Even after countless hours of preparation in the gym sometimes a high school basketball game just comes down to the best player on the floor.
On Friday night at Azusa Pacific University in the CIF Southern Section Boys’ Basketball Division 2AA championship game, it just came down to St. Anthony senior Quincy Phillips.
Throughout a disjointed title tilt between St. Anthony and Rolling Hills Prep it was Phillips who took over at the most opportune times and carried his team to a 48-42 victory.
“This feels amazing, this is what I dreamed of as a freshman and to finally accomplish that goal means a lot to me,” said Phillips, who scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds while playing 32 minutes.
“He’s built for the moment mentally, physically and spiritually,” said St. Anthony coach Alan Mitchell of Phillips. “He’s been locked in and we follow him, me included. He just accepts that.”
This is the second CIF championship in program history. The first title was in 2000 when the St. Anthony girls’ team also won a championship.
“This Saints nation, we’re a small little school with 500 people but we stick together, we show up and we show out,” said Mitchell. “Purple reign.”
When Rolling Hills Prep came back to make it a two-point game with three minutes to play, Phillips went coast-to-coast for an And-1 finish. Then with a minute left he drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it a six-point lead.
“(Phillips) hit me with the, ‘Coach, I’ve got it, we’re good,’ and I ask (the players) to trust me so I’ve got to trust them,” said Mitchell. “I trusted him, and he was ready for the moment. And he stepped up on defense and took (best Rolling Hills guard Mateo Trujillo) at the end of the game.”
Phillips went 7/12 from the floor and wasn’t just working for his own down the stretch.
“I saw the lanes were open because they were helping too much, so I just trusted my teammates to make the shots,” said Phillips.
Fellow captain JoJo Wicker stepped up to close the game out alongside Phillips. He got to the free throw line in the final two minutes, and wowed the crowd with a spinning left-handed layup to make it 43-39 with 1:15 left. On the next offensive possession, he was the one to find Phillips at the top of the key for his 3-pointer.
“That’s my guy,” said Phillips of Wicker. “We work out together and I trust him, we practice those shots every day.”
“We are the two leaders on the team, we’ve got each other’s back and we know what we can do,” said Wicker of Phillips. “This group is really special. We’re all together and that’s what helped us win.”
It was Phillips and Wicker who gave St. Anthony an early lead it wouldn’t relinquish. Wicker found Phillips for three to open the scoring, and on the next Phillips went strong to the basket for a layup. Phillips then found Wicker for three and the lead was 12-2 just four minutes into the game.
The Saints led 17-9 headed to the second quarter where both offenses struggled. It took five minutes for the teams to score a combined six points, and they only mustered 12 total in the quarter as St. Anthony went into halftime up 23-15.
Guard Darius Williams was strong for the Saints in the third quarter as their lead reached 12 points, and a Santos Cordero 3-pointer just before the buzzer made it 37-26 St. Anthony headed to the fourth.
That’s when Rolling Hills Prep’s Kawika Suter came alive to pull his team back into the game with a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds. Guard Mateo Trujillo (16 points) also hit some clutch jumpers late to make it a one-possession game, but that’s as close as the Huskies got.
“Our foundation is God and defense,” said Mitchell. “Then you put some unity behind it… once we got settled in, that defensive pressure we were able to apply, beating them to spots, you could see it affected them.”
St. Anthony limited Rolling Hills Prep to just five points in the last two minutes. The Huskies shot 17/52 (32.7%) from the field and 3/16 (18.8%) from 3-point range.
“It’s resilience and composure,” said Mitchell of his team’s ability to stay calm in the big moments. “Everybody on the same page tonight, even Quintin Phillips (Quincy’s little brother) it was his best game on (clipboard).”
The history of also winning right after the St. Anthony girls’ team also won wasn’t lost on Phillips.
“Once we woke up today we said, ‘It’s time to make history.’”
St. Anthony will start the CIF State tournament this week.
