Boys basketball: Ball movement, inside scoring power top-ranked Princeton past Newman

STERLING – The Princeton Tigers, ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 2A, extended their undefeated streak to 18 games with a 65-50 Three Rivers East win over the Newman Comets Friday night at Newman’s Gym.

In the first quarter, Grady Thompson and Kolten Monroe powered Princeton’s offense, scoring nine and seven points to fuel a 16-11 start in the opening period.

Newman’s Ayden Batten connected twice from beyond the arc in the first 3:10 to tie the game at 6-6, then pulled the Comets within 12-11 with a third 3 less than two minutes later, but the Tigers remained in control the rest of the way, scoring two straight baskets to finish the quarter.

[ Photos from Newman vs. Princeton boys basketball ]

Thompson got to the hoop with an assist from Teegan Davis with just over a minute remaining, then Monroe dropped in a post layup with six seconds left, extending the lead to 16-11.

“We just had to keep pushing the ball. We’re a very athletic team,” Davis said. “We just had to keep pushing the ball up the floor and try to beat them before they got their zone put up.”

Newman’s Nolan Britt jumped a passing lane to start the second quarter, and assisted Lucas Simpson on the fast break to cut the margin to three points. But the Tigers answered with an 11-4 run over the next 5:45.

A Davis steal and fast-break layup started the surge, then he hit a right-wing 3 for an eight-point lead with 2:40 remaining. With a steal and double-clutch layup on the fast break around the two-minute mark, Davis pushed the Princeton lead to 27-17.

“That’s what we’re best at, is running the fast break,” Thompson said. “We get steals, and then we go get layups and dunks under the rim.”

Davis and Monroe scored two quick layups about 30 seconds apart for a 31-20 advantage with about a minute left, then Britt hit Simpson with a bounce pass in the lane to finish the half down nine.

“We came into this game knowing Princeton’s a dominant team, the No. 1-ranked team in 2A,” Britt said. “So I think we were just nervous coming in, trying to do too much.”

“I thought we were playing really hard, for the most part, in the first half. We had three things that bothered us the first half,” Newman coach Ray Sharp said. “The first was every once in a while, our wing in the 1-3-1 wouldn’t get back to the block, or the opposite wing wouldn’t get back to the block quick enough, and they’d throw a lob and score. The second thing was sometimes our middle didn’t get down fast enough when the ball went to the corner, and they’d throw it to the corner, then to the block and score. On two passes, our middle’s gotta get there. Our third thing is rebounding. I had them for 11 missed shots and six offensive boards, so they got more than half of their misses back.”

Britt opened the third-quarter scoring with a right-wing 3, drawing Newman within 33-25, but less than a minute later, Thompson threw an alley-oop layup to Davis, and the Comets (16-5, 5-1 TRAC East) trailed by double digits for the remainder of the game.

“They were getting it down in the post a lot, so they were getting the easy inside-out looks. They were splitting our zone,” Britt said. “They were just getting it in between our zone, and then kicking to the open guys. There’s really nothing you can do about it if we’re letting them travel through our zone wherever they want.”

Thompson buried a right-corner 3 for a 43-30 lead just under the three-minute mark, and Davis hit two free throws with 35.8 seconds left to take a 47-35 lead into the final quarter.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Thompson swished another right-corner 3, pushing the margin to 50-35, then Davis got another steal and assisted Monroe on the fast break, and Thompson completed an and-1 putback for a 55-35 lead with 6:45 left.

“We really started getting hot, and kept the tempo pushed up, and just kept our foot on their throats,” Davis said of the 8-0 run to start the fourth quarter.

A Britt 3 pulled the Comets within 11 points in the final 2:20, but the Tigers finished the game with a 6-2 run in the last two minutes.

Simpson led the Comets with 20 points, four rebounds and four steals, Britt chipped in 16 points, three rebounds and six assists, and Batten added nine points on three 3s.

Thompson led the Tigers with 28 points, four rebounds, one steal and one block, while Davis tallied 21 points, four rebounds, four assists, five steals and one block, and Monroe added 11 points, three rebounds and seven assists.