Princeton, Seneca overcome anxious moments to advance to championship game

PRINCETON - The favored Seneca Fighting Irish and the Princeton Tigers both won their semifinal contests in the Class 2A Princeton Regional on Wednesday at Prouty Gym.

Both neither victory came without some anxious moments.

The top-seeded Irish watched a 10-point lead after three quarters over No. 7 Sandwich dwindle to just one point midway through the fourth quarter. The Irish outscored the Indians 16-2 down the stretch to pull away to a 74-59 victory.

In the nightcap, No. 4 seed Princeton fell behind by one point early in the fourth quarter and led by just two points with 49 seconds left to play before scoring the final five points of the game to advance with a 55-47 victory over No. 5 Mendota.

The Tigers (19-12) and Irish (26-6) will meet for the regional championship at 7 p.m. Friday. The Tigers will ride a 10-game win streak to the title game, playing for their fourth straight regional championship. The Irish seek their first since 2018.

“Playing at your home court, there’s nothing like it,” Princeton senior Noah LaPorte said anticipating Friday’s matchup.

“They’re really good. We’ve got our work cut out,” Tiger coach Jason Smith said. “We’ve got to be able to handle their pressure and try to contain 13 (Paxton Giertz) as much as possible. Easier said than done because he’s a 2,400-point-plus scorer and Coach (Russ) Witte does a great job with them. They’ve won 20-plus games how many straight years and they’re always in it. It’s going to be a battle.”

Witte knows it will be loud Friday and that’s how he likes it.

“It will be a lot like playing Marquette at Marquette. It will be loud. I love the gym. I love the atmosphere. We know it’s going to be packed,” he said.

Seneca 74, Sandwich 59: The Indians were like the pesky ant at a picnic, they just wouldn’t go away.

The Irish took a 29-11 lead early in the second quarter on a 3-pointer by Sebastian Deering only to have the Indians outscore them 18-4 to close within 33-29. Giertz scored the final eight points of the half on an inbounds play and two treys for a 41-29 Irish halftime lead.

Seneca maintained a 10-point lead at 55-45 at the end of three quarters, but the Indians made a final push with seven straight points to close within 58-57 with under five minutes remaining.

Giertz scored 11 of his game-high 33 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Irish into Friday’s title game.

Zeb Maxwell chipped in 14 points and Deering added 11 for the Irish.

Witte knew the Irish were going to be in for a battle.

“It’s a great old I-8 Conference battle. I wish we were in the same conference together and had that battle every dang year,” Witte said. “Sandwich is good. They’ve only lost one game in 2025 and that was at Providence Catholic. So we knew coming in, they were going to be a tough out.”

Dom Rome led the Indians (20-12) with 22 points and Simeon Harris added 19.

Princeton 55, Mendota 47: Mendota’s Aden Tillman hit a pair of 3-pointers out of the gate in the fourth quarter and his freshman brother Cole scored on a putback to tie the game at 43. Braiden Freeman added a free throw to give the Trojans their first lead since the second quarter.

The Tigers scored six straight, capped by a breakaway dunk by LaPorte, to go up 49-44 with 1:45 to play. Mendota closed within 49-47 on a putback by Dane Doyle and a free throw by Cole Tillman only to have the Tigers score the final five points, all from the free throw line, to advance to Friday’s title game.

“It’s our fourth time playing Mendota. We knew it was going to be a battle,” LaPorte said. “They got the first two games. We got the second two. It’s great to have the second two, especially at the end of the season.

“We’re keeping the streak going and starting out the postseason right.”

Smith said he was full of nerves all day.

“I had so much butterflies all day because I knew it was going to be a war. You don’t know when you play a team four times really how it’s going to go,” he said. “At the end of the day, our kids have a lot of heart, a lot of grit and a lot of fight in them. Played their tails off against a team who did the same thing on the other end, except we came out ahead on the scoreboard.

“I have a lot of respect for that program and what Coach Was (Steve Wasmer) does with those kids. Mendota’s going to be a team to be reckoned with in the future, that’s for sure.”

In a word, Wasmer said it was fun game for all involved.

“Games like that are why you practice in the summer, pick up a ball in the driveway. It was fun,” he said. “I thought both teams played incredibly hard. That’s all you want. The last couple minutes, the free throws, the rebounds went their way. But they’re a good team. They’re a veteran team.

“Incredibly proud of my team. I’ve got three seniors I’m going to miss the heck out of them. When they came in, our program was one win, two wins in a season. And now they’re leaving with 22. They meant a huge deal to our program.”

LaPorte scored eight of his team-high 14 points in the fourth quarter. Reinhardt finished with 12.

Cole Tillman led the Trojans (22-9) with 19 points.