Princeton rallies to boost state tournament resume
In order to boost its state tournament resume Tuesday evening, the Princeton High boys basketball team had to dig deep.
The Tigers went into halftime of Florence’s Senior Day facing a 27-21 deficit after allowing a 19-2 run over an eight-minute span in the second quarter. But when junior Jahan Owusu knocked down a 3 to make it a one-possession game with 3:53 remaining in the third, everything changed.
Owusu netted 20 of his career-high 31 points in the second half to lead Princeton (8-11) to a 52-47 win against Florence (11-10).
“In the beginning of the season I was struggling a little bit to get into my own, but I think as the season progressed and practicing with Coach (Pat Noone), I think he really got the best out of me to play my best game,” Owusu said. “This is where I am today, just playing hard.”
His star performance could prove critical for the bigger picture this season as Princeton came into the day holding the 14th spot in Central Jersey Group IV. Sixteen teams make the field and every team’s best 16 games through this Saturday count toward power points, so this eighth win could improve Princeton’s playoff position.
The players, of course, can’t focus on that in order to be ready to win these games.
“We just look at it as a regular game,” Owusu said. “We scout our opponents to see what their weaknesses are, but we don’t really look at their record. We just play as hard as we can. We don’t care who we play against because we play hard every time. We give 100 percent.”
Princeton looked that way defensively in the second half as it mixed in a full-court press that created several turnovers by Florence, which was fighting for big power points while currently holding the seventh spot in Central Jersey Group I.
Senior Darius Bland-Johnson, who will play at Mercer County Community College next winter, had a team-high 22 points. But it wasn’t enough to help the Flashes survive a crucial 14-0 run by Princeton from late in the third quarter until there was a minute left in the fourth.
Princeton grabbed its first lead since the middle of the second quarter when junior Jihad Wilder, who finished with 12 points, drove in for a layup with about 6:20 remaining to pull ahead, 36-35.
Owusu then scored seven straight points with two acrobatic moves in the paint plus three free throws, and junior Frank McLoughlin added two more foul shots to supply Princeton with a 45-35 cushion with 1:36 on the clock.
Florence whittled the lead down to five with two 3-pointers before Wilder iced it with two free throws.
“(Coach) said to play hard, play our defense, make the most of the opportunities that we had on offense,” Owusu said of the team’s halftime message. “Make sure we take quality shots that could get us back into the game, which we did. We hit our free throws when we needed to to close it out.”