Wallace-Rose Hill drops Princeton in 1A boys' playoffs

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 27, 2014 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

PRINCETON -- Princeton dodged the raindrops during its late-season, nine-game win streak.

It couldn't survive the storm Wednesday evening.

Wallace-Rose Hill's relentless full-court zone pressure coerced the Bulldogs into numerous second-half turnovers, which fueled a 65-44 victory in second-round action of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A boys' basketball playoffs.

"We just melted down," PHS head coach Jeff Davis said. "We didn't play our best the last quarter and a half, we just fell apart. You can do that for a minute or two. You can't do that in the second round of the state playoffs -- not for five or six minutes."

Joel Hines' 3-pointer off of Colby Norris' assist pushed Princeton in front 35-29 early in the third period. The fifth-seeded Bulldogs managed just two field goals during the next 12-plus minutes.

Wallace-Rose Hill knotted the game at 36-36 on Jamal James' 3-pointer and seized the lead for good on JJ Glaspie's drive to the basket just seconds later after a turnover.

Princeton trailed 48-38 after three quarters.

"The first (part) of the game and the second half, I thought we played extremely hard and that's what this team has got to do," said W-RH head coach Steve Robinson, whose team logged 12 second-half steals and forced 21 turnovers overall.

"I thought they got tired, we wore them down a little bit and started scoring out of our press."

Colby Norris' free throw shaved the deficit to single digits early in the final period, but Wallace-Rose Hill (12-13 overall) responded with six quick points on Alex Lisane's tip-in after a deflection, BK McAllister's layup and another basket off of a turnover.

Michael Wooten hit Princeton's lone field goal in the fourth. Wooten finished with seven points, while teammates Alex Whitley and Tanner Woodard supplied 10 points apiece.

Lisane pumped in 11 points for Wallace-Rose Hill, which advanced to the third round of the playoffs for the first time since 2007.