With a great home crowd behind them throughout their CIF Southern Section Division 2AA boys’ basketball quarterfinal on Tuesday the St. Anthony Saints played their best when it mattered most.
Campbell Hall led by as many as 10 points but St. Anthony had three players step up in three clutch moments to lead the comeback and help earn the Saints a 91-86 win.
Senior Quincy Phillips got to the free throw line in the second quarter to keep St. Anthony in the game, Mickey Cortez made four of his six 3-pointers in the third quarter to give the Saints a lead, and then Joseph Wicker took over down the stretch with 11 points in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
“You just have to sacrifice your body,” Wicker said of performing in the clutch. “It could’ve been the last game for our seniors and we don’t want to let them go.”
Phillips scored a game-high 22 points and Cortez chipped in 20 points. Aman Haynes scored 11 of his 19 points in the first quarter and Wicker finished with 14 points.
St. Anthony coach Alan Mitchell was visibly emotional after the game while accepting congratulations from Saints fans.
“I lost my dad (this year) but when we played Long Beach Jordan in the spring league he said, ‘Man, you’ve got a team that can win it all,’ and he saw that in the spring,” Mitchell said. “These boys love me and I’ve wanted to earn their respect and show them that I love them. A lot of these boys haven’t been believed in on and off the court. I just thank God for blessing me to be in their life and serve.”
St. Anthony started the game cold from 3-point range so the Saints fed Haynes in the paint to take a 17-13 lead. Campbell Hall senior Aaron Powell sparked an 8-0 run, including a buzzer-beating dunk, to give his team a 21-17 lead headed to the second quarter. Powell scored a team-high 20 points.
Campbell Hall used aggressive defense to take a 35-25 lead, but Phillips used his own aggressiveness to get to the free throw line and score nine points in the second quarter.
“My mindset was to take control of the game,” Phillips said. “I saw the lanes open up because they were hard hedging and hard helping, so I just waited patiently for the gaps to open.”
“That’s our leader,” Mitchell said of Phillips. “As our leader, when his teammates hold him accountable, he accepts it. So when he gets going and does his job like that, they jump behind him.”
However, another buzzer beater from Isaiah Johnson gave Campbell Hall a 42-35 halftime lead.
When St. Anthony came out for the second half it was clear the Saints wanted to feed Cortez behind the arc.
“I had that competitive mindset that I have the green light,” Cortez said. “Everybody on the team was telling me, ‘Mikey you’ve got to shoot that ball, you’re the only one making it,’ I was a little passive (in the first half).”
Cortez was anything but passive in the third quarter while making 3-pointers off assists from Phillips, Justin Blair and Darius Williams. Phillips had a game-high six assists. The resulting 9-0 run tied the game 52-52 in the middle of the third.
“He tore his ACL last year,” Mitchell said of Cortez. “Two years ago when I got the job, he got called upon in the CIF State playoffs and gave us 10 points. So last year was supposed to be his year. But he came back, worked hard and that boy has been ready.”
Every made 3-pointer from Cortez got the crowd louder, particularly the large contingent of Cortez’ family and friends.
“We’re Filipino, we always run deep,” Cortez said. “Especially now in the playoffs, they just start to multiply. I just love my family and I couldn’t be more grateful.”
The game stayed tight throughout the fourth quarter and it was 82-82 with 1:30 left to play when Phillips fed Wicker for an open 3-pointer and the lead.
“The game opened up for me, especially from (Phillips) when they were all focusing on him,” Wicker said. “ knew if I popped out I would be wide open and I could knock them down.”
Wicker came up with a massive blocked shot at the other end, and then converted a floater in the lane as the shot clock expired with a minute of the clock to effectively put the game away.
“He’s accepted every single challenge I’ve thrown at him, and I’m not easy on him,” Mitchell said of Wicker.
St. Anthony will visit Heritage Christian for the semifinals on Friday. This is the second CIF-SS seminal appearance in the three years under Mitchell.
