Princeton’s Caden Pierce, left, tries to move past Columbia’s Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa, right, during an Ivy League men’s basketball game on Monday afternoon at Jadwin Gymnasium. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Princeton’s Caden Pierce, center, tries to move between Columbia’s Jake Tavroff, left, and Blair Thompson, right, during an Ivy League men’s basketball game on Monday afternoon at Jadwin Gymnasium. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Princeton’s Xaivian Lee, left, tries to move around the defense of Columbia’s Avery Brown, center, and Mason Ritter, right, during an Ivy League men’s basketball game on Monday afternoon at Jadwin Gymnasium. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Princeton’s Xaivian Lee, left, leaps in the air to pass the ball as Columbia’s Mason Ritter, right, defends during an Ivy League men’s basketball game on Monday afternoon at Jadwin Gymnasium. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Princeton’s Blake Peters drives to the basket as Columbia’s Kenny Noland, left, defends during an Ivy League men’s basketball game on Monday afternoon at Jadwin Gymnasium. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Princeton’s Caden Pierce, 3, shoot the ball into the basket against Columbia during an Ivy League men’s basketball game on Monday afternoon at Jadwin Gymnasium. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Princeton’s Philip Byriel shoots a 3-pointer against Columbia during an Ivy League men’s basketball game on Monday afternoon at Jadwin Gymnasium. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Columbia’s Jake Tavroff, right, and Blair Thompson, left, react after Princeton called a timeout during an Ivy League men’s basketball game on Monday afternoon at Jadwin Gymnasium. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Princeton coach Mitch Henderson reacts on the sideline during a timeout against Columbia during an Ivy League men’s basketball game on Monday afternoon at Jadwin Gymnasium. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Princeton’s Xaivian Lee, right, leaps in the air to pass the ball around Columbia’s Jake Tavroff, left, during an Ivy League men’s basketball game on Monday afternoon at Jadwin Gymnasium. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Show Caption1 of 10Princeton’s Caden Pierce, left, tries to move past Columbia’s Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa, right, during an Ivy League men’s basketball game on Monday afternoon at Jadwin Gymnasium. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Expand PRINCETON — The great escape artists of the Ivy League did it again. Just don’t expect coach Mitch Henderson to have an answer for how his Princeton team keeps doing it. “I don’t know how we won that game,” Henderson said after he looked like he’d been through the wringer following another thriller. Xaivian Lee scored 19 points, including the late game-winning 3-pointer for the second time in three days, and the Tigers rallied from a 19-point second-half deficit to shock Columbia, 71-67, in a Monday afternoon matinee at Jadwin Gymnasium. “I don’t even know how we won that game to be honest,” said Lee, whose shot came with 10 seconds left. “Those last four or five minutes, we started hitting shots, started getting stops and kind of at home it just has that energy that kind of carries us a little bit.” Princeton (14-4, 3-0) overcame a dreadful first half to win its seventh straight game, doing so while erasing a double digit second-half deficit for the fourth time this season. It also came back from 16 down in the opener against Iona, 11 down against Duquesne and 15 down against Akron. That’s doesn’t even touch on Saturday’s wild final minute against Dartmouth in which Lee buried the winner with six seconds left. “Coach always says we’re winning no matter the situation,” Lee said. “He wasn’t saying that as much today, but we always think we are going to win. It’s 40 minutes of basketball. You’re talking about luck, and maybe, but I also think it was unlucky that we came out and missed 10 straight 3s to start the game. Eventually, we are going to hit shots. I always believe we are about to make a run.” Columbia got off to an 8-0 start — the first time it’s done that since 1969-70 — and finished non-conference play at 11-2, but arrived in Jadwin with an 0-2 Ivy mark after losses to Cornell and Yale. The Lions (11-5, 0-3) played like a desperate team in the first half, while the Tigers were a step (or two) slow. Columbia led by 18 at the break as Princeton shot 6-for-32 from the field and 2-for-19 on 3-pointers. Princeton ended up 14-for-41 from 3, so 12-of-22 in the second half. The great comeback may paper over those cracks in some minds, but not that of the coach. “It’s not sustainable,” Henderson said. “Not for my heart, not for anything. … We need to play really, really hard all of the time. “We lack urgency early in games. I’ve never been through it before with a team. We’re working hard at it together and we’re going to figure it out. It’s nice to win these games, but I don’t think it’s sustainable. But I’d rather be lucky than good.” Columbia led by 19 with 7:45 to go after Mason Ritter soared in for a fastbreak jam. Then the tide began to shift. Lee answered with a layup, Caden Pierce knocked down a couple 3s and, then, the big turning point when the Lions missed a pair of free throws with 5:07 left — the crowd roared for the free Chick-Fil-A — and Blake Peters nailed a 3 to cut the deficit to 10. It got even louder when Pierce (21 points) tipped in a Lee miss to cut it to seven and Jack Stanton came off the bench to drill a 3-pointer off a sideline-out-of-bounds-play to make it 62-58. Peters gave the Tigers a 66-65 lead with one minute remaining — their first since 2-0 — when he splashed a logo 3 with the shot clock winding down after Ritter had twice rejected Lee inside the paint. Ritter answered with a flying putback, but missed the free throw on the and-one opportunity. Lee then short-armed the front end of a one-and-one, but the ball went out off Columbia. That meant the ball could be in Lee’s hands with a chance to win. Just like against Dartmouth, he got the big switched on to him and went to his step-back 3. “It was drawn up as a keeper for Cade and they both kind of went with him and he made the right read and hit me,” said Lee, who nearly had his second triple-double as he added nine rebounds and nine assists. “I had a good matchup. I missed like three or four of them on him earlier and I knew I was going to get a clean look. I knew I was bound to hit one because my shot felt good the entire game despite missing every shot I took pretty much. I try and shoot every one like I didn’t miss the last one. I guess making it against Dartmouth gives me a little more confidence in those situations.”