{"id":7564,"date":"2025-04-02T10:37:58","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T10:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7564"},"modified":"2025-04-02T10:37:58","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T10:37:58","slug":"princeton-beats-seneca-for-fourth-straight-regional-title-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7564","title":{"rendered":"Princeton beats Seneca for fourth straight regional title – Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"


Princeton senior Noah LaPorte celebrate their 59-53 regional championship victory Seneca at Prouty Gym Friday night. It was Princeton’s fourth straight regional title. <\/span>(Mike Vaughn)
PRINCETON \u2013 The Princeton<\/a> Tigers stood 9-12 on Jan. 27 after losing to Dixon.
There may have been some doubters outside the Tigers’ camp believing they would not go far in the postseason, and Princeton\u2019s regional streak would come to an end.
Look at them now. The Tigers have not lost since, stringing 11 straight wins including Friday\u2019s 59-53 triumph over Seneca<\/a> to claim the Class 2A regional championship on their home floor.
\u201cI think we had a lot of hope. We all knew we play together good, and we\u2019ve done it in the past years, so we knew we could do it,\u201d Princeton senior Jayden Fulkerson said.
\u201cI always believed,\u201c Princeton senior Asa Gartin said. \u201dToward the beginning, we didn\u2019t have that chemistry set. As we continued to build in practice and games we\u2019re winning, our chemistry got better, and we were confident after that. We were like, \u2018We got this.\u2019
\u201cWe had that burning in our hearts and that chip on our shoulder.\u201d
\u201cI think after last year, coming in .500 or below, we knew it was possible. We knew what we\u2019re capable of,\u201d senior all-stater Noah LaPorte said. \u201cWe battled some injuries early in the season. We got everyone back and healthy and started playing good.
\u201cWe\u2019re on a streak right now, and it\u2019s a great feeling. Having everyone being a part of it is great.\u201d
Tigers coach Jason Smith was always a believer.
\u201cI believed in these guys. I never once doubted them,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought once we got consistency, they got it rolling really quick.\u201d
Princeton’s Noah LaPorte and Seneca’s Grant Siegel battle for a loss ball in Friday’s regional finals at Prouty Gym. The Tigers won 59-53 to claim their fourth straight regional title. <\/span>(Mike Vaughn)
The streak of four straight regionals matches the run of four from 1992-95 as the most in PHS history.
\u201cSenior year, you\u2019re on a three-year regional win streak, you want to get that fourth,\u201d Princeton\u2019s Jordan Reinhardt said.
The Tigers (20-12) advance to the Marengo Sectional to face No. 2 Byron (21-9) at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Byron beat Rockford Lutheran 64-51 at the Woodstock Regional. Princeton beat Byron 53-51<\/a> on a last-second basket by LaPorte on Feb. 8.
The Tigers led by as much as 14 points (43-29) late in the third quarter and by 10 when LaPorte gave them a 47-37 lead on a putback with 6:48 left in the game. LaPorte followed a 3-pointer by Seneca\u2019s Paxton Giertz with a spin move in the post to keep the Tigers up by nine at 49-40 with six minutes to play.
The Irish kept charging back. Grant Sigel scored on a putback, James Zydon hit a 3-pointer, and Giertz scored again to cap a 7-0 Irish run to make it 49-47 with 4:24 left.
Zydon connected for another trey to draw Seneca within 51-50.
Seneca’s Cameron Shirley twists and shoots in Friday’s regional championship at Princeton. The Tigers won 59-53 to claim their fourth straight regional title. <\/span>(Mike Vaughn)
LaPorte scored in the post and missed his free throw, but Asa Gartin hustled after the rebound. He passed to Luke Smith, who was fouled and swished two free throws. Reinhardt and Fulkerson each followed with a pair of charity tosses to run the Tigers to a 59-50 lead.
\u201cI don\u2019t know which (regional championship) is sweeter than the next. Maybe this one feels better because it was at home,\u201d Smith said. \u201cLot more pressure than I thought it was going to be. Seneca\u2019s a heck of a ball team. We knew we were in a battle, but our kids fought, had heart and grit and fight like they always do and had that determination that they don\u2019t want to lose and they\u2019re winners. Those kids are winners.\u201d
The Irish (26-7) forced the Tigers’ hand with defensive pressure at times, helping them use a 11-4 run to close within 26-23 at the half.
\u201cWe wanted to press and wear them out. I thought that worked to an extent, but you can\u2019t press if you don\u2019t score,\u201d Seneca coach Russ Witte said. \u201cWe had too many long stretches where we couldn\u2019t put the ball in the hole. We had open looks. We just couldn\u2019t consistently knock anything down.
\u201cI thought our kids played outstandingly hard. You get a stop and a conversion on the other end, now you flip the switch.\u201d
LaPorte poured in 27 points, including 16 in the second half, to lead all scorers, with Reinhardt adding 11.
Giertz netted 26 points in his last game in the Irish Green and White, finishing with 2,506 career points as their all-time leading scorer.
The Tigers knew they had their hands full with Giertz.
\u201cWe just had to play really hard,\u201d Reinhardt said. \u201c13 (Giertz) is a great player. He was obviously the main guy we focused on, but we stuck to our plan and it worked out.\u201d
\u201cHe\u2019s a great player. He can score from anywhere,\u201d Fulkerson said.
Princeton’s Noah LaPorte gets a helping hand from Seneca’s Zeb Maxwell in Friday’s regional finals at Prouty Gym. The Tigers won 59-53 to claim their fourth straight regional title. <\/span>(Mike Vaughn)
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network<\/p>\n

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Princeton senior Noah LaPorte celebrate their 59-53 regional championship victory Seneca at Prouty Gym Friday night. It was Princeton’s fourth straight regional title. (Mike Vaughn)PRINCETON \u2013 The Princeton Tigers stood 9-12 on Jan. 27 after losing to Dixon. There may have been some doubters outside the Tigers’ camp believing they would not go far in the postseason, and Princeton\u2019s regional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t