Tigers pounce on the Hylanders

Prologue
Its another trip up Central Ave but not quite as far this time as #2AAA Princeton visits Columbia Heights.  Heights is a Pepsi shop so that's always a good idea.  Plus the pizza isn't bad but the grease intake might be a bit much even by my standards.  Princeton also with the short sleeve hoodie warmups that I just cannot comprehend.  Hopefully the Princeton taping turned out as their Hudl iPad took 2 quick nosedives off the tripod at the start of the game.  St. John's, Hamline and possibly Augsburg looking on.

Song of the Day: Rod Stewart - Motown Song

Number of Teams I've Seen: 68 (44 games, 23 days, 18 buildings, 6 online)

Beverage Ticker: 289.8 ounces (3230 Calories)

• A&W Root Beer: 12 ounces (170 calories)
• Dr. Pepper: 12 ounces (150 calories)
• Fruit Punch Gatorade: 68.9 ounces (480 calories)
• Pepsi: 148 ounces (1850 calories)
• Sprite: 48.9 ounces (580 calories) 

Food Ticker:

• Hot Dogs: 7
• Pizza: 2
• Walking Tacos: 2 
• Extras
• Lays Chips (160 calories)
• French Onion Sun Chips (210 Calories)
• 3 Snickers (750 calories)

Game Time:
A great start for Heights as Amir Davis hits from deep and goes to the nice pivot and jumper in the lane for a 7-0 Hylanders lead less than 2 and a half into the game.  Calvin Peterson with 2 bombs as Princeton comes right back with a 10-2 run of their own.  Davis breaks that with another triple and he has 10 of the 1st 12.  Kaich Ogul with his 3rd bunny for the Hylanders just inside the 9 minute mark.  Davis adds 2 free throws at 5:47 to tie the game at 18. 

But its all Tigers the rest of the half.  Peterson another 3 ball along with one from frosh Haydn Stay.  Post Jon Stimmler adds 2 buckets and 2 free throws as part of that 15-2 run.  Jarvis Wright ends the half with 2 free throws.  33-22 Princeton at the break.  Columbia Heights with only 1 field goal in almost the last 9 minutes of the half.  That took the game from tied to down 11.

Columbia Heights changes it up with a couple of their top freshmen starting the 2nd half.  Princeton comes out on a 10-0 run.  Sloppy turnovers the explanation for that run.  Total run for the Tigers is 25-4 over almost 13 minutes crossing halftime and only 1 Heights FG.  One of those freshmen, Spencer Alvarez leads a run back with 2 hoops and a nice assist to a cutter.  The quick 9-2 spurt cuts the lead to 14 before a Princeton bucket and MoKiller timeout.  49-33 Tigers with 10:19 left.

Princeton responds out of the time out as they tack on 8 of the next 10 for a 10-2 run to push the lead back over 20.  Ogul converts a pretty pick and roll to cut the lead to 18 with 6 minutes left.  But Stimmler scores 2 straight buckets to kill the momentum and start a 14-2 run that blows the game wide open.  Princeton wins 80-49.


Post Game
For Columbia Heights, senior guard Amir Davis leads the way with 18 points.  But only 1 FG after the spurt in the 1st 5 minutes.  Kaich Ogul active inside as a cleanup man.  He finishes with 12 points.  Quiet night for Jarvis Wright with only the 2 free throws to end the 1st half.  Heights offense almost looked in slow motion with half speed cuts.  Add in no dribble reverse option when they were running their 4 man shuffle and trying to be patient was still difficult.  Plus a bunch of really sloppy turnovers and that will kill you against a really good team.  Heights falls to 2-3 overall.  They'll play next week in the Rochester Rotary tournament before opening Tri-Metro play on Jan 7th against old Metro Alliance foe Brooklyn Center.

Second ranked Princeton remains undefeated at 6-0 with the closest margin being 14 points.  Jon Stimmler with 18 points inside for the Tigers.  Calvin Peterson knocks down 4 3s on his way to 14 points.  6 players score 8 or more points.  Good movement on offense and they have enough shooters to knock down shots in addition to having a guy like Stimmler to throw it to inside.  The Tigers will play next week in the Granite City Classic in St. Cloud.