Princeton (14-1) annually schedules a Division III opponent as a warmup before returning to Ivy play. It was the first time the Tigers played nearby CNJ (14-2), which is ranked No. 5 in the Division III coaches' poll.
Brian Earl scored five of his 16 points in an 8-0 run to start the second half that gave Princeton a 41-24 lead. An 11-2 burst pulled CNJ within 43-35 with 8:30 left, but Princeton scored five straight and 12 of the next 14 to open a 55-37 lead with 2:33 remaining.
Joe Amari, a Shawnee (N.J.) High School teammate of Earl's, had 20 points for CNJ.
DUKE: REMAINS NO. 1 Duke remained first in the Associated Press poll for a second straight week and fourth this season after receiving 47 first-place votes and 1,724 points from the national media panel.
North Carolina was second, followed by Utah (17-0) and Stanford (18-0), the nation's only undefeated teams. Kansas was fifth, followed by Arizona, Kentucky, UCLA, Connecticut and Purdue.
Princeton was 11th for the second straight week and was followed by Mississippi, South Carolina, New Mexico, Arkansas, Iowa, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Michigan and Syracuse.
The last five teams were Rhode Island, Michigan State, Maryland, Xavier and Indiana. Michigan State, Maryland and Indiana replaced Florida State, Hawaii and Clemson.
IOWA: OKEY ARRIVES Sam Okey, the Big Ten freshman of the year two years ago at Wisconsin, surfaced at his new school, Iowa. He left Wisconsin after a dispute with coach Dick Bennett over missing a weightlifting session.
``I feel this is a great opportunity for me to get a second chance,'' said the 6-7 junior, adding he also talked with Kansas, North Carolina and South Florida about transferring. He loses his athletic scholarship because he left one Big Ten school for another.
ODOM: SEEKS ELIGIBILITY Former high school star Lamar Odom will try to qualify academically as a student-athlete at the University of Rhode Island rather than enter the NBA draft or play in the Continental Basketball Association, his lawyer said. He has not played at all at Rhode Island.
IDAHO STATE: COACH RESIGNS Idaho State coach Herb Williams, with his team mired in a 5-13 season, announced he will resign at the end of the season. He is 92-103 in his eighth season as Bengals coach.
