Amari Edwards, Phillips win state

CHAMPAIGN — A highly ranked St. Petersburg team whose last two seasons have been full of highly ranked college prospects. Spending time as a member of Rita’s team, Amari Edwards He dreamed of winning the state championship.

St. With Rita, this never happened to her. But Edwards, who played a key role on the biggest stage on Saturday afternoon, helped his new school, Phillips, get to the top of the mountain.

“I expected to be here with St. Rita, but it changed,” Edwards said. “In this team, St. I feel like I have a bigger role than Rita. “It was a blessing and now I am a state champion.”

He definitely is. Edwards scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half, leading the Wildcats to a 54-47 victory over Benton in the Class 2A state championship game at State Farm Center.

E.J. Horton And Phoenix Children They each led Phillips (25-9) with 13 points and 7 rebounds. Elijah Harris added nine points Claude Mpouma He contributed with 7 points and 6 rebounds.

This is Phillips’ second state championship in program history, following the Class AA title in 1975.

“I feel like we have it all,” Edwards said. “We have one of the best backcourts in the state with me and EJ, and we have Claude, who is one of the best big men and he’s just a sophomore.

“We have a great wing in Phoenix. We have top brass. We just have everything.”

Isaac Billington scored 19 points for Benton (32-4).

According to the coach, Edwards’ return to St. His rise from role player at Rita to star in his first season at Phillips was emblematic of the Wildcats team. Paris Martini.

Horton and Mpouma were also transferred from out of state.

“I think kids just need the opportunity to play,” Martin said. “I inherited all these guys from coaches and programs that didn’t believe in their abilities and skills. “I did my best to bring them all together, make them bond like family, and now we have the state title.”

Edwards thought the Wildcats were a team of under-the-radar players with something to prove.

“We all had a burden on our shoulders,” Edwards said. “We felt like the underdogs. Being in a tough conference in Chicago prepared us for the long run, and that burden on all of our shoulders was good for us.”

Benton went on a 6-0 run midway through the third quarter on Saturday to pull into a 34-34 tie before Edwards’ 3-point play gave Phillips the decisive lead.

Edwards missed 6 of 7 shots in the first half and left the game at the end of the half.

“I felt like I was rushing a bit in the first half,” he said. “I had to come back to my senses in the second half. Knowing that I was a balanced point guard, I had to get back to that, make plays for my teammates, attack, get to the basket and just be myself.”

According to Edwards, the belief that simply being oneself is enough to be successful is something that has developed over the past year.

“This comes from working hard every day and every night,” Edwards said. “Without this you cannot have trust, and without trust you are nothing.

“I feel like this hard work has really prepared me and made me more confident.”

Phillips opened the fourth with an 8-0 run and took the lead 45-36. This ended with a dazzling dunk by Horton, who missed a dunk earlier in the game and received a technical foul for hanging on the basket.

“It was a two-on-one game and Phoenix swung the ball at me,” Horton said. “I saw that he was hesitant and I said, ‘I’m going to stand up to him.’

“I was talking before the game, saying I was going to try to dunk on them. I had the opportunity and it worked.”

This put an exclamation point on a historic day for the Wildcats. With three juniors and a sophomore in the starting lineup, this could be just the start for Phillips.

“We want to go back-to-back,” Edwards said.