For three quarters, the Park Hill boys’ basketball team (17-11) went toe-to-toe with the third-best team in all of Class 6, but the Trojans were outscored 32-10 in the final eight minutes and lost to Oak Park (26-1) in the Class 6 District 8 Semifinals on March 3.
Park Hill senior Kendrick Bell breaks loose and has a slam jam in the third quarter of the Class 6 District 8 Semifinal matchup with Oak on March 3.
The Trojans went down 16-8 in the first quarter, but Desire Tonye-Nyemeck knocked down a right corner trey to give him five points right ahead of the buzzer. Gavin Schaag made a triple from the same spot to tie the game at 16 but the Northmen didn’t relinquish the lead until the final minute of the half.
Marqueas Bell scored a transition layup with 41 seconds left to put Park Hill up 32-30 as the senior had 14 of his team-high 23 points at the break. The third quarter was tight as both teams led by as much as four until the final minute.
Park Hill senior Dayton Howard was called for his fourth foul with 46 seconds left and Oak Park went to the charity stripe to shoot one-and-one and added to its lead. The Northmen went up 48-40 with a late 3-pointer and Kendrick Bell scored a tough layup through contact and converted the 3-point play with 2 seconds left.
Oak Park led 48-43 with eight minutes to play then erupted in the fourth quarter, scoring 16 less points in that frame than the prior three combined to win 80-58. Down the stretch, the Northmen showed their fire power, slamming down five dunks in the final five minutes.
Oak Park’s Winston Allen scored a game-high 28 points on an efficient 12-of-19 shooting while his brother, Corbin Allen, had 18 points and 10 rebounds to outlast the Bell brothers. Kendrick Bell scored 15 points as the Trojan twins were the only Park Hill players to score in double figures.
Park Hill ended the season with its most wins since 2018, which was the late time it won a district title, finishing with an identical record as this year. Marqueas Bell wrapped up his high school career with 1,236 total points after helping the Trojans average more than 65 points per game each of the last three years as he will continue his basketball career at Southeast Missouri State University.
Kendrick Bell and Ty Schreck also played their last games at Park Hill after being starters the last two years. Kendrick Bell led the team in 3-point shooting this year with 43.9 percent and Schreck led the Trojans in assists this year after being second on the team in his junior campaign.
Ben Jones, Dario Peto and Howard were the other three seniors as Schaag and Tonye-Nyemeck will bring back the most experience next year. Howard is a transfer from Savannah High School and led Park Hill in field goal percentage with 54.8 percent.