Princeton Beats Holmes In Thriller

The area's two best teams went at it in Gladiator-like fashion as Princeton went into the reigning Kentucky state champions' house and survived a furious Holmes comeback to win, 57-54 in overtime, in the kickoff of game to this year's FOX19 / QueenCityHigh.com Hoops Tailgate Tour.

Holmes guard Ricardo Johnson hit a 3-pointer with eight seconds left in regulation to send the game into the extra session. The Bulldogs had all the momentum after trailing the entire contest. The Vikings would persevere and pick up a quality victory in a game that had a tournament-like feel to it.

Princeton built a seven-point lead midway through the second quarter and pretty much maintained it until two minutes to go in regulation. That's when forward Elijiah Pitmann intercepted an errant Vikings' pass and took it the length of the floor for an emphatic slam. That pulled the Bulldogs to with five at 47-42. Pittman would finish with 14 points and nine rebounds while going 0-5 from behind the arc.

Holmes fell in love with the three-point shot in the first half. Fourteen of their 22 shots were triples. The Princeton defense forced the Bulldogs into 7-26 (27%) shooting from 3-point land. The Vikings would go into intermission with 25-17 lead.

Princeton used its strength inside on offense as well. The team got to the foul line 30 times, making 18, in the contest. Their failure to capitalize from the charity stripe (9-19) in the second half and overtime led to Holmes getting back in the tilt.

For all of the game's late drama there was one matchup that did not disappoint, Ricardo Johnson versus Jordan Sibert. Johnson finished with 25 points going 4 of 5 from 3-point land and 5 of 5 on free throws. Sibert had 19 points for the Vikings before fouling out in overtime. It was his leadership that helped his team weather the late Holmes' storm.

"I think we did great. We had great focus and came out with great intensity," Sibert said. "We had a lot of fouls, but in the end we all came together."

When Sibert fouled out of the contest, it appeared as if Holmes would have the advantage. But that was not the case as the Vikings' stepped up to nail down the victory.

"I told them even though I was out. I was still able to help them out keep them encouraged and keep their spirits up. My teammates stepped up."