Boys basketball: Princeton looking ‘scary good’, beat Rochelle 84-46

The Princeton Tigers are looking really good. “Scary” good, coach Jason Smith said.

One night after winning 80-47 at Hall, the Class 2A No. 3 ranked Tigers ran the Rochelle Hubs right out of Prouty Gym, leading 54-23 at the half on the way to a 84-46 win over their former NCIC rivals. Only a running clock and a runaway victory kept the Tigers from reaching the century mark on the night.

“You saw the capability of how fast we can get the ball down the floor, fueled by our defense. When we hold a team to one shot and done and get up the floor as fast as we can, good things happen,” Smith said. “I was extremely happy with our unselfishness tonight. We saw everybody pass the ball extremely well, getting it to the open man.

“One through 15 played extremely well tonight. I was extremely pleased with our starting five. I thought they set the tone early and often and I couldn’t be happier how we’re playing better right now.”

Smith said the Tigers can certainly play better, “tweaking a few things here and there. We haven’t even hit our stride where we need to be, which is a scary thing, honestly.”

Along with the Tigers’ 12th win, Princeton fans saw a milestone broken. PHS senior Grady Thompson scored a game-high 23 points in three quarters of play, surpassing the 1,000-point mark with a dunk with 4:54 left in the second quarter.

“One of my goals is to beat the record, but 1,000 is a good mark to start,” he said, noting the school record of 1,306 by Princeton great Joe Ruklick. “Everybody was telling me in the locker room, ‘It’s got to be a dunk, it’s got to be a dunk.’ Yeah, that’s what I did.”

The game was stopped shortly after to recognize Thompson’s achievement. He was presented with the game ball and promptly walked it over to the stands to present it to his mother, Amy.

“That was the plan, give the ball to mom and give her a hug,” Thompson said. “She’s been there for me since Day 1. Taking me to AAU tournaments and watching all my games.”

He is now ranked No. 9 all-time in scoring for Princetlon.

Smith said Thompson deserves all the recognition he gets.

“I had tears in my eyes, because I know how hard that kid works, night in and night out, 24-7, 365 days a year,” he said. “He just works when nobody is looking and that’s what separates a great basketball player from a good or average player.”

Teegan Davis had 17 points, scoring 11 of Princeton’s first 15 points of the game and 13 total in the first quarter to stake the Tigers to a 32-11 lead at quarter’s end.

The Tigers ended the first quarter on a 13-0 run and outscored the Hubs, 20-7, to open the second quarter with a 52-18 advantage.

Senior Kolten Monroe chipped in 14 points in his second game back in action and Daniel Sousa put the finishing touches on the Tigers’ runaway victory with eight points in the fourth quarter to finish with 10.

“We played as a team tonight I would say offensively, this was our best game yet,” Thompson said.

Smith never saw his team being 12-0 to start the season.

“I told the coaching staff, if we were 3-1 at Ottawa, I’d be extremely happy, 2-2 I’d be fine with. But 4-0, I didn’t picture. And the Colmone (Classic), there’s good competition there, too. 12-0, I’m really excited about that. The kids should be excited, too. But now we’ve got to go on to 13. You can’t settle for 12. You’ve got to go on to 13.”

For Rochelle (4-6), Jack Tracy had 15 points and Raul Aguirre added 10.

Notes: Jordan Reinhardt poured in 30 points to lead Princeton to a 76-54 win in the sophomore game. Asa Gartin added 10 points for the Kittens, Liam Swearingen had nine and Tyler Forristall and Luke Smith had eight each. ... Princeton returns to action at home Thursday against another former NCIC foe, Dixon.