Princeton junior Jayce Lester (12) shoots a jump shot during the first half against McKinney on Friday. Photo by Jerry Winfrey / C&S Media
By David Wolman
MCKINNEY – Although the Princeton boys basketball team trailed McKinney by 13 points with 5:43 left in the fourth quarter of Friday evening’s District 6-6A game, head coach Eric Lockman knew that his Panthers still had plenty of fight left in them.
Lockman had seen his squad reduce what had been a 15-point deficit to seven in a game against Anna earlier this season.
Fast-forward to last Friday, and Princeton knew it had its work cut out against a McKinney team that had beaten Class 6A’s No. 4 Allen just three days earlier. Still, the Panthers weren’t intimidated by the Lions. And all that it took for Princeton to start to carve away at McKinney’s lead was switching to a full-court, man-to-man pressure defense.
The forced turnovers came in bunches, with a tipped ball by senior Jaylun Smith leading to a steal and layup by senior Oluwfisayomi Falowo reducing Princeton’s deficit to 55-51 with 1:04 left in the fourth quarter. Another steal just 16 seconds later led to another Panthers layup, this time by senior Aveion Dixon.
However, that was as close as Princeton got. McKinney made five free throws in the game’s final 48.4 seconds to put the finishing touches on a 62-56 home win.
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