For the fourth time since 2018, the Park Hill South boys’ basketball team (7-2) came away with a top-3 finish in the William Jewell Holiday Classic on Dec. 30.
Being in the Nelson Division, the Panthers finished in third place when they defeated Ruskin (5-5) 65-56. Park Hill South never trailed in the game and led by as much as 24 points, which occurred at the 2:19 mark of the third quarter.
The Panthers forced 18 Eagles turnovers – resulting in 14 fast break points – as both teams scored exactly 24 points in the paint. Cahmai Crosby finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists while Brayden Parra had 15 points when he knocked down five of his six 3-point attempts.
Park Hill South opened the tournament with a 64-49 victory over Kearney (3-7) on Dec. 27. Crosby shot 50 percent from the field when he scored a team-high 17 points on the night.
The Panthers’ 5-game winning streak was snapped in the next round when they came up short 72-53 to Pembroke Hill (6-2) on Dec. 29. Park Hill South was outscored in each of the first three quarters, starting the contest with a 20-10 deficit after the opening eight minutes.
The Raiders pushed the lead to 34-18 at the break and 54-34 at the end of the third quarter before being up by 24 points with 3:31 left in regulation. The Panthers narrowly outscored the Raiders 19-18 in the fourth quarter.
Mike Collins and Crosby both scored 13 points in the contest, while Jaylen Lockhart had nine points. Crosby was the only Panther to be on the Nelson Division All-Tournament team when the senior averaged 15.3 points, four rebounds and 2.6 assists while shooting 18-for-31 from the field and 8-of-11 from the charity stripe.