CHAMBERSBURG, Pa.- The Phoenix men's hoops team wrapped up their regular season at home today against the CSAC leading Highlanders of Cairn University. Wilson (14-11, 9-3 CSAC) defeated the Highlanders (17-8, 10-2 CSAC) 89-81, in front of a capacity crowd. With the win, the Phoenix clinched home court advantage for the first-round of the CSAC Playoffs beginning on Wednesday. The victory also came on Senior Day, as the team celebrated its two seniors,
Keion Adams (Gaithersburg, Md., Seneca Valley) and
Ian Frazier (Palmyra, Pa., Palmyra).
How It Happened: The Highlanders came out of the gates and quickly took a 7-2 lead to take some early momentum. The Phoenix responded nicely with a 9-2 run and taking an 11-9 lead. Cairn answered with a free throw but the Phoenix began another scoring stretch, preceding to go on an 8-0 run with 4 points coming from freshman
Adrian Thomas (Germantown, Md., Northwest HS) and 4 points from sophomore
Ian Hess (Orlando, Fla., Lyman).
Cairn was able to get right back into the game however, bringing the score to 23-21 in favor of the Phoenix. With six and a half minutes left in the half, Wilson began to stretch their lead out, taking a 12-point lead with three minutes left. The Phoenix held on to their double-digit lead for the rest of the half and took a 40-30 advantage into the locker room.
The second half of play began with Wilson taking a 14-point lead. The two conference opponents spent the next six minutes trading buckets until the 12:31 mark, when Cairn hit a three-pointer to get back within 7 points. Just three minutes later the Highlanders found themselves trailing just 61-58, carrying some big momentum into the final ten minutes of play. With 8 minutes left and the score sitting at 63-58, the Highlanders leading scorer, Jeremiah Harris fouled out of the game, which proved to be a big turning point in the contest. The Phoenix took advantage of the Highlanders misfortune by going on a 9-0 run and stretching their lead to 13.
Once again the Highlanders scrapped their way back into the game cutting the Phoenix lead to just two at the 2:26 mark. Wilson regained composure, and took an 8-point lead with one minute left in the game as Cairn began to foul with time running out. The Phoenix knocked down a couple free throws down the stretch to seal a huge 89-81 victory.
Inside the Box Score: The team shot 38% from the field in the game while shooting just 22% from three. The Phoenix also shot 70% from the foul line, going 24-34 for the game.
Keion Adams had a monster Senior Day, finishing with 27 points and 10 rebounds.
Ian Frazier also had a solid game with 16 points, shooting 10-12 from the foul line.
Rashaan Bean (San Antonio, Texas, Forest Park) and
Adrian Thomas also finished in double-figures, with Bean scoring 14 points and Thomas adding 10 to go along with 8 rebounds.
Up Next: The Phoenix will host Rosemont College (13-12, 8-4 CSAC) this Wednesday, February 20 at 7:00 p.m.
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