Hawks tumble to Canton, 58-41
LONGVIEW, Texas — The thing about Goliath is that he almost always won.
Facing a team with three big men and two natural-born outside shooters when they had either of each, the Pleasant Grove Hawks did their best David and stayed within a slingshot toss of Canton before falling, 58-41 Tuesday night at Spring Hill High School.
Facing the champions of District 14-4A, PG’s plan was simple: Keep star junior Garrett Walker, the heart of the Eagle offense, in check and battle like crazy under the boards. In the early going, it worked.
Though Canton started three players 6-feet-5 or taller, PG was outrebounded, 41-23, but had more blocked shots and steals.
With Torion Phillips, Justin Casteel or Jaylen Boardley in his face, Walker, who has one of the sweetest shooting motions since Larry Bird, missed his first three shots and wound up dropping in just seven points in the first half.
With no natural shooter of their own, the Hawks were forced to work the ball inside against Canton’s big men, an endeavor that often looked like tilting at windmills. PG frequently was limited to one shot in the paint. Instead, the Hawks went to the fast break, frequently outracing the Eagles to the bucket to stay in the contest.
Much of the damage was done by Phillips, who led all scorers with 23 points while drawing five fouls while physically contesting Canton’s bigs. Ben Bricker added eight points, almost all of those while muscling his way through the a gauntlet of wide bodies, long arms and massive hands.
“Torion played a whale of a game offensively,” said PG coach Craig Collvins. “The team played hard all night. They never gave up.”
Canton’s crowd, which arrived expecting an easy game against the Hawks, who finished fourth in District 15-4A, was apoplectic until Canton coach Justin Burk unleashed one more weapon, a lethal sixth man.
Kaden Smith entered the game with the Eagles clinging to a three-point lead midway through the second stanza.
Smith promptly hit four 3-pointers to spark an 18-10 run that had the Eagles up, 30-16, at the half.
Smith wound up leading the Eagles with 18 points. Walker never did find his game and finished with 12.
The Eagles, improving to 31-7, opened a 19-point lead in the third quarter, but PG finished strong, outscoring Canton 18-16 in the final quarter and closed to within 10 before the Eagles finished by hitting 4-of-5 from the charity stripe.
“We had to go to a fullcourt press at the end and got some benefits from it,” said Collvins. “That’s a tribute to the culture of this team. Our seniors, Nick Jefferson, Drew Glover, Ben Bricker, Ethan Bobo and Bret Spivey, set the tone every day,” he said. “We put a lot on juniors like Jaylen Boardley and Torion Phillips and they responded, too.
“It’s a shame that they were one-and-done in the playoffs, because they sure belonged here.”