The Park Hill South boys’ basketball team went on the road and beat arch rival Park Hill in the Class 6 District 16 semifinal on Tuesday, March 2.
With the win the No. 3 seeded Panthers will visit No. 1 seed Staley on Friday, March 5, to play for the district championship. The Panthers last loss came against the Falcons 47-43 on Feb. 5. South came back a week later to beat Staley 49-43 on Feb. 12. In the only regular season meeting between the two teams South lost to Park Hill 69-52 on Jan. 27.
Park Hill South junior Miles Fant floated a shot over Park Hill’s Christian Bradford in the Class 6 District 16 semifinal game.
South head coach Daniel Parra said after the game that his team will have to play close to perfect to beat Staley in a third match-up.
“You got to do everything right to beat them,” Parra said. “You can’t give them extra possessions. You’ve got to be smart with the basketball and handle their pressure. It’s tough, but we’ll game plan tomorrow and be ready.”
The Panthers controlled the game from the opening tip to the final whistle in the 65-53 win Tuesday night. South jumped out to a 7-1 lead and led by as much as eight points in the period before the Trojans went on a run to cut the lead to 14-10 towards the end of the first period.
With 11 seconds left in the period Park Hill senior Anthony Hall hit a pair of free throws to cut South’s lead to just two points; but South answered with an off balance three-point shot from junior Messias Dockery to lead 17-12 heading to the second quarter.
The Panthers led by as much as 11 points in the second period before Park Hill chipped away in the final three minutes of the first half. The Trojans trailed 31-25 at the break.
The Trojans came out hot in the third quarter and cut the Panthers’ lead to 33-31 with just under a minute gone by in the period. South got a quick answer from Dockery that was followed by a three-point shot from sophomore Cahmai Crosby and the Panthers were back to a three-possession lead.
South led by as much as 13 points in the fourth quarter before the Trojans whittled away at the lead. With 2:14 left in the game Park Hill senior Nyk Bryant hit a pair of free throws to cut South’s lead to 55-50.
Park Hill had many sloppy turnovers that led to easy points or fouls. In the fourth quarter alone South went to the free throw line 21 times and connected on 13 shots. Parra said his team’s game plan was to keep the Trojans out of the paint and make them shoot from the outside. One big change Parra made was to move to a zone defense in the second half that seemed to work.
“We didn’t play zone at all the first time we played them,” Parra said. “We went zone the second half and this time we took care of the ball a little better than we did the first time.”
South also got into foul trouble early in the first half which carried over into the second half. One of the Panthers’ best scorers, Miles Fant, sat on the bench for several minutes watching the game. Parra said for his team to hold steady was impressive.
“Everybody contributed and we won with our best scorer not playing the second half,” Parra said. “That’s huge.”
Dockery and Crosby tied for the team lead with 14 points each for South including three three-point shots for Crosby. Roberts had 13 points followed by Miles Fant who had nine points. Dylan Hufft had eight points and Terrius Walker added five points.
Bryant led the Trojans with 16 points followed by Marqueas Bell who had 14 points including three three-point baskets and Christian Bradford had 13 points.