Phantoms Keep the Winning Going
The Phoebus Phantoms capped an undefeated run through the Maury Spring League with a Championship victory on Wednesday night in Norfolk over their city of Hampton rival, the Bethel Bruins, by a count of 45-42.
Phoebus used an 8-0 run over the final four minutes to turn what was a deficit most of the game into a win that completed a perfect 12-0 mark in the league. It marked the third triumph over Bethel in the Maury Spring League for the Phantoms, who also beat the Bruins 49-48 back on May 4 and 44-41 on June 1.
Class of 2018 guard Antwan Miles, who already holds an offer from Howard University, led the way for Phoebus with 12 points, including a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe. Miles scored 10 of his points in the second half and finished 3-of-5 from the field.
Foul shooting was definitely a difference in the outcome. Bethel missed the front-end of one-and-one opportunities twice in the last two minutes that would've tied the contest each time. While the Bruins went just 2-of-6 at the foul line, Phoebus made 16-of-17 free-throws, which helped them overcome an uncharacteristically poor perimeter shooting outing.
Far different from the Phantoms' Championship at the Boo Williams Team Camp, where they scorched the nets on long-range shots, they were 1-of-13 from three-point territory against Bethel. That lone make came courtesy of reserve guard Akeen Hicks.
A three-pointer from Class of 2017 guard Cam Bacote - a D-1 prospect and younger brother of former ODU standout Aaron Bacote - gave Bethel a 42-37 advantage with 4:13 remaining. But the Bruins didn't score again after the basket.
Bacote, who has performed well this off-season for both Bethel and Team Loaded's AAU program, was in a great rhythm much of the game and ended up scoring 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting, 4-for-7 from three-point range. He also had three assists.
In the semifinals, Bacote also shined with 23 points, 20 in the second half, in a 61-58 comeback win in overtime over host Maury.
Six-foot-11 center and Providence commit Dajour Dickens had seven points, nine rebounds and three blocks for the Bruins in their latest narrow loss to Phoebus. Dickens was 3-of-5 from the field and slammed home the game's lone dunk.
To complement Miles, the Phantoms saw a total of eight different players score. His cousin, Caleb Miles, scored seven points as did Michael Cunningham - a Second Team All-Underclass 3A selection this past season at Park View (South Hill) - and Hicks. Jeremiah Todd chipped in six points and six boards.
It was the third straight rally in as many days for Phoebus, who edged Maury in overtime on Monday before tournament play and used 14 points from Todd to hold off Tallwood 51-48 in Tuesday's semifinals.
Matthew Hatfield serves as State Basketball Analyst for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network, and is a staff writer for Tar Heel Illustrated. Check out Hatfield’s Twitter page for more sports related updates, and you can also read his work in the Suffolk News Herald. To contact Matthew, please e-mail hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and don’t forget to listen to him every Saturday at 10 AM on ESPN Radio 94.1, plus watch him on the Cox 11 Sports Report.