Tigers, Red Devils will ring in the New Year together

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There can’t be a better way for the Hall and Princeton teams and their fans to get the basketball blood pumping again than to all get together under one roof. That will take place when the Red Devils and Tigers ring in the new year of hoops at Prouty Gym Tuesday night.

Both teams had successful starts to the season in 2008 — Princeton is 11-1 with its lone loss at Rock Falls in overtime. The Red Devils are 12-4, coming off a fifth-place finish at the Plano Christmas Classic.

Player introductions will not be necessary as Hall fans will quickly learn all of the players dressed in blue. Tiger coach Jesse Brandt has implemented a constant line change rotation with five Tigers coming in and five Tigers coming out after two minutes of play. It’s worked well, so far, and Brandt is taking the nothing’s broke, so why fix it philosophy.

“I like the way the rotation is going, so far. We’ll stick with it for now and evaluate it on a  half-by-half basis,” Brandt said. “I think it’s going to continue to make us competitive practice-wise.”

Junior forward Scott Roseberg certainly likes how it’s working, so far.

“It’s been working really well. We’ve won more games than we have last two seasons,” he said. “I’m enjoying it a lot. You can leave it all on the floor.”

Hall coach Mike Filippini said the Red Devils won’t prepare differently for PHS’ line changes. The biggest challenge will be in “identifying who is in the game and relaying that to our kids,” he said.

“We have certain guys on our defense that will be assigned to whoever is on the floor. The hardest thing to do will be to constantly remind our guys what their assignment is, because it will change 2-3 times a quarter,” he said.

Princeton will be making just its second appearance at Prouty Gym of the season, its first since the Dec. 13 win over Dixon. The Tigers have played eight games in the city of Kewanee, winning both the Wethersfield Thanksgiving and the Kewanee High School Christmas tournaments.

PHS senior Zac Marquis is the only Tiger yet to participate in the merry-go-round due to a knee injury. He was to undergo arthroscopic surgery Monday morning, Brandt said.

Hall reached the championship game of its Colmone Classic, falling to Bureau Valley. Senior point guard Noel Santiago had a coming-out party, averaging 25.3, including a tournament record 44 in an 80-67 win over Plano to snare tournament MVP honors.

The Red Devils went 3-1 at Plano, falling to third-place finisher Genoa-Kingston. Senior Ben Miklavcic had 23 points to lead the Red Devils to a 55-45 over Forreston for fifth place at Plano.

Filippini said the Red Devils “enjoyed our three days off over the two-week break,” but are ready to get to action. With 16 games, Filippini believes the Red Devils must have played more games than any team in the state.

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