Following a dominant Midway women’s game, it was the varsity men’s turn to take the court in front of a near-capacity crowd. The self-dubbed “Midway Madness” student section was out in full force to wreak havoc for the visiting Bulldogs, but in the end, it was Princeton who got the last laugh posting a 66-56 victory.
Neither team got off to the best of starts as Princeton merely led 5-0 three minutes into the game. That score held for several minutes until Midway finally got on the board with free throws at the 3:08 mark. Cole Parker, who was fouled on a three-point attempt, converted all the free throws to make it 5-3. Midway went on to take a 6-5 lead as the Bulldogs offense struggled.
Midway led 10-5 at the end of the first quarter as Princeton failed to convert a single free throw on a three-shot foul of their own as time expired.
In the second quarter, Midway led by as much as five points on several occasions, but the Raiders were never quite able to distance themselves from the visitors. The Bulldogs lingered and were able to tie the game 25-25 at the halftime break.
The action really heated up in the third quarter as the teams duked it out, each trying to gain the upper hand. The lead was exchanged numerous times throughout the quarter until Princeton finally won the battle and took the lead for good with 2:02 on the clock.
As the game transitioned to the fourth quarter, Princeton slowly pulled away as Midway simply wasn’t able to stay within striking distance. The Bulldogs, withstanding one finally Midway push, pulled away late to grab the 66-56 victory.
Leading scorers for Midway were Hykeem Rains with 12 points; Cole Parker and Colby Pope each with 11; Bryson Core and Cameron Barefoot had six; Dalton Cannady and Lashaan Autry contributed three; and Tye Mullins and Jonathan Wood rounded out the scoring with two points each.
Midway will try and capture that first win when they travel to Hobbton on Tuesday.