Boys basketball: Braden Curran, Hall ‘come to win’ at Princeton

PRINCETON – Mike Filippini had one message to his Hall Red Devils basketball team all week leading into Friday’s game at rival Princeton.

“I told them we’re coming over here to win the game. The way they looked at me, I don’t know if they believed me,” Filippini said. “We said, ‘We’ve been playing really well the last five, six, seven games, and we just plan on coming over here and winning.”

Braden Curran and gang made sure they did.

The Hall sophomore forward scored a season-high 28 points, including a late 3-pointer to give the Red Devils the lead for good in a 66-63 win over rival Princeton on the Tigers’ senior night at Prouty Gym.

“They whipped up on us in December. It feels good to get one. They beat up on us football, basketball the past few years. This one feels good,” Curran said. “(Princeton) has much talent. Feels great to stay in the game and knock them off.

“We’ve been working all week for this one.”

Payton Dye added 16, and Wyatt West had 11 as Hall improved to 10-10 and 3-3 in Three Rivers East.

Curran stole the show, perhaps flying under the radar with a lot of Princeton’s attention on Hall’s main 3-pointer shooters, Dye and West.

“They know Payton’s a great shooter and can shoot the lights out . They probably weren’t expecting much from me,” Curran said. “I just took advantage, did what I was taught, put my head down and fought.”

“I don’t know what he scored the first time we played them. Probably not a lot,” Filippini said. “For a sophomore, he played a heckuva game. (Princeton’s Noah) LaPorte’s six or seven inches taller than he is, but he had 28 points, and he had to have five steals. He just hustled up and down the court. That’s why he got brought up as a freshman, and now he’s really taking off and playing well.”

PHS coach Jason Smith said the Tigers didn’t have answer for Curran.

“They’re all capable, but I thought (Curran) played extremely well tonight. Probably the best I’ve seen him play, and I’ve watched a lot of film and their games,” he said. “Hats off to Braden for playing that well.

“We’ve got to be better defensively and execute better.”

Hall led by as much as 10 points late in the first quarter and again at halftime at 37-27.

Princeton managed a short-lived, one-point lead in the third quarter, but Curran scored nine points in the final 3 1/2 minutes, and Dye shot the Red Devils to a 56-50 lead with a long, running 3-pointer at the buzzer from the “T” in Tigers on the floor.

The Red Devils threw an inbounds pass way out of bounds with a 60-57 lead with under four minutes remaining, and the Tigers took advantage. PHS senior Daniel Sousa scored on a putback and took a pass from LaPorte to score again to put the Tigers up 61-60 with 2:06 left to play.

Curran nailed a 3-pointer to put the Red Devils back in front good at 63-61 with 1:35 remaining.

Dye hit two free throws with 5.1 left to put Hall up 65-61. They allowed LaPorte to score uncontested, and Dye added another free throw when the Tigers took an intentional technical for having no more timeouts, drawing the final margin of victory of three.

“Princeton put a great run on us, took the lead, and we still found a way to win,” Filippini said. “The longer that game went on, you could just see the confidence in everybody grow. The last thing I wrote on the board, keep your composure, play together and this is a regional final. You want to win a regional, this is the type of atmosphere they have to play in.”

LaPorte (21) and Sousa (19) combined for 40 Tigers points, with Korte Lawson adding 12.

Smith said the Tigers didn’t match the Red Devils “hype” leading in to the game.

“We talked about execution and accountability. We can make all the excuses in the world, the reality is Hall played better than us and outexecuted us. Us as a whole, coaches included, have to take accountability for that and get better and move on.

“We’ve got seven games left to play, and obviously got work to do.”

Filippini wasn’t sure if Dye was going to be able to play having sprained his ankle at the end of the Mendota game and said he played well. He praised senior point guard Max Bryant for playing great defense and sophomore guard Greyson Bickett for “just hounding” Princeton’s Jordan Reinhardt, holding him to six points. Jack Jablonski (five points) also played key minutes off the bench, he said.

Notes: Hall’s rally in the JV game fell short, as the Kittens held on for a 54-51 win. Jackson Mason had 12 points, and Tyler Forristall added 11 for PHS. Hall’s Aiden Redcliff took game-high honors with 21 points.