PRINCETON — The Princeton Bulldogs defeated the North Johnston Panthers 69-65 on Thursday night in a Neuse Six 2A Conference matchup.
Heading into Thursday night’s game, both Johnston county schools were playing some incredible basketball, with North Johnston holding a 14-2 record and Princeton holding a 14-1 record.
The Panthers had the momentum early in the game when they jumped out to a 16-11 lead in the first quarter.
Princeton made a small comeback to cut the Bulldogs’ lead down to 16-15 at the end of the first quarter, but it didn’t seem to stifle the Panthers’ momentum, and they opened up the second quarter with a 14-6 run to extend their lead to 30-21.
Down by nine points and desperately needing a basket, Aden Taylor stepped up for the Bulldogs on offense and drained a three-pointer before earning a steal on the defensive end, which led to an easy layup.
After the back-to-back scores by Taylor, Peyton Mitchell and Jayden Moses also stepped up for Princeton, with Mitchell making two free-throws and Moses knocking down a three-pointer.
The three-pointer from Moses was the last score of Princeton’s 10-0 run, which gave the Bulldogs a 31-30 lead before North Johnston finally ended the run and took a 32-31 with two made free-throws.
The final made shot of the first half came from Princeton’s Zion Joyner, who nailed a three-pointer with little time remaining to give the Bulldogs a 38-34 halftime lead.
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North Johnston opened up the second half on an 11-6 run to take a 45-44 lead, and at the end of the third quarter, the Panthers held a 50-49 lead at the end of third quarter.
Down by one point at the start of the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs once again stepped up and went on an 11-0 run at the beginning of the fourth quarter to take a 60-50 lead.
Mitchell started the Bulldogs’ run with a layup. Taylor followed Mitchell’s layup with a difficult contested layup before Cam Taylor nailed a three-pointer.
The final two shots of the run were scored by none other than Taylor and Mitchell, who led the team on the night on the offensive end of the court.
North Johnston did its best to get back into the game, but ultimately, the Bulldogs’ early lead in the fourth quarter proved too much, and the Bulldogs held on to win 69-65.
Princeton head coach David Cobb said the Bulldogs were able to go on their fourth-quarter run because they increased their intensity on defense.
“The defense picked up a little bit. We got some turnovers,” Cobb said. “We switched from man to zone in the second half, and we made some things happen there. They played with intensity, and they played with guts, so I’m proud of them for that.”
With the win, Princeton improved to 15-1 overall and 3-1 in Neuse Six 2A Conference play, while North Johnston fell to 14-3 overall and 2-2 in conference play.