it was like we’re sick and tired of this and we’re getting it done this time. It’s not happening again,” Stanton said. “That’s what I kind of got from it and I think everyone kind of felt that way going to overtime.”
The Tigers snapped an eight-game losing streak after they regrouped and got four consecutive stops to start the overtime. Buckets by Malik Abdullahi (15 points) and Landon Clarke (12 points) and free throws from Abdullahi and Jackson Hicke (17 points) accounted for the extra period’s first eight points.
In a stretch where everything has felt like it’s gone against them — the last seven losses had been by an average of four points — they had to change the narrative.
“That’s why I think this win is such a good win,” coach Mitch Henderson said. “We’ve been in that situation a number of times this season without coming out on top. We did not look great the last four minutes of the half, and we made enough mistakes and they made plays to get themselves a chance to win. Those first couple plays to start (the overtime), that’s what got it done. I thought we were able to take back control of the game.”
These two teams were meeting for the second time this season after Vermont took a 79-74 victory on a neutral floor in Florida. In that contest, the America East side raced out to a 23-point lead at halftime and held on even though Princeton rallied to briefly take the lead in the second half.
Princeton (4-11) was again in position to win in regulation after Hicke sank a pair of free throws for a 62-56 lead with 3:37 remaining, but the Catamounts closed on a 7-1 run to force overtime.
T.J. Long scored 30 points for Vermont (8-7) and it was his layup with 22 seconds remaining that tied it at 63-all. Hicke had a chance to win at the buzzer, but his fadeaway jumper from the baseline was off the mark.
Catamounts big man Gus Yalden, who had 27 points in the first meeting, was held to 14 this time and sat parked on the bench late in the second half and overtime after cramping up.
“We should have won it in regular time and those last four minutes we gave up effort plays — a rebound here, there wasn’t a close out,” said Stanton, who had 14 first-half points and has taken up a bigger role with Dalen Davis still sidelined. “That bothers me a lot going to the next game, knowing we should have won in regular time by a good amount and it shouldn’t have been that close.
“But, obviously, getting a win in overtime and getting it done here after kind of getting pummeled through the out of conference season definitely helps us.”
The Tigers finally have something tangible to show for what they believe has been a non-conference of progress heading into the Ivy League season that begins on Jan. 5 with a visit from Penn.
“We hadn’t won in a really long time, but not once have they hung their heads and not worked as hard as they could,” Henderson said. “They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do. We’ve been getting better, we’ve seen it as a staff and we’ve been right there. It’s hard when you can’t show the record (with) a win.”
