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EASTON, Pa. - Following an evenly-played first half that saw the Lafayette men's basketball team down just five at the break, the offense went cold and the Leopards dug a hole they could never get out of against Princeton on Wednesday evening, falling to the Tigers on Thanksgiving Eve by a 71-55 score.

"I thought we competed from the start, but we just had trouble scoring," head coach Fran O'Hanlon said. "You've got to give them credit. They're a terrific defensive team and rebounded their misses. At the end of the day, I'm proud of how we competed."

This was certainly a different game than a year ago when the Leopards never really got going in a 104-52 defeat. Unfortunately, though, the start of the second half was the downfall as the Leopards went 7:35 after a bucket in the first minute without scoring.

"We haven't been shooting well and we're going to have to get scoring from someone other than Matt [Klinewski] and Nick [Lindner]," O'Hanlon added. "We missed a number of lay-ups as well and have to do a better job at that. They forced us into 16 turnovers, but they do that to a lot of teams. We can't turn it over if we're not shooting it well."

Lindner led the Leopards in scoring with 18 points on the night to go along with four assists, while Klinewski added his fifth straight double-figure scoring game with 13 on 6-of-10 from the field. The Leopards went 22-of-50 overall (44.0%), but hit on just five of their 19 three-point attempts (26.3%).

On the other side, Princeton registered three players in double-figures, led by 14 apiece from Henry Caruso and Steven Cook. Devin Cannady added 11 for the Tigers to go along with seven rebounds and five assists as Princeton picked up its first win of the season after a 0-2 start.

The Leopards started strong with back-to-back buckets from Klinewski and Lindner to take an early 4-0 lead. However, Princeton settled in and responded as a triple from Cook put the Tigers on top by a 6-4 margin.

Lafayette hung tough, though, as after falling into an 11-8 deficit, five straight from Lindner and a post bucket from Klinewski made it 15-11 in favor of Lafayette with 10:28 to play in the first. Princeton moved back up on two triples from Cannady, but the sides went back and forth as Lafayette moved under the eight-minute mark with a 20-19 lead.

Late in the opening half, Princeton's Will Gladson got hot from outside, hitting back-to-back three's to move the Tigers ahead by a 28-26 score. The Leopards countered with a free throw from Klinewski and a bucket from junior Eric Stafford off a feed from freshman Myles Cherry, but a Cannady jumper at the buzzer sent the game into the break with Princeton on top by five, 34-29.

The Tigers scored four of the first six points to open the second stanza as a Caruso tip-in made it 38-31. Then, Lafayette went cold, not scoring another point for 7:35 as a Klinewski bucket at the 12:01 mark cut the Princeton lead to 10, 43-33.

Lindner became the offense for the Leopards over the next five-minute stretch as he scored all seven of Lafayette's points to keep them in it, down 13, 53-40, with 6:31 remaining. But the Leopards could never put a run together down the stretch as Princeton finished it off with a final score of 71-55.

The Leopards have the week off before returning home for the finale of their four-game homestand on Wednesday, hosting Drexel at 8 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the women. The ladies tip off against Penn at 6 p.m.