Princeton High School got its first taste of competitive varsity basketball heading into the 2023-24 season, competing at the TABC Showcase.

Competing at the Duncanville Fieldhouse on June 23-24, Princeton had some questions heading into the tournament. First, without the inclusion of graduating senior lead guard Devin Brumfield, the team was tasked with finding enough offensive firepower to compete among the best. One of the top scorers for the Panthers for multiple seasons, Brumfield’s production was going to be difficult to replace, as he scored over 1,000 career points and was named the district’s offensive player of the year.

The second was seeing who could stick in the rotation. Returning to the lineup were Luke Walker, JeVaughn Martin and Breckin Rampy, but the Panthers had several vacant openings from seniors that helped the team win 12 games last season.

To start game one on Friday night against Montgomery Lake Creek, things looked pretty good as Princeton raced out to an early lead. Martin and Walker were the lead initiators on offense, as Martin’s two dunks to end the first half put Princeton up 14 points at the break.

With about five minutes to go and Princeton up 11, things began to fall apart. The Panthers struggled to care of the ball down the stretch, as Lake Creek went on a big run and ended up pulling out the 57-55 victory.

While the second-half collapse was a tough result for the Panthers, there were plenty of positives to take away from the game, including their main scoring duo who were able to get to the basket at will in the first half.

Princeton traveled back to Duncanville the following day, where they opened the day with a dominant 54-29 win over Victoria West to right the ship. Playing against West’s zone defensive scheme, the Panthers were able to attack with ball movement late to hit some key shots.

Early in the first half, Princeton dominated the proceedings against an undersized West team, jumping out to a 36-18 halftime lead.

In their final game of the day, Princeton battled against Laredo Nixon, ultimately losing 66-59. The Panthers fell down quickly in the game, trailing 29-15 in the first half against their hot-shooting opponents.

However, things changed rather quickly, as Princeton was able to catch fire and play some of its best basketball of the tournament down the stretch. The Panthers scored 44 points in the second half, showing off that offensive firepower they were looking for to end the tournament.

As Princeton now heads into its summer workout program, the team can take some positives away from their 1-2 performance over the weekend, with plenty to look forward to improving on before the season begins next November.

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