Worth County’s boys fell to Princeton 55-50, but showed that they had made a lot of strides since last season, as they finished second in their pool at the Albany Tournament. This year's version divided the eight teams into two pools of four, with two champions crowned. Games were played at the schools of the various participants. Last year, Worth County was run out of the gym by the Blue Tigers in Princeton and run out of the gym by Platte Valley, with whom the Blue Tigers split last year. This year, Princeton showed they are the real deal; they lost standout Preston Thomas, but haven’t lost a beat from last year, which is usually hard for a team to do when they lose a player of that caliber. But Worth County showed that they can now compete with the best teams in the area.
The Tigers showed that last year’s district win over Stanberry was no fluke as they did it again on Stanberry’s own floor to start the year, then decimated an improved King City squad with a big second quarter. In Friday’s game, they jumped out to a 14-0 lead as Jackson Runde was hitting everything and Alex Rinehart was feeding him the ball; Rinehart got two blocks during that stretch.
But then, two events derailed the Tigers. First, they got into foul trouble; Runde picked up his second and third fouls in quick succession. Then, in the third quarter, when the Tigers were on the point of regaining momentum, Alex Rinehart crashed into the stage while attempting a layup and hurt his non-shooting arm; he came back later, but by then, the momentum was all with Princeton.
The Blue Tigers, behind Zeb Schwartzkopf, began chipping away; by the middle of the second quarter, the Tiger lead was down to 15-14. Runde came back in despite three fouls; Aydan Gladstone scored five in the latter part of the second quarter and Jackson Runde knocked down two 3-pointers as the Tigers built their lead back up to 27-20 at the half.
Tyler New’s 3-pointer put the Tigers in front 30-22 early in the second half, but Schwartzkopf continued to hit and Eli Henke got the hot hand for Princeton, and by the latter part of the third quarter, Princeton was in front 36-34. Worth County fought back to go ahead 37-36 after three, but then a circus shot by Henke, which caromed off the top of the backboard and in for a 3-pointer, put Princeton up for good to start the fourth.
The Blue Tigers scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to go up 44-37, and then Schwartzkopf’s drive with 2:28 left put them up 50-42 with 2:28 left. Worth County fought back to within 51-48 with 54 seconds left as Alex Rinehart got untracked and Aydan Gladstone took a charge on defense, but the Tigers had to start fouling and Owen Schreffler hit a free throw with 43 seconds left to keep Princeton ahead by two possessions at 52-48. Worth County missed a 3-pointer and a putback try and Aydan Gladstone fouled out as Ashton Berndt hit a free throw to make it 53-48 with 28 seconds left. Alex Rinehart scored off a drive, but then Eli Henke hit another free throw with 16 seconds left, and Worth County couldn’t connect on a 3-pointer.
Jackson Runde led the scoring with 19. Alex Rinehart had 14, Aydan Gladstone 11, and Tyler New and Grant Cameron 3.
Alex Rinehart had 11 boards. Jackson Runde had 10, Aydan Gladstone 7, Grant Cameron 3, Jackson Smith 2, and Tyler New 1.
Aydan Gladstone had 4 assists. Alex Rinehart, Jackson Runde, and Grant Cameron each had 3, and Tyler New had 1.
Grant Cameron had 6 tips. Tyler New had 4, Alex Rinehart and Jackson Runde had 3 each, Aydan Gladstone 2, and Lucas Wake 1.
Alex Rinehart, Aydan Gladstone, and Jackson Runde all had four steals. Grant Cameron had 2, and Jackson Smith and Tyler New had 1. Worth County’s ability to take care of the ball against Princeton’s press and their ability to take the ball away against a good ballhandling team helped keep them in the game.
No comments:
Post a Comment