No letup as Princeton takes sectional title

By Drew Bruno (Contact)
Sunday, March 8, 2009

PRINCETON, Ind. — As Princeton’s Rontray Chavis waited near halfcourt while Memorial attempted a free throw, coach Tom Weeks shouted in his direction.

“Come on, baby!” Weeks bellowed, not wanting his sophomore forward and his teammates to let up in the final 2 minutes, 20 seconds of Saturday night’s Class 3A boys’ basketball sectional championship game.

And after a missed free throw, the ball just happened to find Chavis at the other end of the court, where he slammed it home, putting his team ahead by 13 points — never to look back while bringing the crowd on its feet, never to return to its seats.

Princeton won 60-51 on its home floor Saturday night, denying Memorial consecutive sectional titles.

For the host Tigers, it was their first sectional championship since 2000.

“We brought the tradition back to Princeton; it feels good,” junior Jordan Simmons said, his teammates, coaches and more than a few fans still surrounding him on the court after the game. “It hasn’t set in yet. I didn’t know it was going to be this big.”

For a team that’s ranked No. 1 in the state and now stands at 25-0, there was no denying the significance of Saturday’s victory.

“This team’s goal throughout has been this,” Weeks said, “and now we’ve got this win.”

While Chavis’ dunk helped put a finishing touch on the night, Simmons and senior Trevor George led the way with 16 points apiece.

Memorial opened the scoring with a pair of free throws for a 2-0 lead but missed 12 of their first 13 shots from the field, trailed 10-6 after one quarter and never got any closer than three points the rest of the way.

“We had point-blank shots and they didn’t go in,” Memorial coach Rick Wilgus said. “Why they don’t go in, I don’t know.”

Yet Memorial never fell behind by more than 13 points — it lost by 14 in the teams’ regular season meeting — and was within four points at one point in the fourth quarter.

“We kept telling them compete, compete, compete,” Wilgus added, “and they did. We competed with a lot of heart — I’m proud of the effort those kids put forth.”

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