SPRING VALLEY – After Princeton lost its first game of the Colmone Classic, the last thing anyone would have ever thought was that the Tigers would come back to win the tournament.

A pool championship tiebreaker and semifinals victory later, the Tigers made it all the way back to capture the Colmone championship, defeating LaSalle-Peru, 66-62, in front of a large crowd at Hall High School Saturday night.

Princeton became the first champion in the 47-year history of the Colmone Classic to have a loss in the tournament.

“It feels awesome. Colmone’s a coveted tournament and we took that. We’re the first team to get it losing a game, too, which makes it even better,” said PHS junior Grady Thompson, who led the Tigers with 27 points and was named Tournament MVP.

“Honestly, it didn’t seem possible [to come back to win the tournament]. But God gives us chances. We take them.”

PHS coach Jason Smith doesn’t care how the Tigers made it there. He’s just glad they did.

“Somebody said last night Princeton kind of back doored into the semifinals. I said, ‘Whatever it takes, we’ll take it,’ ” he said. “I’m excited for these guys, especially after the week we had the week before [at the Geneseo tournament]. Finally pulled out a close one. That was huge for us.

“I think this is the game we needed to set the standard for the rest of the season.”

Smith said he already hugged St. Bede coach Brian Hanson for beating Stillman Valley after the Cardinals beat the Tigers in their Colmone opener Dec. 4 to give the Tigers the edge by a points-allowed tiebreaker and planned to text him again to say thanks.

Teegan Davis, who also made the all-tournament team, added 11 points and Kaden Monroe had 10 in the Tigers’ winning effort.

For L-P (7-3), Josh Senica had 23, London Cabrera 17 and Sean Whitfield 13.

It was a battle from start to finish with both teams taking each other’s best punch and hitting back.

Senica scored on two putbacks and added another hoop in the post and Cabrera hit a 3-pointer to put the Cavaliers up, 30-23, late in the second quarter.

Thompson scored on the break and hit two free throws and Kolten Monroe hooped to bring the Tigers within 30-29 at the half.

Thompson was just beginning to warm up.

He opened the third quarter with a bucket and 3-pointer to give the Tigers their first lead of the night at 34-30. He hit another 3 to tie the game at 39 with 4:09 left in the third quarter.

L-P went back up, 49-42, on a three-point play by Senica with 1:30 left in the quarter. A step back 3-pointer by Thompson and a hoop on the break by Kolten Monroe made it 49-47 at the end of the quarter.

The Tigers outscored the Cavs, 12-3, to start the fourth quarter and open up a seven-point lead.

Thompson scored on a drive and then popped off a screen to make it 55-52 at the 6:05 mark. Davis soared for a breakaway dunk followed with a give-in-go layup from Kolten Monroe to give the Tigers’ their biggest lead of the night at 59-52.

Senica wiped that out all by himself, hitting a 3-pointer, a bucket and two free throws to tie the game at 59 with 3:30 left.

Thompson made 1-of-2 free throws and Davis scored off a steal and a layup to put the Tigers ahead to stay at 62-59 with 21.8 seconds remaining.

“These kids deserve it. L-P’s a heckuva team and we knew that going in,” Smith said. “I felt like if we could keep it close, we had a chance. I don’t think a lot of people expected us to win tonight. And I said, ‘You keep it close, tighten the clamps on them,’ and it worked.

“Hats off to these guys. They made a heckuva run in the fourth quarter and played well.”

L-P coach Jim Cherveny said it was hard to go away too upset after that kind of game.

“That’s exactly how a championship game should be,” he said. “It was fast paced, both teams defended well. There’s a lot of great hustle plays on both sides. You couldn’t ask for anything more for a championship game.

“Princeton deserved it. They played really well down the stretch. Lot of credit to their coaching staff. Their guys came prepared. They executed when they had to late. They were the better team tonight, man. They deserved it.”

Cherveny especially tipped his hat to the Tigers’ Thompson, who scored 19 of his 27 points in the second half, including three 3s in the third quarter and another in the fourth.

“No. 14 [Thompson] is one of the better players I’ve seen in the last several years,” Cherveny said. “He’s a difference maker for them. He has the ability to change a game and he did. He made some big free throws, hit some big 3s late in the game. Kept them hanging around.”

Smith sang Thompson’s praises for his defense as much as his offense.

“We all know Grady can score baskets. He’s a great scorer. But nobody knows how hard he works defensively, and I thought he guarded [John] Riva pretty darn good tonight,” Smith said. “We called him out and he answered the bell. I’m way proud of his defense, but he hit some clutch shots for us when we needed him to.”

Smith and Thompson are hopeful this championship is a sign of good things to come for the Tigers.

“As a coach, win or lose, it was huge for us to play in an atmosphere like this to set the stage for hopefully future things for us and I thought we rose to the occasion,” Smith said.

“I think this is the game we needed to set the standard for rest of the season,” Thompson said.