When Mitch Henderson signed Princeton up for the Myrtle Beach Invitational, he knew he was going to get a tournament that could challenge a team he had such high hopes for. What he didn’t expect was needing a victory in the last of three games to avoid a winless week. But that’s where the Tigers stand. After losing three regular-season games all of last season, Princeton has already matched that number after an 83-80 setback against Texas State on Friday night in the consolation bracket at the HTC Center on the campus of Coastal Carolina in Conway, S.C. “We’re struggling, obviously,” Henderson said in his postgame press conference. “We have to figure out ways to finish it up. We’re reeling a little bit, but we’ve been able to pull these things back together so I think we’ll be alright, but right now it’s a little tough.” Even a 20-point second half from guard Xaivian Lee — he finished with a game-high 30 — wasn’t enough to save Princeton as it once again struggled to get stops. Texas State (3-4) shot 55.6% from the field and finished plus-14 on points in the paint (42-28). Lee and Blake Peters (17 points, 5-of-11 from 3) combined to score 35 of the Tigers’ 37 points in the second half. In fact, a player other than Lee or Peters didn’t score until Caden Pierce made a pair of free throws with 2:30 left. Those free throws actually punctuated a 20-4 run in which Lee took the game over — he had 12 of the 20 points — and put Princeton in front, 77-74, after trailing by 13 at the 8:46 mark. The big Tigers run coincided with Texas State’s best player, Tyrel Morgan, who had 27 points, going to the bench with four fouls. Once Morgan came back in, the Sun Belt team refound its footing. Tylan Pope (14 points) converted layups on consecutive trips, the second one part of a three-point play, to give Texas State the lead back. After Peters missed a 3 on Princeton’s next trip, Texas State got an offensive rebound and Morgan made both free throws to push the advantage to four. Lee then turned the ball over trying to drive to the basket with 45 seconds left and that was essentially the final nail. While Lee worked his magic to get the Tigers back into the game, the offense in the second half had become four players standing outside the 3-point line while Lee played one-on-one. “It’s hard to come back and win,” Henderson said. “We were down 13 and got it tied within three and a half minutes. Xaivian did a lot to get us back in the game, but I thought he made the right passes out. Blake had a good look, Cade came up with a big offensive rebound … It was a super physical game. Every game we’ve played this season feels like a football game.” Henderson changed up his starting lineup by inserting Peters and Philip Byriel alongside Lee, Pierce and Dalen Davis and it resulted in a much better start as Princeton got out to a 16-5 start. Pierce struggled to impact the game for a second straight night. The reigning Ivy League Player of the Year finished with eight points and six rebounds in 36 minutes. He has 14 total points in the tournament. “We’re not very good right now,” Henderson said. “We’re not stringing together 40 minutes. We have some fight in us, but I’m looking at all the different parts of it. We just haven’t come together. It’s far too early, not even a quarter of the way through the season, for us to be pushing the panic button. We’re a little off to put it nicely. We have a lot of work to do.” The loss leaves the Tigers (4-3) needing a win over Portland (2-4) in the 10:30 a.m. seventh-place game on Sunday to avoid a last-place 0-3 finish. “We play another good Portland team on Sunday,” Henderson said. Then he tapped the table, paused for a second, and said as he exited “for seventh place.” Princeton Gameday WHO: Princeton (4-3) vs. Portland (2-4), Myrtle Beach Invitational, 7th place game WHEN: Sunday, 10:30 a.m., HTC Center, Conway, S.C. TV/ RADIO: ESPN+/ The Varsity Network LAST TIME OUT: Princeton lost to Texas State, 83-80; Portland lost to Ohio, 85-73 STREAK: Princeton L2; Portland L2 SERIES HISTORY: Portland leads, 1-0. The Pilots won the lone meeting, 93-79, on Dec. 21, 2013 in the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic in Las Vegas. T.J. Bray had 25 points in that game for the Tigers. KENPOM RANKING: Princeton 121; Portland 211 SCOUTING PORTLAND: The Pilots dropped their first two games at the Myrtle Beach Invitational to South Florida and Ohio. Three players average at least 11 points per game, led by 6-5 guard Vukasin Masic (12.8 points). Austin Rapp (12.2 points) and Max Maackinnon (11 points) are score in double figures. Rapp is the top 3-point threat at 42.1% on 38 attempts.