Gallery by Heather Belcher
Speed kills and Princeton was in high octane mode Thursday afternoon.
Battling Wyoming East in the championship tilt of the Pepsi Division of the Little General Battle for the Armory, the Tigers possessed too many weapons for the upset-minded Warriors.
Riding the 22-point performance from junior Nik Fleming and a defense that forced 24 turnovers, Princeton rolled past Wyoming East 81-43.
“Our depth is the key. We have 10 players right now that can play. All coaches say that, but it is really true for us,” Princeton head coach Robb Williams said. “It’s hard for me because guys get mad when I take them out, but our numbers wear on teams. Our bench was stronger tonight and we got their star in foul trouble. Once he he got three (fouls) we went right at him.”
Controlling the game early for Wyoming East was point guard Cole Lambert.
Lambert’s ability to get to the rim against the Princeton pressure kept the Warriors in the game early, but that all changed in the second period.
The junior standout collected his third foul with 5:39 to play in the second quarter and then collected his fourth foul with 2:22 to play until halftime.
Because his team was struggling to handle the pressure, Wyoming East head coach Derek Brooks made the tough decision to leave Lambert in the game.
Unfortunately for East, turnovers came in bunches when Lambert had to sit the final minutes of the half.
“People are wondering why he is in the game with three fouls and that is why. We have to have him in the game or we turn the ball over like crazy. We just didn’t play like ourselves,” Brooks said.
In addition to the pressure, the Tigers found success inside with Fleming who Wyoming East had no answers for in the paint.
After scoring eight points in the first quarter, Fleming added seven more in the second to help Princeton build a 12-point lead at halftime.
“I came out with the same mindset that I have every game,” Fleming said. “I want to go in, do my best and help my team out the best I can. I felt like I had a size advantage inside tonight.”
With Wyoming East doing a solid job with the pressure before Lambert’s exit, Fleming became the weapon of choice for the Tigers.
“Nik Fleming was nasty inside. He really looked good. Against most teams we can run them or pound it inside,” Williams explained. “Tonight we ran them, but they did a decent job against the press, so we had to pound it inside. Once we realized Nik couldn’t be stopped, that was a wrap.”
Although his team was sitting on the 12-point advantage at the break, Williams was not exactly happy with the lead.
“I am a fire and brimstone type coach and we had some tough talk at halftime. I wasn’t happy at the half,” Williams admitted. “I wanted them to get after it and if they weren’t going to get after, they were going to sit on the bench. They came out and really performed. It was truly a team effort.”
The Tigers heeded Williams’ call and opened the second half on a 17-2 run to put the game away.
Koen Sartin drilled a straight-away 3-pointer to ignite the Tigers who scored 10 straight before a pair of free throws from Garrett Mitchell stop the initial run.
Kris Joyce re-ignited the momentum with a bucket followed by a score from Gavin Stover. A triple from Davon Edwards pushed the lead to 54-27 with just under four minutes left in the third quarter.
“We were very fortunate tonight. We knew they would be a well-coached team. We knew they could shoot, but we didn’t give them a chance to shoot either,” Williams said. “Tonight was a better effort overall defensively for us.”
Princeton made 33 of its 60 shot attempts, while allowing Wyoming East to attempt just 32 shots in the game.
“We are not going to win any games turning the ball over 24 times. We just played timid tonight,” Brooks said. “You saw it from the jump. It killed us when Cole got in foul trouble. We have to have him on the floor and he was getting to the bucket earlier. We just didn’t play well, but we will bounce back.”
Joyce scored 13 for Princeton, while Chase Hancock added 12 and Stover had 10. Lambert led the Warriors with 14 points and Jacob Howard added eight. Jackson Danielson grabbed nine rebounds.
