‘Twas the last game before Christmas, when and all thro’ the crowd, not a creature was sitting - all were making a sound.
The fans were standing up in the bleachers with care, in hopes that their team’s victory would soon be there. The Park Hill South (4-3) and Park Hill (4-3) boys’ basketball teams continued their rivalry on Dec. 21.
Park Hill South senior Miles Fant, above, converted on all 14 of his field goal attempts and scored 34 points in the Panthers 20-point road victory over Park Hill on Dec. 21.
In the first matchup since the Panthers eliminated the Trojans in the Class 6 District 16 Semifinals last season, Park Hill South relied on senior Miles Fant’s career-high 34 points to lead it to a 20-point victory. From knocking down a corner trey on the opening possession to sinking free throws in the closing minutes of the contest, Fant couldn’t be stopped - making all 14 of his field goal attempts and all four of his 3-pointer attempts.
“Miles was big time tonight; and he has that in him, we just have to get it out of him every game,” Park Hill South head coach Dan Parra said. “He is so dominant inside and outside; he can do so many things and he was very special tonight.”
Park Hill South came out of the gate firing on all cylinders and took a dominant 20-3 lead in the opening frame. However, Park Hill didn’t roll over and started to make shots and close the gap in the second quarter when the Trojans headed into the locker room trailing 27-21.
“We came out full of energy and we knew that crowd was going to be electric if they got off to a huge start. We haven’t started off great in the past, so we kind of just went from that,” Parra said.
The Panthers extended their lead to nine points with less than two minutes left in the third quarter when the Trojans caught fire from downtown. Park Hill knocked down four consecutive treys – two each from Luke Renton and Gavin Schaag – to narrow the deficit to 44-42 with less than a minute left.
Terrious Walker drew a foul at the buzzer before converting on a pair of shots from the charity stripe to help Park Hill South regain momentum and take a 4-point lead entering the final eight minutes. Fant banked in a 3-pointer and had a pair of dunks in the first 2:20 of the final period to set the tone for the remainder of the contest as the Panthers erupted for 21 points opposed to the Trojans’ five points, and Park Hill South won, 67-47.
“I think the biggest part that we jumped out to a huge lead, they cut it to one possession, and we answered that. A sign of a good, mature team is that we didn’t fold – we answered their run with our own big run,” Parra said.
Cahmai Crosby shot an efficient seven of 10 from the field to give the Park Hill South junior 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists. For Park Hill, Luke Renton led the team with 12 points and Marqueas Bell added ten points and four rebounds.