Yutzy, Princeton shoot down Spring Creek

By Neil Fuller
Published in Sports on January 26, 2005 2:05 PM

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SEVEN SPRINGS - Life among the state's elite programs is obviously agreeing with the Princeton men's basketball team.

Karter Yutzy scored a game-high 27 points and was 9-of-11 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter as the visiting Bulldogs defeated Class 1-A Carolina Conference front-runner Spring Creek 67-64 on Tuesday night.

Princeton -- which debuted at No. 9 in the NCPreps.com Class 1-A rankings earlier in the week -- held Gators standout Josh Bishop without a single point for a 20-minute span in moving to 5-3 in conference play.

"I really believe that we're legitimately one of the top-15 teams in the state," said Bulldogs coach Jeff Davis, whose team won just three games a season ago. "But we're not concerned with that right now. Our main goal is to get into the playoffs. That's been our focus since last April."

Yutzy was 7-of-11 from the field while also collecting seven rebounds and two assists.

Bishop, who finished with seven points and seven assists, missed a 3-point attempt to force overtime with 6.4 seconds remaining.

"Our team needs Josh drastically," Gators coach Sonny Kilpatrick said. "We really do. But Josh is not the only thing we have on our team. I thought Josh did a good job of staying under control in the first half and not getting frustrated. But when it got down to the point where I was looking for him to shoot the ball, he was still passing it off."

The Princeton women are justified in thinking about the postseason, too.

C.C. Sanders led all scorers with 22 points in the Lady Bulldogs' 47-31 win earlier in the night.

Spring Creek and the Lady Bulldogs (6-11, 3-4) combined for 61 turnovers -- 11 shy of a new NCHSAA record -- and Princeton overcame a poor start that included several missed layups.

The Lady Bulldogs recorded just one field goal in the first quarter.

"We got off to a real slow start," Princeton coach Ricky Boyette said. "We missed around 12 layups in the first half. We could've easily had a 20-point lead."

Instead, it took a putback by Sanders with 58.6 seconds left in the opening half to give the Lady Bulldogs a 17-16 lead at the break.

Nicole Hargis scored 12 points for Princeton, and Tiesha Williams added 10.

Tomeka Pride led Spring Creek (1-15, 0-8) with eight points.

"It was kind of chaotic out there tonight," Lady Gators coach Amanda Ramfjord said. "Turnovers and taking care of the ball are what we've been struggling with all season."

In the men's game, Yutzy connected on three second-quarter 3s to ignite a 23-6 run that saw the Bulldogs (13-5 overall) claim a 36-30 halftime lead.

Josh Thompson scored nine of his 19 points in the first quarter for Princeton, and Brandon Pate had 15 points, including three 3-pointers.

"We're not turning the ball over, and we're disciplined," Davis said.

Mychael King had 21 points and a game-high 15 rebounds for Spring Creek (11-5, 6-2). Dalreese Bell and Cliff Wilson scored 14 each.