Two familiar foes squared off in a Northern Section CIF Division VII playoff match-up last Thursday night in which the hometown No. 2 seeded Eagles brought an end to the No. 7 Panthers season with a 77-70 victory.
It was the fourth win over Maxwell in the past five meetings, and one that required the Eagles to rally from behind in the second half.
In the early going, however, the two teams traded baskets, but Princeton came on strong hitting five shots from behind the arc, three by Tito Reynoso and two from Junior Andrade, to open up a 25-17 lead by the end of the period.
However, the Panthers weren’t going down without a fight and stormed back to tie the game at 38, employing tough defense and lights out shooting.
Leading the charge for Maxwell was Noel Velazquez, who had 14 of his team high 27 points in the second quarter, and sent his Panthers into the locker room at halftime with a 42-40 lead after dropping in a layup just prior to the buzzer.
Yet the Eagles have a potent weapon of their own in Andrade, the Northern Section scoring leader whose 27.3 average is currently eighth in the state as well.
With Maxwell leading 56-54 in the third, Andrade accounted for the Eagles’ next six points, including a long range three that changed the game’s momentum and allowed Princeton to regain the lead for good.
Although the Panthers refused to concede and closed the gap to 73-70 with 26 seconds remaining after a Christian Lara three, the Eagles again had an answer.
Inbounding the ball after a time out, Corwyn Roberson released down court, receiving the ball in stride and gliding in for the layup, to extend the advantage to five.
It was a play that Eagles’ coach Jordan Dillard attributed to his assistant coach and father, Ron, who spent a total of 10 years coaching in Princeton in the 90s and early 2000s.
“Credit goes to my dad on that one,” Dillard said after the game. “He went old school and drew it up on his clipboard. It worked, Corwyn took it all the way in for the layup.”
Two free throws by Andrade, who went 11 for 12 from the line, and finished the night with 44 points, iced the game.
Moreover for the Eagles, Roberson had a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds, while Reynoso contributed 11 points and eight boards.
It was a game effort by the Panthers (13-11), who finished the season as the fifth place team in the Mid-Valley League, but have a quality core of players on which to build upon next year.
Dillon Dry and Cale Kuska, in their last game for Maxwell finished with 18 and 14 points respectively, while Lara pitched in with 11 points.
As for Princeton, the Eagles defeated Happy Camp 78-73 Tuesday night to advance to the Division VII Championship game at 6 PM on Saturday at Shasta College.■