Game against Princeton Day School. PHS-83; PDS-47

BY JAMIE PERETZMAN-Mission accomplished.

As a result of a 36 point victory against cross-town rival Princeton Day School, Princeton High School not only won its fifth game in a row, all by double digits, it clinched a spot in the New Jersey State Playoff tournament.

All the painstaking practices, film sessions and weight lifting have paid off for the playoff bound PHS Little Tigers. However, as nice as a playoff spot is, head coach Jason Carter has made it clear that they are not yet done. Ideally, PHS wants to clinch a home playoff game, which hasn't been done since 1995, when Carter was a player at PHS.

The dedicated fan base helped to make PHS's "away" game into a virtual home game. It is this reason, this "6th" man that makes a home playoff game so important.

Trips to PDS's gym elicit memories of PHS's first round Mercer County Tournament Victory last year. But also, their annual game is a contest to determine which Princeton area High School reigns supreme in the realm of basketball. It is also the reuniting of PDS star player Joe Rogers and his former school. The 5th year senior left PHS two years ago to join the PDS squad. In Monday's game, Rogers accumulated 6 points and a technical foul and then left the game.

This game surely lived up to the chippiness level of many of the past contests between these bitter rivals. PDS had two technical fouls and one intentional foul while PHS was able to keep its composure knowing that it had its adoring fans to get their backs.

In a surprisingly close first quarter, it was Brian "Dirty" Dunlap that hit a three pointer at the buzzer to keep the momentum in PHS's direction. From that point on it was easy sailing and Carter was able to rest his starting five in the third game of a 6 games in 9 day stretch. The bench for PHS found it hard to score points while conceding too many of them to PDS.

The aforementioned Brian Dunlap led the scoring with 23 points including 6 assists and 5 steals. Skye Ettin followed with 18 points and 7 rebounds and DeQuan Holman had 14 points 6 rebounds and 5 assists.