Noah Laporte, Princeton start slow, finish fast in win over Erie-Prophetstown

PRINCETON - Noah LaPorte and the Princeton Tigers got off to a slow start in Friday’s Three Rivers East contest with Erie-Prophetstown playing their host to an 8-point halftime game.

But when LaPorte and the Tigers got going, they got going.

After scoring just four points in the first half, LaPorte scored 10 in the third quarter to lead the Tigers on a 19-4 surge to take a commanding 23-point lead at quarter’s end on the way to a 60-37 victory.

“I couldn’t get much going, but people around me were picking me up. Just had to see a couple go down and picked it up second half,” LaPorte said.

Tigers coach Jason Smith said the Tigers have to be able to get the job done when LaPorte isn’t scoring.

“We’re going to have to play in spurts where Noah doesn’t score all the time,” he said. “I thought Gavin Lanham stepped up. Jordan (Reinhardt) hit some shots in the first half just to give us that little cushion that we needed. Noah adapted to the game a little later than he would have liked. We fed him the ball in the low post where he needs to be sometimes. We talked about that over halftime and I thought the kids executed well.

“As disappointed as I was with lack of execution last Friday night, I was really happy with our execution tonight more than anything, especially coming out of the half in the third quarter.”

LaPorte scored the Tigers’ first basket of the third quarter with Reinhardt following with a spin move for another hoop. LaPorte ran in three more hoops, and after Asa Gartin knocked down a 3-pointer, added a dunk, grabbing a missed shot and jamming it home.

Lanham added a layup and Gartin scored a 2-pointer to put the Tigers up by 23 at the end of the third quarter.

“Any time you hold a team to four points in a quarter, that’s good. You know they’re doing something right,” Smith said. “I thought we communicated really well in our zone defense tonight. The kids are starting to find it and get it and reading the next pass and getting after it.”

The highlight for the Tigers in the fourth quarter was having junior Jackson Mason hit a 3-pointer in memory of his dad, Pat, who passed away suddenly on Monday.

LaPorte finished just two points off his average with a game-high 18 points with Reinhardt adding 16 and Lanham 11.

Lanham and Reinhardt hit 3-pointers to help the Tigers take a 12-10 lead only to have E-P’s Connor Keegan beat the buzzer with a steal and layup to tie things up at the end of the first quarters.

The Tigers (7-9, 2-2) opened the second quarter on a 10-0 run. Reinhardt hit a 3-pointer, Gartin converted a 3-pointer from the charity stripe and Lanham scored on a layup before LaPorte softly deposited the ball through the hoop for a 22-12 lead.

Reinhardt added a pair of free throws with 32.2 seconds left to send the Tigers to a 26-18 halftime lead.

Evan Steimle led the Panthers (6-10, 1-2) with nine points, Keegan had eight and Landon VanDeWostine added six.

The Tigers will be back in action Saturday in the Bloomington Central Catholic MLK Shootout against the host Saints (8-8) at 1 p.m. They’ll return to Bloomington on Monday to face Tolono Unity (11-6) at 10:30 a.m.