Princeton – Princeton coach Robb Williams has raved about his depth all season long.
Against county foe Bluefield his team backed up his claims.
In a game that featured 46 total fouls – 26 on the Beavers and 20 on the Tigers – and 54 total foul shots, Princeton held off a late Bluefield charge for a 79-67 victory Tuesday at Princeton Senior High School.
Trailing 31-28 in the second quarter, the host Tigers ripped off an 18-4 run to close the half that saw five different players score. They never relinquished the lead afterwards.
“We thought we’d wear them down,” Williams said. “Their starting five is tough but their bench, they’re not as deep as Bluefield usually is. We changed the defense up a little on them and they didn’t really adjust as well as I expected them to and I was happy about that. We hit a couple of shots too and you take all three of those things and they’re a typical Bluefield team – aggressive. They had people in foul trouble and we had people in foul trouble. When both teams have that the bench makes a big difference and that was a big difference in tonight.”
The opening stanza was a seesaw with Princeton eventually taking a 21-15 lead after a Gavin Stover 3 but R.J. Hairston, Brayden Fong and Kam’Ron Gore made it a 23-21 game after one with the hosts ahead.
Gore in particular proved difficult for Princeton to defend, scoring 12 of his game-high 20 points in the first quarter. Foul trouble eventually caught up to him though, forcing him to the bench for long stints in the second quarter.
“We wanted to build a lead while he was out because we knew he could score,” Williams said of Gore.
With Gore out of the game the Beavers struggled to find a groove. While they shot over 60 percent from inside the arc for the game, a 3 of 19 showing from beyond it hampered their ability to spark notable runs.
“We knew it was going to be a big game and they were going to be up for us,” Bluefield coach Buster Large said. “We came over here and we just didn’t play as well as we thought.”
“Our goals were really to not get beat by R.J. and we wanted to watch (Caleb) Fuller,” Williams said. “We kind of cheated a little on Fuller and he never really was able to get going. We were hoping to do a better job on Gore but he played well. Defensively we went after him when he was playing defense and got him in trouble.”
Leading by 10 at the break, the Tigers ballooned their lead to 14 when Kris Joyce nailed a trio of free throws. Will Looney fired back for the Beavers with a 3 to quell the momentum but Stover was money with the answer on the other end. A Nik Fleming bucket off a Bluefield turnover gave the Tigers their largest lead of the game at 59-43.
Then the Beaver charge was sparked. Hairston converted on back-to back layups and Fuller nailed a 3 later in the third helping trim the deficit back to 10. Another layup from Hairston at the end of the quarter cut it to eight before the all-state forward slashed it to six with seven minutes to go.
The Beavers drew no closer though, trading baskets on their next two possessions before a Stover free throw and Fleming layup established breathing room for the hosts.
“They’re a Bluefield team and they’re going to make their run,” Williams said. “We told them that at halftime … I was very happy with our perimeter defense, just not as happy with our interior defense tonight. We did a good job stopping most of the outside shots and I mixed up a couple man defenses and threw a zone in there. We pressed the entire first half and in the second half to slow them down and it worked.”
Large admitted the foul trouble made it difficult for his team to sustain runs when they needed them late. Four of his five starters finished the game with at least four fouls with Fuller and Looney making early exits.
“Anytime you get in foul trouble – 34 free throws to 18, what can I say? That’s all I’m going to say.” Large chuckled.
Princeton placed four in doubles figures with Chase Hancock leading the way with 18. Joyce (13), Fleming (14) and Stover (16) all joined him. Gore led all scorers with 20 while Hairston (17), Looney (13) and Fuller (12) all reached double figures as well.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
B: 21 15 18 13 – 67
P: 23 23 16 17 – 79
Bluefield
Gore 20, Fields 2, Looney 13, Fuller 12, Keene 1, Fong 2, Hairston 17
Princeton
Nik Fleming 14, Gavin Stover 16, Davon Edwards 7, Chase Hancock 18, Reed Thomas 2, Kris Joyce 13, Grant Cochran 5, Koen Sartin 4
3-point goals B: 3 (Fuller 2, Looney 1); P: 7 (Stover 3, Edwards 1, Hancock 3); Fouled out; B: Looney, Fuller.