Princeton basketball wins another Ivy League crown as two Jersey guys provide the glue

Every successful college basketball team has players who are tasked with doing the dirty work – less-glamorous roles where you end up with more floor burns and bruises than points.

Zach Martini and Jack Scott are those guys for Princeton, which captured the program’s third straight Ivy League’s regular-season title Saturday. It should come as no surprise that they are the two New Jerseyans in the Tigers’ seven-man rotation.

“This is our DNA,” Martini said.

Two more wins, in next weekend’s Ivy League Tournament at Columbia, will put Princeton (24-3) back into the NCAA Tournament after losing three starters, including NBA player Tosan Evbuomwan. No one person was filling those shoes. This is about a couple of Garden State grinders who helped.

Zach Martini: heart over height

There are Zach Martini stories that will live in Princeton basketball circles for a long time.

This past Thanksgiving, the senior’s family hosted 10 teammates at their home in Warren. His aunt made 20-plus pounds of mashed potatoes – and every last spoonful got devoured. “There was a ridiculous amount of food there,” Scott said.

As a junior, during a preseason practice, Martini suffered a collapsed lung while taking a charge. He spent five nights in the hospital and six weeks on the sideline, and when he finally returned to game action, in the very first minute, he stepped into a driving opponent and took another charge.

In 2021, when the program was practicing in masks, “instantly his mask would get soaked through, his shirt, his shorts, everything,” Henderson said. “It’s maximum effort all the time, and there’s no me-first. It’s always ‘team’ with Zach.”

When big men Evbuomwan and Keeshawn Kellman graduated after last year’s Sweet 16 run, it fell to the 6-foot-7 Martini to man the post full-time – a huge shift from his role as a face-up four coming off the bench.

“I actually think that’s my favorite part of playing on this team, playing against guys who are two inches taller than me or might jump 10 inches higher than me,” Martini said. “The ‘heart over height’ mentality is a lot of fun.”

And he has no real sub, so he logs 30 minutes per game.

“He’s punching above his weight every game, always having to guard someone bigger and stronger,” Henderson said. “I would say you can’t measure the size of someone’s heart with Zach.”

The Gill St. Bernard’s graduate averages 8.2 points and 3.4 boards per game, but that hardly tells the story. He’s shooting 38 percent from 3-point range, which stretches opposing defenses. And you won’t find a metric for what he did in last month’s win over Yale, holding Bulldogs 7-foot star Danny Wolf scoreless.

“You look at his stats and maybe he doesn’t score the most points or get the most rebounds, but he makes daily an incredible impact in our program with the person that he is,” Henderson said. “I’m happy for him that he’s getting the attention that we feel he’s always deserved. There’s guys on the team who get a lot of attention nationally, but Zach really is such a glue for us.”

Off the court, Martini is an English major who is knee-deep in his 60-page senior thesis right now. The subject?

“The uncanny – a phenomenon where the familiar seems unfamiliar,” he explained. “I’m relating that to the work of the director David Lynch (Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, Twin Peaks).”

It’s due April 16.

“He’s such a stand-up guy and a role model to our young guys,” Scott said, “including myself.”

Jack Scott: orange-blooded

It wouldn’t shock anyone if Jack Scott’s blood is orange. Both of his parents played hoops at Princeton – and both of them coached there, too. His mother Leah ranks second on the women’s program’s career assist list. His father Joe, a Toms River High School East graduate, served as the Tigers’ head coach from 2004-07 and is currently at Air Force’s helm.

“Princeton is a huge part of who I am, it’s a huge part of who my family is as well, so to represent them on the court now is special,” Jack said.

He cites his hometown as Pelican Island, which is part of Toms River, and spends summers there with his grandparents. He attended the Hun School in Mercer County, starring at point guard.

At Princeton, his role is quite different. The Tigers’ rotation goes just seven deep and one of the subs, freshman Dalen Davis, is a 6-foot point guard. The 6-foot-6 Scott is the other sub, which means he has to play everywhere.

“Am I subbing in for (guard) Matt Allocco to start offense or am I subbing in for Cade (forward Caden Pierce) to guard fours or fives? I’m ready for all of it – I prep for all of it,” Scott said. “I don’t care if it’s guarding a 6-10 guy and hard-hedging, or guarding the one and fighting over ball screens. Whatever gets me on the court and helps the team win.”

He's done both, making key contributions in Princeton’s two biggest wins. Filling in at guard against Cornell, he drilled a 3-pointer and hit a free throw down the stretch to help secure a two-point victory. Against Yale, he defended the 7-foot Wolf when Martini needed a break and Pierce was sidelined by a head wound.

“He’s done whatever we’ve asked him do,” Henderson said.

Joe Scott keeps tabs, from afar. They’re two time zones apart, catching each other’s games when they can.

Joe has always supplied a coach-level guidance to Jack, but “now as I’m older he’s a supportive dad who kind of lets me do my own thing, which I’m appreciative of,” Jack said.

Immediately after the Cornell win, a text from Joe popped up.

“Really proud of you,” it read. “Great job.”

'New Jersey is home'

Princeton is not always or even often identified with the Garden State. Its campus is a bucolic enclave that seems set in another place and time, and its students hail from all over the world. That’s traditionally been true for the basketball program, too, though Jersey boys increasingly have populated the roster under Henderson and associate head coach Brett MacConnell (who grew up in nearby Montgomery).

“When I got here, I don’t know if we had a single Jersey guy, and now it’s a mainstay,” Henderson said. “Jersey basketball is so underrated nationally, it’s so good and the level of coaching is so high.”

Martini may finally have to leave its borders to play his postgraduate season next winter, and that’s not easy for him to envision.

“New Jersey is home, and too often we get a bad rep,” he said. “This is an awesome state – and it’s a great basketball state.”

Some proof hangs from Jadwin Gym’s rafters, which just got a bit more crowded.

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Princeton basketball wins Ivy League as two NJ guys provide the glue