Tiger Boys Down Princeton 55-36, go 3-1 in GRC

Worth County's boys played their most complete game of the year as they disposed of Princeton 55-36 to go to 3-1 in the Grand River Conference. The Tigers will have their biggest test of the year coming up as they will play South Harrison in the Bethany gym, where they have only won two games in the last 30 years. South Harrison returns everyone back and is in the running for the crown.

Princeton game into the game having lost only six games, four of them without Vance Purdun. They had beaten Polo by 30 points earlier this year; Polo beat Worth County at the Albany Tournament. They also beat a solid North Harrison squad which won districts last year at Bethany. They had a 6'5" post player in Jake Letner while Worth County had nobody over six feet. Worth County received some good news and bad news on the injury front. Bryce Ross rolled his ankle in the fourth quarter when the game had already been decided and sat out the rest of the game; he said he expected to play Tuesday. However, they also received good news as 6'3" Dylan Kinsella warmed up with the rest of the team and said that he plans to play soon; he will bring the Tigers some badly needed size.

Everyone had reason to be worried about the explosiveness of the Princeton squad, but it was the squirts from Worth County who came out of the gates firing. They made 15 passes on their opening possession before breaking down the defense and Todd Harding scooped a shot high in the air and in; that was a sign that it would be Worth County's night. After another 10-pass possession, Bryce Ross got inside and scored. Todd Harding went coast to coast following a Princeton miss and then Eli Mullock added a putback. Bryce Ross then got yet another offensive glass against the Princeton squad and made a perfect head fake and putback as the Tigers led 10-0 at the 4:40 mark. Six of their ten points were off second chance points as the squirts from Worth County were swarming, trapping, and outworking the much taller Princeton squad.

Worth County finally cooled off and went into a 5-minute scoring drought as Princeton started to come back. Caleb Wyatt hit his second 3-pointer of the quarter to make it 15-11 and added a free throw to make it 15-12 with 7:04 left in the second quarter. Bryce Ross cut inside for a shot and then the teams went into a scoring drought, with Princeton unable to either shake loose Wyatt from downtown or work the ball into Letner and Worth County unable to get the lid off the rim. But then Alex Harmening hit a 3-pointer from the left wing from Eli Mullock and Todd Harding went coast to coast to make it double digits again. Ross cut inside again before free throws from Brody Cridlebaugh made it 24-14 at the break.

Princeton, relying on their size, sat back in their zone and dared Worth County to beat them with their shooting. But Ross' scores were a portent of things to come. In the second half, he would cut to the open areas at will and Princeton did not have an answer to the long 10-pass possessions that sprung him open and got him a lot of easy looks. A pair of transition buckets from Princeton kept it around 10 as Ross began doing his thing but then Todd Harding rejected a shot and that led to Al Harmening's second 3-pointer of the game off a pass from Eli Mullock. Harding then tipped an errant pass, hustled after it, and saved it from going out to Ross, who went in for a layup to make it 33-18.

The Tigers were getting their share of steals and even when they weren't, they were forcing Princeton to speed the tempo of the game and miss quick shots. Todd Harding got a drive and his patented floater and then followed with a steal and another floater down the right baseline to make it 37-18. Wyatt's shot from the left wing cut it to 37-20, but Bryce Ross cut inside just 13 seconds later and then following a rushed Princeton shot, Harding pushed it ahead to Ross for a layup and Todd Harding followed with a steal to make it 43-20 with 2:24 left. Vance Purdun converted a 3-point play, but Todd Harding answered with a drive and floater at the buzzer to make it 45-23 after three.

Princeton finally came out of their zone with some success as they started chipping away at Worth County's lead. They came as close as 49-33 following Ross' injury, but Alex Harmening kicked it out to Todd Harding for a 3-pointer with 3:06 left which prompted Princeton to throw in the towel and put in their JV shortly afterwards. Eli Mullock hit a free throw and Grant Parman got a putback in the closing minutes of the game.