AM
Tigers' solid effort ends losing streak
Princeton (63) Vs. Westside (59)
Feb 19, 2016
By GEORGE THWAITES
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
PRINCETON — Friday night against Westside, Princeton’s basketball team probably didn’t play any harder than it did on Thursday against PikeView. But the Tigers certainly played smarter.

Colton Fix and Bryson Murphy scored 17 apiece and Princeton ended a five-game losing streak with a 63-59 win over Westside.

The victory may have helped rinse away some of the ‘bleah’ from Thursday’s 65-49 loss to the Panthers. It certainly set a new tone for the Tigers (7-8).

“It was a tough loss for us last night and when in the heat of battle things got tough, we lost our composure,” said Princeton head coach Ernie Gilliard.

“Tonight, things got tough and a little tight at times, but we maintained our composure. As a result we were able to come out and execute and have some solid possessions offensively,” he said.

Fix scored all 17 of his points in the second half for the Tigers, who trailed 29-25 at intermission but opened the second half with uncontested 3s from Fix and Logan Watkins to immediately leap into contention.

Murphy, who wrapped up 15 rebounds, scored nine of his points in the final frame.

“I blocked everything out of me and just went out and played as hard as I could,” said Murphy.

“This is a big win for us. They did everything the way they were supposed to. We just reacted well against them. We made the foul shots we needed to make.

“ We didn’t let the crowd get into our heads. We did everything the way coach wanted us to do, the way we’ve been practicing,” said Murphy, who hit six of Princeton’s free throws during the 8-for-10 showing over the final minute that fended off the Renegades (12-8)

Watkins finished with 12 points for Princeton. Freshman point guard Drew Hopkins only had two points, but Gilliard credited the youngster for taking care of the ball and keeping the Tigers in some positive offensive sets.

Larry Cook scored 24 points to pace Westside. Shane Jenkins tossed in 16.

“We still made way too many mistakes. We’ve got to start growing up and making better decisions and then we’ll be O.K.,” said Westside head coach Nick Cook. “We were very lackadaisical in the third quarter. All we’ve got to do is communicate a little better and get a hand on them.”

Westside plays Mount View on Tuesday. Princeton travels to Valley-Fayette on Monday.

At Princeton High School

WESTSIDE (12-8)

Brian Choate 1 0-0 2, Larry Cook 7 8-11 24, Isaiah Lester 1 2-2 4, Shane Jenkins 5 3-4 16, Elijah Prett 0 0-0 0. Jacob Ellis 0 0-0 0, Tre Colucci 4 0-0 8, Jeremiah Scholar 0 0-0 0, Brock Smith 1 1-2 3, Corey Hatfield 0 2-2 . Totals 19 16-21 59.

PRINCETON (7-8)

Colton Fix 5 6-9 17, Jacob Whittington 5 4-6 15, Aaron McCabe 0 0-0 0, Jared Hamm 0 0-0 0, Cole Cochran 0 0-0 0, Bryson Murphy 5 7-10 17, Logan Watkins 5 1-1 12, Cade Fix 0 0-0 0, Drew Hopkins 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 18-26 63.

Westside....................15 14 10 20 — 59

Princeton...................15 9 20 19 — 63

3-point goals: Westside 5 (Jenkins 3, Cook 2). Princeton 3 (C. Fix, Whittington, Watkins).
Nightly Roundup
Game Scoreboard
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 OT SCORE
Princeton 15 9 20 19 0 63
Westside 15 14 10 20 0 59
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