Mizzou hoops falls to Princeton in second round of NCAA Tournament

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KMIZ)

The Mizzou men's basketball team could not stop a Cinderella story. The No. 7 seeded Tigers fell to No. 15 seeded Princeton, 78-63, on Saturday evening.

MU was in the midst of its own fairy tale season, as first year head coach Dennis Gates led the team to the program's first NCAA Tournament win in 13 years on Thursday against Utah State. However, the Ivy League Tigers proved too much for Mizzou.

Ryan Langborg and Blake Peters combined for 39 points in the win for Princeton. The Tigers will be moving on to the Elite Eight to face the winner of Sunday's Creighton, Baylor game.

Mizzou struggled from the field early. Noah Carter was the only Tiger that could find the net on early on in the loss, as he led MU with 12 points at the half. He finished with 14 points on the night. DeAndre Gholston led the team with 19 points. Kobe Brown also hit double-digit scoring with 12 points.

Collectively, Mizzou shot 40 percent from the field and 28 percent from three on Saturday. However, the bigger challenge came on the boards. Princeton out-rebounded MU 44 to 29.

Despite the loss, Mizzou ended Gates' first season at the helm in impressive fashion. The group more than doubled the win total from one season ago, finishing 25-10 overall. Gates also brought life back to Mizzou Arena with seven sellouts in his first season.