Nationally Ranked Principia Too Much for the Bulldogs
- RoMoAthletics
- Feb 16
- 4 min read
February 16th, 2026
It was the second year in a row the Rolla Bulldogs were invited to the Principia Honor Flight Classic. Last year they took on a team from Columbia, IL led by Sam Donald who is now playing at Bellarmine University. This year Rolla was matched up with the host team, Principia Panthers.
Principia has played a national schedule this season with their only 2 losses to top 5 national teams. The Panthers are considered the top team in Missouri regardless of class and are ranked in the top 10 nationally for non-prep schools. They are led by 6’4” Wake Forest signee, Quinten Colemam as well as ton of talent who are holding D1 offers.
It was a packed gym on hand to watch the highlight game of the shootout. The Bulldogs knew they would need a flawless game and some luck to pull off the upset victory. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, that would not be the case.
Panthers Were Running
On the opening tip, it looked like the excitement of the game would lay the groundwork for that shocking upset as 6’4” Ethan Brown easily won the opening tip over the 6’7” Ron Henry. But the tip out went long and right into the hands of Colemam who took a single dribble and threw down an emphatic two-hand dunk to take a 2-0 lead 2 seconds into the game.
The Bulldogs would only connect on 2 of 14 shots in the opening period including 1 of 8 from beyond the arc. Principia on the other hand hit 10 of 15 in the quarter scoring 12 of their points in transition and converting all 4 Bulldog turnovers into buckets on the other end. After 1Q Principia was leading 23 to 7.
Rolla looked poised to respond to the Panther wave in the first quarter as they responded with quick points to start the 2nd quarter cutting the deficit to 12-25, but that would be as close as the Bulldogs would get. While the Bulldogs were able to shoot better in the 2nd quarter, so were the Panthers. Rolla was outscored 14 to 26 in the 2nd frame and once again, all 5 turnovers by the Bulldogs led to Panther points.
The Panthers would go on a 13-0 run to pull away stretching the lead to 31 points in the quarter before 6’4” Sr guard Cooper Gideon was able to knock down a 3 pointer to stop the 20-2 run. Bulldogs trailed at the half, 21 to 49.
No Second Half Comeback
In the two recent losses for the Bulldogs, they would lead a valiant second half charge to get the game into single digits. But that would not be the case. Principia did not let up in the second half as legendary Coach Jay Blossom had them fired up coming out of the locker room. A 9 to 2 run to start the 3rd quarter made sure that there would be no Bulldog comeback.
6’2” Sr guard Jenson Thomas had a big second half for the Bulldogs scoring all 13 of his points on 6 for 7 shooting. 8 of those points came in transition as the Bulldogs were able to get out and run.
The Bulldogs trailed 39 to 71 entering the 4th quarter where the turbo clock was running at the start. The Bulldogs drop to 18-5 on the season with the 50-86 loss to Principia as they move to 22-2.
The Wrap Up
The Bulldogs were dominated in all aspects as they gave up 14 offensive rebounds and only managed 23 total rebounds to 52 for the Panthers. The Bulldogs committed 16 turnovers and converted everyone to a point while the Bulldogs created 9 turnovers but were only able to convert them into 8 points.
Overall, Principia shot 54% from the field while Rolla shot just 38%. The disparity along with the seemingly easy way with which Principia hit shots, made their shooting percentage seem much higher. Converting turnovers to dunks and outscoring the Bulldogs 54 to 24 in the paint highlighted their dominant performance.
Thomas led the Bulldogs in scoring with 13 points followed by Brown with 11 points. Brown also handed out 8 assists on the night.
6’4” Jr guard Gassim Toure would take home MVP honors for the game. Toure went 8 for 8 from the field for 19 points while handing out 7 assists.
It was the lowest offensive output of the season for the Bulldogs as well as the most points allowed in the season. Tough to have on the same night. The Bulldogs will be looking for a bounce back game as they have 3 games left in the regular season before district play.
Next Up
Travel to Washington, Mo to take on St. Francis Borgia (15-9)
Part of a girls and boys 5 game night
9th Boys at 4:30 at Wingbermuehle Activity Center
JV Girls at 4:30 at Main Gym
JV Boys at 5:45 at Wingbermuehle Activity Center
V Girls at 5:45 at Main Gym
V Boys at 7pm at Main Gym
Last season they matched up twice with Rolla winning both contests. Regular season 71-48 and then in the district semifinal 74-59.
Rolla is averaging 69.8 PPG vs Borgia at 59.6 PPG
Rolla’s defense is allowing 55.6 PA while Borgia is at 55.2 PA
Common Opponent
Pacific: Rolla W(63-33) Borgia W(75-32)
Boys Class 6 District 2 Standings
Seeding meeting has not yet been held.
TEAM PF PA PPG OPG W L Win %
Eureka 1104 931 58.11 49 15 4 78.95%
Rolla 1605 1278 69.78 55.57 18 5 78.26%
Marquette 1319 1197 65.95 59.85 15 5 75.00%
Lafayette 1223 1158 58.24 55.14 12 9 57.14%
Parkway South 1142 1102 51.91 50.09 11 11 50.00%
Waynesville 1105 1149 52.62 54.71 9 12 42.86%
Parkway West 1105 1178 50.23 53.55 9 13 40.91%
Northwest 755 890 50.33 59.33 5 10 33.33%
STATS Principia 86, Rolla 50
The individual scoring (FG-FT-TP):
Rolla (18-5): Thomas 6-0-13, Forbis 2-0-5, Richter 2-0-5, Gideon 2-0-5, Ledbetter 2-1-7, Brown 5-0-11, Smith 1-0-2, Robinson 1-0-2
Principia (22-2): Money 4-0-8, Coleman 9-1-22, 8-1-19 Toure, Rychlewski 1-0-2, Smith 2-0-5, Slay 4-0-11, Henry 3-1-7, Ater 1-2-4, Cisse 4-0-8
The score by periods:
TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 F
Rolla 7 14 18 11 50
Principia 23 26 22 15 86
Comments