Colmone Classic: Princeton wins Gray Pool, advances to Friday’s semifinals

SPRING VALLEY – The Princeton Tigers continued their quest to repeat as the Colmone Classic champions.

On Tuesday, the Tigers (8-0) defeated Rock Falls 68-56 to wrap up the Gray Pool. They advance to Friday’s semifinals at 6:30 p.m. against Marquette, the winner of the Black Pool.

“I think that’s the goal [get to finals] anytime you get in a tournament. This time we don’t have to wait for another team to help us out to get in,” Princeton boys basketball coach Jason Smith said, referring to how the Tigers won the championship last year after losing its tournament opener. “I’m excited about playing somebody different. We haven’t seen Marquette in a couple years, I think, and coach [Todd] Hopkins does a nice job with his team. He has a great program over there.”

In other games Tuesday, La Salle-Peru beat Mendota 55-45, and Putnam County won its tournament opener over host Hall 69-34.

Princeton 68, Rock Falls 56: The Rockets made a game of it in the second quarter, answering an 8-0 Princeton run with a 9-0 run of their own to pull within 24-20.

Then Teegan Davis lit the Tigers’ fire. He hit back-to-back 3-pointers and two free throws to stretch the Tigers’ lead to 32-22. Davis capped a 19-4 Princeton run with another 3-pointer for a 43-24 lead at halftime.

Smith said the Tigers have a few things to iron out for Friday.

“I thought we played well in spurts. I wasn’t happy with our inconsistent play,” Smith said. “Our effort level was there all night, I’m not questioning that. But our execution wasn’t quite where it needed to be and we’ll get better at that. We better get ready for a good Ottawa Marquette team Friday night because if we play like that, we’ll get blown out by 20.”

Grady Thompson netted 10 points in the third quarter and six in the fourth quarter, his last points coming on his third dunk of the night. Thompson finished with 28 points and Davis added 21.

“They did what they’ve got to do as seniors. We’re going to lean on them,” Smith said. “Teegan’s 3-pointers were there early, and Grady had some nice drives and big hoops around the bucket in the second half. When those two are attacking the rim, that sets up their outside shot.”

For the Rockets, Kuitim Heald had 12 points and Gavin Sands 10.

Rock Falls coach Zach Sandrock was much more pleased with the Rockets’ play in the second half than the first.

“Our defensive rotations we’re a little slow. A little soft with the ball. Ball movement wasn’t quite there,” he said. “Second half, I thought we came out a little bit better. Pressured the ball like we wanted to do and made a little run. Started moving the ball and getting easier buckets.

“I thought Princeton played a good game. They’re a good team. Whatever they were doing was working against us. We tried to adjust out of it. They knocked down shots and did what they do best.”

Putnam County 69, Hall 34: The Panthers used their 1-2 punch of Jackson McDonald (25) and Austin Mattingly (21), who combined for 46 points.

PC coach Harold Fay said it was nice to win their tournament opener.

“We shot the ball well, and some things went right for us,” he said.

Mac Resetich led Hall (2-5) with 22 points despite drawing the attention of the PC defense.

“We wanted to try keep Resetich in check as much as we could. He’s a good player. That’s hard to do,” Fay said. “The shots he made, I thought were tough shots.”

Hall coach Mike Filippini said the Red Devils will just have to regroup.

“Putnam County killed us. We could do nothing right,” he said. “They beat us in every phase of the game tonight. That was an old-fashioned butt kicking. There’s nothing more you can say. Now we’re in the losers’ bracket, but we still have a chance to win two games. There’s not a lot of positives to take out tonight, but that’s one of them.”

LaSalle-Peru 55, Mendota 45: The Cavaliers rode the big night of big man Josh Senica’s 24 points to their first tournament victory.

L-P led 30-19 at the half, but the Trojans outscored the Cavs, 25-14, in the second half.

For Mendota, Rafa Romero had nine points and Cale Strouss and Izaiah Nanez each had eight points.

Notes: The tournament resumes Wednesday with three games on tap. PC will play Stillman Valley at 5 p.m., St. Bede will face Rock Falls at 6:30 p.m. and Fieldcrest will meet Pontiac at 8 p.m. Crossover games will begin Thursday.