Princeton gets contributions from many sources in regional semifinal win

Princeton got 25 points from its top two guns, Noah LaPorte (13) and Jordan Reinhardt (12), but got contributions from many sources in Wednesday’s 54-47 regional semifinal win over Mendota.

Luke Smith scored five points with a 3-pointer and layup filling in for LaPorte, when he went down with a twisted ankle late in the second quarter. Smith had nine points in the game.

Junior Jackson Mason hit a clutch 3-pointer to give the Tigers a 38-33 lead late in the third quarter.

Asa Gartin grabbed a loose ball and flipped a pass to LaPorte for a breakaway dunk to give the Tigers a 49-45 late in the fourth quarter. He also contributed five points.

That’s what it takes to win in the postseason, Princeton coach Jason Smith said.

“Just a lot of people contributing. Luke, filling in for Noah when he went out with that bum ankle and scored five points. Asa, Gavin (Lanham), Jackson (Mason) with a huge 3 in the corner,” Smith said. “I could point out every single kid who played tonight how they impacted the game tonight and that’s why we win because they do that.”

Smith also gave credit to his bench and student body.

“Our bench mob was into it and our student section was loud. I hope they come back Friday night,” he said.

Bloodlines

LaPorte left Wednesday’s game twice, first with his ankle injury and later when he came away with a bloody mouth. He said there was no way he wasn’t going to stop playing.

“Noah’s a big-time player who really gets the ever-living tar beat out of him on a nightly basis and until he sees blood, he never complains about it. But tonight he saw blood and was pretty mad about it,” Smith said.

Detail oriented

Seneca coach Russ Witte, who led Hall to a regional championship in 2004, his first of two seasons at the Red Devils' helm, said the Irish did the little things that led to their success in their 74-59 win over Sandwich in the first semifinal of the night.

“We were very good, detailed oriented what we talked about,” he said. “We can go in our 1A conference and we can have better athletes and win games. But to win in 2A postseason, you’ve got to pay attention to details.

“First half, we were very good where we were forcing kids. I thought second half, our communication kind of went down. I thought our kids panicked a little bit when they went to their 1-2-2. We stopped attacking. Started putting the ball above our hand, kind of panicked a little bit. Switched some things up offensively, got them settled down. Once we started attacking that middle or short corner, our offense opened up.”

Running ragged

Paxton Giertz played like, well Paxton Giertz. Seneca’s all-time leading scorer poured in a game-high 33 points and worked for every one of them," Witte said.

“Obviously Paxton Giertz is going to get his. He’s one of the best players I have ever been around,” Witte said. “Did he force some stuff early? Yeah. But that boy was running ragged. He was running 84 feet the whole game. I can’t really complain about him.”

All-time leaders

Friday’s regional championship game will showcase the all-time leading scorers for both Princeton and Seneca.

LaPorte became Princeton’s program and school’s all-time scoring leader this month when he passed Grady Thompson (1,468) and Tiah Romagnoli (1,506), now with 1,589 career points. He will play football for Northwestern next year.

Giertz is running away as the Irish’s all-time top scorer with 2,480 career points. Giertz is taking his talents to play basketball for Division II Hillsdale (Mich.) College.

Former Ms. Illinois Cindy Kaufman scored 2,536 points for Seneca from 1983-87.