Phil Campbell rolls over Tharptown
J.R. Tidwell/FCT Phil Campbell’s Cameron Harris (23) guards an in-bound by Tharptown’s Joe Louallen.
Phil Campbell and Tharptown both sent their boy’s varsity basketball teams to the Hatton Christmas Tournament.
As luck would have it, those teams were forced to play each other Thursday night.
“We don’t need to get caught up in who we’re playing, it’s how we’re playing,” Phil Campbell head coach Will Copeland said.
Phil Campbell seemed to have a good lead throughout the contest, cruising to a 75-56 win.
The Bobcats rolled to an early lead, with a 26-12 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Tharptown had narrowed the gap to 13 points by the end of the second, with Phil Campbell up 37-24.
The Bobcats began to pull away in the second half by draining outside shots and being stingy about allowing open lanes to the basket for the Wildcats.
“We are still without a couple of players, and there wasn’t much we could do against them,” Tharptown head coach Jonathan Odom said.
The Wildcats had difficulty getting shots to drop in the third, allowing Phil Campbell to pull out to a 59-37 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Both teams picked up the pace on offense, with the Bobcats content to set up and shoot from behind the arc for a while before going back to driving in the paint.
“That’s their style,” Odom said. “They like shooting outside shots, and when they’re on nobody can beat them.”
Phil Campbell was finding open looks, but Tharptown began to work the paint as well.
“We couldn’t guard them,” Copeland said, “They played a little zone, and with our offense we got some looks.”
The Bobcats were up by 20 midway through the fourth, and Tharptown was unable to chip away at the lead because it was losing the rebound battle on defense.
Phil Campbell kept up the pace until the final buzzer sounded, giving the Bobcats the win over their in-county opponent.
Skeeter Benford led the Bobcats in points with 20, while Ben Stancil totaled 14. Cameron Harris, Chase Swinney and Colton Vickery each had 10 points, with Jeremy Reed adding 9 and Jamie Dorroh contributing 2.
Benford and Stancil also had four 3-pointes each, while Harris and Swinney racked up two apiece.
“We have to concentrate on getting ready for the county tournament now,” Copeland said.
Nick Long led the Wildcats in scoring with 14, with Kent Allen and Riley Nolan picking up 12 points each. Hayden Fleming also hit double-digits with 10 points.
