Barefoot's FT's end long postseason drought for PHS

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on February 27, 2008 2:33 PM

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PRINCETON -- Josh Barefoot buried two free throws with 12.8 seconds left and Princeton edged Weldon 44-43 on Tuesday evening.

The victory propelled the Bulldogs into the second round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A sectional playoffs. They'll visit Creswell on Thursday.

"It's all about repetition at this point," said Barefoot. "The referee asked me to tuck in my shirt tail, maybe trying to ice me or something ... but it worked out."

From the opening tip, the Bulldogs controlled the pace of the game on both ends of the floor with their signature zone defense and motion offense. Chris Hinton scored eight-first quarter points to give Princeton a 16-12 lead.

"We were fortunate to get some early baskets underneath the hoop by moving the ball and finding a hole in their defense," said Princeton head coach Jeff Davis. "This is a very good basketball team we played tonight, and even though they might not have shown their best tonight, we know how good they are."

Weldon tried to create an up-tempo pace in the fourth quarter, but Princeton (18-8 overall) refused to oblige its guest. The Chargers grabbed a 40-39 lead with four minutes left in regulation.

Ryan Daughtry's 3 ended a three-minute scoring drought by either team.

Down 42-41, Weldon guard Desmond Faulcon picked the Dawgs for a steal and converted it into a layup. Leading 43-42, the Chargers missed a chance to extend their slim lead, but misfired at the free throw line.

Princeton grabbed the rebound. Barefoot wheeled toward the hoop, drew a foul and sank both free throws to give the Dawgs their first postseason win in more than a decade.

Daughtry emerged Princeton's top scorer with 17 points, followed by Barefoot with 11 and Hinton with 10. Desmond and Demond Faulcon paced Weldon's offense with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Deontre Person contributed 13.

"We are really excited to still be playing, and to get our 18th win of the year," Davis said. "It's been a while since Princeton had 18 wins."