No.21 Princeton continues to roll with win over Pilot Point

Princeton High School - The TABC’s No.21 ranked Princeton Panthers (4A) took care of home court as they beat the Pilot Point Bearcats (4-6 -- 3A), 76-54 to improve to 12-1 on the year.

Sophomore point guard Haven Ousley scored a team-high 20 points for the Panthers and finished with two three-pointers. The Bearcats were led by Woods (***) who had a game-high of 22 points.

Early on, it was Pilot Point’s big man Cody Collinsworth who went for 11 first-quarter points to give his Bearcats a two-point lead heading into the second, 21-19. -But then the Panthers took their game to the perimeter away from the big man and started hitting shots.

“We are a very unselfish team,” said Princeton’s head coach Eric Lockman. “We always look for the extra pass and we have been shooting the ball well.”

After the first-quarter, Lockman needed his team to move towards the game plan that was in place and disturb the 6-foot-10 Collinsworth in the paint. The Panthers defense held Collinsworth to six points the rest of the contest.

“We knew that we were longer and more athletic and that’s what we talked about when defending [Collinsworth]. He is a tremendous talent, but we knew that if we could keep the ball on the perimeter while on offense, then we would have a great chance of winning.”

Collinsworth still had opportunities to score, but he couldn’t get his shot to fall late in the game.

“He was hot in the first quarter and we had to do something,” Ousley said. “We started double-teaming him and forced him to take contested shots.”

At half-time, Princeton had taken a 37-32 lead and outscored Pilot point 55- 33 from the second quarter on.

(***) no first name provided in the book or online that could be found.

The Panthers had eight players who got on the scoreboard, with seven of those players scoring seven or more points. Unsigned senior Elijah Gerber was the other Panther in double figures with 13 points.

There were a few things to observe from Cody Collinsworth’s game Tuesday night, and one of those attributes was how his length plays a huge factor in a game at the level he plays. When the ball is in his area, Collinsworth will grab the ball and look up court for his point guard to start the break. When he sits back on defense and the offense comes to him, Collinsworth's reach alters his opponent's shot-making ability, and the big-man blocked seven shots and changing several others against Princeton.

On the offensive side of the ball, Collinsworth has a soft bank shot. He faces up well and scored the majority of his points spinning off his smaller defender and squaring to the basket to score with his lefty touch.

Collinsworth is nowhere near a finished project, but for obvious reasons, he has the interest of Gonzaga, Kansas State, Maryland, and Purdue. He does hold an offer from TCU.