Boys basketball: L-P, Princeton earn wins on final day of pool play in Ottawa tourney

OTTAWA - The La Salle-Peru and Princeton boys basketball teams picked up wins Friday on the penultimate day of the Dean Riley “Shootin’ The Rock” Thanksgiving Tournament.

The Cavaliers pulled away from Plano for a 57-41 win, while the Tigers routed Marengo 66-46.

L-P later beat Oak Forest 59-56 to finish 3-0 in pool play and earn a spot in the title game at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Seth Adams scored 25 points, while Josh Senica had 10 points and 17 rebounds.

La Salle-Peru 57, Plano 41

The Reapers took early leads of 4-0 and 7-3, and the game was tight through the first quarter-and-a-half before the Cavs started to take control.

L-P led 16-13 after the first quarter. The teams traded the lead twice early in the second before the game was tied at 20 with 4:43 left in the opening half. Seth Adams hit a jumper to tie the game, which started a 14-0 run.

“It took us a little bit to get going,” L-P coach John Senica said. “I don’t know if it was the Thanksgiving turkey or what, but once the kids got settled, we started to get our tempo back.”

Josh Senica had two buckets and a 3-pointer during the stretch, while Nicholas Olivero drained a 3-pointer to cap the surge with L-P leading 32-20 with 59.4 seconds left in the second quarter.

“We started playing more physical,” Josh Senica said. “We started moving the ball, we started pushing it, and we played very aggressive.”

L-P led 32-22 at halftime, then took control coming out of the break.

Jack Jereb hit a jumper, then dished to Senica for a bucket the next trip down the court. A pair of free throws by Senica and a basket by Mikey Hartman pushed the lead to 40-22.

“We talked about still keeping the tempo, keeping the aggressiveness and being smarter with the basketball,” John Senica said about halftime. “I think of our shot decisions weren’t right. We talked more about shot selection and just keep doing what our game plan was.

“I was very happy with [the third quarter]. The kids kept the tempo, and our shots fell.”

Josh Senica finished with 25 points, 15 rebounds and four assists, while Hartman had 10 points and four rebounds. Adams contributed nine points and three assists.

“We’re going to try to build on what we’ve done so far,” John Senica said. “We have a lot of work to do. The kids know it. I think we have a good foundation, and we’re going to take it one step at a time.”

Princeton 66, Marengo 46

The Tigers received a big boost with the return of junior Noah LaPorte from a football injury.

LaPorte poured in a career-high 41 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, swiped six steals and dished out a pair of assists to help the Tigers to their first win of the season.

“He just gives us that presence,” said Princeton coach Jason Smith, whose team lost 59-31 to Ottawa in the season opener Monday. “He’s a beast. He just gives us that presence of confidence, that presence of calmness. There’s so many things he does well for us.”

LaPorte’s previous varsity career high was 24 points, and his previous career high on any level was 36 when he was a freshman.

“My teammates get me open and feed me the ball,” LaPorte said. “It feels good [to have a big game]. I’m going to build off of it.”

The Tigers fell behind 5-1 early, but then held the Indians scoreless for the next 9:46.

“We came out and were buying into the defense,” LaPorte said. “We were not worried about more offense, we were worried about the defense and not letting them score. That defense converts into offense. You build off the defense.”

Princeton led 9-5 after the first quarter and pushed it to 18-5 before Marengo scored again.

LaPorte went coast to coast off a rebound to start the second half, then hit a 3-pointer, scored a post bucket and hit a pair of free throws.

Princeton led 32-14 at halftime and extended its lead to as many as 27 points in the second half.

“I thought we played a really good first half, and I thought our second half was so-so,” Smith said. “I think some of our guys got tired in the second half. Some guys are still in football shape, and we need to get them in basketball shape quickly.

“We didn’t have that defensive intensity that we should have had [in the second half]. I think that was the difference in the two halves, our defensive intensity. But we’ll get there. We’ll get better. We got the first win, and that’s a big one to get out of the way.”

Along with LaPorte’s 41 points, Korte Lawson had 11 points, eight assists and four rebounds, while Daniel Sousa added six points and five rebounds.

“It feels good [to get the first win],” LaPorte said. “We’re going to move on from here. It’s over, we got the ‘W,’ and now we’re going to try to get some more wins.”