Princeton boys complete comeback at Rosewood

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on February 13, 2011 1:51 AM

• Print
• Email

Princeton head coach Jeff Davis didn't want to let archrival Rosewood hang around Friday evening.

The Eagles did for 2 1/2 quarters.

C.J. Jeffreys scored all 14 of his points in the second half, and the Dawgs rallied for a 56-45 win. The victory gave Princeton a share of the Carolina 1-A Conference championship, the Dawgs' first since 1983 and third overall in program history since 1982.

"I was glad to see us play the way we did in the second half," said Davis. "I would have hated it for the kids to finish the season with 22 wins and not even be a conference champion. Tonight we did enough to win and that's what matters."

Princeton (22-1 overall, 9-1 CC) claimed the No. 1 seed by virtue of a coin flip over co-champion Goldsboro earlier in the afternoon. The Cougars are the No. 2 seed. Each team drew an opening-round bye in the postseason tournament, which begins Tuesday at Ayden-Grifton.

Rosewood tried to play the spoiler against its state-ranked archrival.

Behind 10 points from Jacquez Raynor and a pair of timely 3-pointers from Cody Harris and Jykhia Applewhite, the Eagles opened up a 24-22 advantage at the intermission.

Princeton stole the momentum back in the third quarter.

The Dawgs used a 10-0 run to start the period and built an eight-point lead. They held Rosewood to just one field goal on the way to a 19-4 advantage in the period.

"I told Coach (Eddie) Maldonado that we should have lined the kids up and gone through senior night again at halftime," said Rosewood head coach Daniel Mitchell. "It seemed like we came out really fired up in the first half and we didn't match that intensity in the second half."

A four-point play by Jyonte Raynor and a driving layup by Dee Mabry cut the Princeton lead back to single digits early in the fourth quarter. But the Eagles would get no closer.

Jacquez Raynor led the Rosewood offense with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Jyonte Raynor added 11 points.

Ben Jacobs paced the Princeton attack with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Wes Wood added 10 points and seven boards.

Rosewood (10-9, 3-7) tied with Spring Creek for fourth in the league. The teams meet Tuesday at Ayden-Grifton to decide the conference's final berth for the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1-A playoffs.

Tip-off is 6:30 p.m.