Philip Simmons Rallies To Defeat High Point Academy 50-46 To Win Class AA Boys Basketball Title
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Columbia—After the High Point Academy Grizzlies (28-3) built a 17-10 first quarter lead over Philip Simmons, in the AA boys basketball title game, on the strength of consecutive three- point shots by Joc Miller, some March, 5th observers on hand at the USC Colonial Life Arena were thinking it just might be the Grizzles day.
After all, the Grizzles came into the title game averaging 71 points a game, so if their first quarter scoring pace had continued, they would have finished the game victorious with 68 points. On the other hand, Philip Simmons came into the finals averaging 58.9 points a game, so being held to just 10 points in the first period would have been a bad trend ending up with 40 points which might have led to a loss.
In the end, the game trended more Philip Simmons way as the Iron Horses rallied for a 50-46 win. It was the first boys’ basketball championship in the 9- year history of the school located in Berkeley County.
Philip Simmons head coach Garrett Campbell talked with the HSSR after the game. “Our plan was to take away the paint from them,” said Coach Garrett. “Their strength was number one scoring around the rim. Our plan was to pack it in and make them shoot from the outside. Our guys did a great job of sticking with game plan and following through.
Coach Campbell praised the play of top senior scorers Hopper Afman and Dylan Morris. “Both of them are elite shooters, and their percentage is in the high 30’s on three- point shots,” said Coach Campbell. “They are also very good senior leaders on the team.”
What were the adjustments at the half up by two points? “Our focus was to stop turning the ball over because that was the reason we got down early in the game,” said Coach Campbell. “Coming down on two feet, making good passes, boxing out, and staying under control were some things we stressed to the team at halftime.
“They pressed us three different ways,” said Coach Campbell. “They used a man, a 1-2-2, and a 1-3-1 and we did a really good job against all of them. I felt like we did a good job of handling the press all game.”
In conclusion, who was the step-up player for the Iron Horses? “Well, number five is our guy, Afman Hopper,” said Coach Campbell. “He’s an all-state player and he is our leader. He has had multiple 20-point games in the playoffs. Wherever we go, he takes us.”
High Point Academy head coach Lee Sartor, known for being the head coach of Zion Williamson at Spartanburg Day a few years ago, shared his feelings after the tough loss. “Everybody plays us zone defense, and we knew that coming into the game,” said Coach Sarter. “Give them credit. They wanted a half-court game and we just kind of played into that. We didn’t make shots when we needed to and we didn’t push the ball when we needed to.
Coach Sartor was not pleased with the difference in total fouls called on each team. His team had 19 fouls called on them resulting in 11 points for Philip Simmons while his team scored six points off of the 10 fouls called on the Iron Horses. “I just feel like you need to make calls both ways and at times I didn’t think that was the case,” said Coach Sartor.
“I think at times in the game we were afraid to penetrate gaps in their zone defense and I do not know why this was the case,” said Coach Sartor.” To their credit when we did get the ball inside, they did a good job of covering us and again were there some fouls missed on the inside tonight? Regardless, we need to be able to play that contact.”
Coch Sartor is very high on the potential next level opportunity of his 6-7 junior big man J’Sean Sanders. “He has a chance to be a major college basketball player if he continues to work hard,” said Coach Sartor. “The biggest thing with him, and lot of our players, is preparation. You are going to play like you practice so it is important to play the game as much as you can.
“The road to getting here wasn’t easy,” said Coach Sartor. “In every playoff game it seemed like a different player stepped up for us and that is the mark of a good team. However, in this game things didn’t go our way at crucial times. I am proud of our effort and the fact that we have played for a state championship back-to-back. Our goal in the near future is to win one.:
The Iron Horses won the second period 20-11 to take a 30-28 lead at the half. In the second period senior Hopper Afman hit the first three-point swish for Philip Simmons at the 6:50 mark and then senior teammate Dylan Morris hit consecutive moon shots cutting the deficit to 25-19 with 3:58 left in the first half. Then big man Jack Mevold scored in the paint to make the score 25-21. Next Morris bombed another three to cut the deficit to 25-24 and High Point called time-out to slow down the Iron Horse rally. By the half, Philip Simmons was up two points.
After the first quarter, Philip Simmons played a very tight zone defense which limited High Point Academy’s big men from getting easy baskets in the paint.
At the half, Morris was the top scorer for Philip Simmons with 11 points while Miller led the Grizzles with 10 points.
The third period was a defensive battle with High Point Academy outscoring Philip Simmons 10-7 to take a narrow 38-37 lead into the final period. Afman scored a bucket at the 7:45 mark to put the Iron Horses up 39-38. Chris Copeland answered with a put-back basket to give the Grizzles a 40-39 lead with 7:10 left in the contest.
Around this time, High Point Academy 6-7 big man J’Sean Sanders was called for his 4th foul, and he went to the bench for nearly three minutes. While he was out, Philip Simmons had success driving to the basket and they led 44-41 with 1:56 left in the game. With three minutes left in the game Sanders returned to the Iron Horse line-up and he soon was whistled for what appeared to be his 5th foul. However, High Point head coach Lee Sartor asked the person keeping the official book at the game if he had Sanders down for five fouls and he said, “only four.” Sanders was allowed to stay in the game and several Philip Simmons fans started touting Sanders, and Sanders actually gestured back to them (right or wrong).
So, when Sanders picked up his true 5th foul with 1:33 left, it sent Morris to the line with Philip Simmons up 44-41 on a driving lay-up by Hopper. With 1:32 left, Morris made both free throws to give his team a 46-41 lead.
Miller then hit a three-point shot with 1:07 left to cut the deficit to 46-44. Palmer Driggers went to the foul line for the Iron Horses with 1:01 left and he converted one free throw to make the score 47-44. With 43.6 to go Travis Freeman of High Point converted two free throws to cut the deficit to 47-46. In the final 43.6 seconds of the game Philip Simmons got two free throws from Driggers with 16 seconds left to go up 49-46 and then with 2.8 seconds left Hopper got the last point of the game making one-of- two free throws.
For the game, Philip Simmons was led on the scoring index by Hopper (15 pts, 7 rebounds, 2 steals) along with Morris (13 pts, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, & 4 assists). Junior forward Jack Mevold added 9 points for the Iron Horses followed by Gavin Johnson (6 pts & 8 rebounds), Alex Tchoryk (4 pts), and Driggers rounded out the scoring with three points.
High Point was led in scoring by Miller, a senior, with 15 points and five rebounds. Sanders, a junior, had 14 points and 9 rebounds. Seniors Deylin Whitaker and Chris Copeland each scored seven points for the Grizzles. Copeland also had a team high 12 rebounds. Breylin Pertell and Travis Freeman rounded out their team’s point totals with two- and one-point contributions.
In just 9 years of existence Philip Simmons has now won 19 state titles in various sports which is quite an accomplishment over a short period of time.
