BOYS' BASKETBALL: Princeton stages comeback against Lakewood

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on February 15, 2017 9:59 AM

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bcoley@newsargus.com

SEVEN SPRINGS -- Princeton head coach Jeff Davis could only shake his head and chuckle.

"Hey did you know we were down 50-25?" he asked as he turned toward a couple of players. "I didn't know it was that bad."

It actually was that bad.

But then it turned good -- unbelievably good.

In a heroic comeback only seen in movies, the Bulldogs rattled off a 28-0 run, and captured a 65-59 victory over Lakewood Tuesday night.

On Thursday, Princeton will travel to North Duplin and play Spring Creek in the Carolina 1-A Conference tournament semifinals. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m.

"I don't know what to say," Davis said. "I'm just glad we got another win. That's 11."

The Bulldogs' comeback began with three minutes left in the third quarter after Lakewood's Johnny Owens nailed a 3-pointer to give the Leopards a 50-25 advantage.

Princeton then decided to use a half-court trap that may as well have been a cage made of reinforced steel bars.

Lakewood had no answer for the defensive scheme. Open shots were closed. Clear lanes were blocked. The Leopards' half-court offense was completely disrupted.

Davis said he didn't feel like his team could run the trap the whole game due to players being sick and lack of depth. His team disagreed.

"They want to run the (trap) the whole game," said Davis, whose team forced 12 turnovers in the second half. "If they want to do it that means a lot. Maybe I'm stupid. Sometimes the kids are the better coaches."

The Bulldogs used the defensive momentum to find easy drives to the basket and open jumpers. Slowly but surely, the points continued to mount.

Then with fewer than four minutes left in the game, the Bulldogs nailed a 3-pointer to tie the game at 52-all. Not too long after, a free throw gave Princeton its first lead of the game.

The Bulldogs capped the 28-0 run with another 3-pointer, giving them a 56-52 lead with just over two minutes remaining.

"You just have to keep your head in the game," said Princeton's Garrett Klein. "I had to keep on getting on my players about the refs. They were like, 'The refs are calling this or that.' You just have to play through it. You just have to get over it."

In total, the Bulldogs outscored the Leopards 40-9 in the final 11 minutes of the game. Princeton recorded 29 points in the fourth quarter, and only committed one turnover.

Klein tallied a game-high 31 points, and also contributed seven rebounds. Earl Gibson -- the only other Bulldog in double figures -- registered 10 points and four boards.

Davis noted that the Bulldogs have had chances to stage comebacks in previous games -- including one versus Spring Creek-- but fell short each time.

Tuesday night proved to be the ultimate payoff.

"That's insanity," Davis said. "We couldn't do that but one time out of 100, but you don't have to do it but one time."