Boys basketball: Princeton rolls past Stillman Valley for regional repeat

MANLIUS – It’s one step at a time for the Princeton Tigers.

They took care of the first step of their postseason mission, defeating Stillman Valley 68-37 Friday to capture the Class 2A Bureau Valley Regional at the Storm Cellar. It was their second straight regional crown and 18th in school history.

The Tigers’ celebration was a bit subdued as they kept their eyes on bigger prizes ahead.

“It’s really cool to win back to back, but we’ve got bigger things coming, sectionals and everything. Big goals for the future,” Princeton senior guard Teegan Davis said. “Our plan isn’t just to win regional. This is just another check mark off the box. We want to win state. Just got to keep moving forward and keep working hard in practice.

“It’s pretty cool. We experienced this last year,” senior guard Grady Thompson said. “We want to win sectionals. That’s what we’re looking at right now. We’re looking at that state trophy. We want to win it all.”

“This feels good, back to back years. But we can’t settle for regional. Back to work Monday, game Tuesday,” junior guard Korte Lawson said. “We want to get to Champaign. That’s the goal.”

The Tigers (31-2) advance to the Orion Sectional at 7 p.m. Tuesday, awaiting the winner of Saturday’s all-Three Rivers Conference battle between Erie-Prophetstown and Riverdale at the West Carroll Regional.

“They’re two really good quality teams. We’re going to watch them play [Saturday] night and see what happens and go from there,” Princeton coach Jason Smith said.

“We’re looking at Erie-Prophetstown or Riverdale. So that’s where our eyes are set now and we’ll start getting ready this weekend,” Thompson said.

LaPorte gets Tigers rolling

Sophomore forward Noah LaPorte got the Tigers rolling early, scoring the first six points of the game on the way to a 10-1 lead.

LaPorte converted a three-point play the hard way, making one free throw and putting back the second attempt that he missed, finishing the quarter with nine points to lead the Tigers to a 22-5 lead after one quarter.

Stillman Valley, who came out in a triangle and 2 defense to focus on Princeton’s top scorers, Thompson and Davis, started the second quarter content to lay back in the zone and not apply any pressure. The Tigers dribbled out the first 2 1/2 minutes until pressured by the Cardinals, then attacked and put the game away with a 13-0 run to grab a 37-9 lead.

Sophomore Jordan Reinhardt, who scored his first varsity points in Tuesday’s semifinal victory, gave the Tigers a spark off the bench, hitting two 3-pointers as the Cardinals packed their defense. He scored eight points for the quarter as the Tigers raced to a 44-15 halftime lead.

Smith said he guesses the secret’s out on Reinhardt now.

“JR’s our zone buster. He’s our secret weapon,” Smith said. “No one has seen any film on him. He doesn’t play [varsity] much. We had him in our back pocket tonight and got three points for us right away.

“He’s got that calm, Reinhardt demeanor. That bulldog mentality. Calm. Doesn’t get rattled too much. Doesn’t get too big for the moment. I’m super proud of him.”

None of the varsity regulars were surprised to see Reinhardt light it up.

“We’ve all known he could do that all year. I’m happy to see him come in and do his thing,” Davis said.

“He played well. Knocked down shots. We needed that. He was big off the bench for us,” Thompson said.

Balanced scoring

Princeton had balanced scoring with four in double figures. Thompson cashed in 12 of 15 free throws on the way to a game-high 16 points. LaPorte had 14 points, capped by a monster dunk in the fourth quarter, Lawson had 12 and Davis had 10.

“I thought we executed again tonight,” Smith said. “We had a focus and demeanor about us that I’m proud of and that we needed. We came out focused [Thursday] and had that same focus tonight.”

Owen Dunseth led the Cardinals (19-12) with 14 points.

Smith has the postseason charted out to where his Tigers want to get.

“Our goal is seven games. This is Game 2. Still got five games left,” he said.