Tigers have unfinished business

The Princeton Tigers captured their second straight regional championship, defeating Port Byron Riverdale 59-39 at Prouty Gym. Now they set their sights on a second sectional crown, facing Rock Falls on Wednesday at Byron. (BCR photo/Kevin Hieronymus)

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The theme for the team poster for the 2009-10 Princeton Tigers basketball team cites simply: “Unfinished Business.”

After coming one game from reaching the state tournament in Peoria in 2009, the Tigers have set out to take care of that unfinished business. That explains why their mood after winning Friday’s regional championship was, while celebratory, was more subdued as far as celebrations go.

“They were expecting all year long to win regional, so maybe they were not as excited to win,” PHS coach Jesse Brandt said. “It’s different when you haven’t won very many or haven’t won it in a long time. I told them it’s still a great accomplishment no matter what happens the rest of the season. It’s never easy to win regional. They should be happy.

“They have bigger goals in mind within reach, whether we achieve them remains to be seen.”

The next step will come Wednesday when the Tigers square off against NCIC Lincoln rival Rock Falls (19-10) in the sectional semifinals at Byron. Tipoff is 7:30 p.m.

Close ballgames

Unlike Port Byron Riverdale, whom more than one Tiger suggested may have been overlooked ever so slightly coming into the regional finals, there will be no looking past Rock Falls.

Princeton (26-2) had its hands full with the Rockets this year and last, taking three out of the four meetings, all of which have been highly contested. The teams have played to a 2-point game last year and a 3-point this year.

“We were fortunate to win either game with Rock Falls. We were down the first game at half and down seven in the third quarter up there. I wouldn’t think we’d been overlooking them,” Brandt said.

Senior Scott Roseberg, who led the Tigers’ charge Friday with 10 second-half points, said the Rockets definitely have the Tigers’ attention.

“It’s hard to beat a team three times, so obviously, we’re going to be kind of worried about it,” he said. “It’s a sectional game, anybody can win it. But I feel, like, if we do what we did the first two times, execute and play defense, we’ll be on the winning end of that.”

If there is someone who has the edge in meeting twice before, Roseberg figures it would be Rock Falls.

“When you win the first two, it’s good to get revenge as the other team. Like, they know you a lot,” he said. “I’m going to go out on the limb and say we’re the better team, because we usually have been this season. They got good players and stuff. Yeah, they know what we’re going to do and have a good plan for us.”

No surprises

Both coaches, Rock Falls’ Mike Winters and Brandt, don’t look for many surprises Wednesday in Byron with both teams knowing one another so well, though the Tiger coach notes each one of them will throw in a little wrinkle or two. Winters says playing a familiar foe makes it easier for scouting purposes.

“It’ll come down like it always does, if the kids make the plays or not,” Brandt said.

The Tigers will need a good plan to reign in the Rockets’ Jake Junis (15 ppg), a 6-4 junior guard, and Tevin Rumley (14 ppg), a 6-4 senior forward, who average 29 points between them. Brandt will employ a rotation of senior Reid Clary, Brik Wedekind and junior Michael Murray to handle those responsibilities.

Junis went off for the 39 points in the Tigers’ 68-54 win on Dec. 11 at Prouty Gym, hitting nine three-point baskets, many, as they say, “from way downtown.”

“We’ll have guard him as soon as he gets to the halfcourt line. He takes the ball to the basket well, too, and is a good free-throw shooter,” Brandt said. “There’s a reason he’s been all-conference three straight years.”

The athletic Rumley, who didn’t play in the first meeting, had 14 points in PHS’ 63-60 win Jan. 29 at Rock Falls.

“He hurt us last year couple times. We had a hard time keeping him away from the basket up there and they took a little bit of a lead on us. We’ve got to force him to the outside,” Brandt said.

PHS can’t overlook 6-5 senior Matt Lauts, who led the Rockets in their regional semifinal win over Oregon with 28 points, nor senior guard Dylan Austin (11 ppg), who scored 17 against the Tigers in their last meeting.

Rockets still improving

Winters sees his team as one still improving as the season progresses, getting a slow start with injuries and the early-season suspension of Rumley.

“Not many teams you get to say that they’re still improving. That may turn out to be a good thing this time of year,” Winters said.

Princeton returns five key players from the 2009 Elite Eight squad, which was knocked out by Winnebago in the supersectionals. Ryne Vrana (11.3 ppg), a 6-7 center, point guard Wedekind (7.2 ppg) and post Roseberg (9.9 ppg) were all postseason starters a year ago with Clary (9.7 ppg) and Brock Schmidt (4.8 ppg) playing key reserve roles. Murray (12.6 ppg) has provided a punch offensively and defensively with his athleticism.

Having had their chances to win before, Winters say it’s all about finishing for his Rockets, making free throws down the stretch and rebounding.

“The kids have a lot of respect for Princeton. They feel like maybe some games got away and they’re excited to get another a chance,” he said.

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