The Phillips Wildcats entered their tilt with the Brooks Eagles with three consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with four. Phillips enjoyed a cozy 73-59 victory over Brooks on Thursday. Given Phillips' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 92nd, while Brooks is ranked 500th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Phillips was led to victory by Lawrence Horton and Amari Edwards. Horton scored 16 points along with seven rebounds and four steals, while Edwards scored 26 points along with four steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Edwards has scored all season. Jeremiah Benjamin was another key contributor, scoring ten points along with two steals.
Brooks lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Jacob Johnson, who scored 15 points along with eight rebounds. That's the first time this season that Johnson scored 15 or more points. The team also got some help courtesy of Kendall Shepard, who went 6 for 7 from beyond the arc en route to 18 points and 2 assists.
Phillips has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 14-8 record this season. As for Brooks, they are on a ten-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 2-21.
Phillips will head out on the road to challenge Lake Forest Academy at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Lake Forest Academy is coming into the contest on a five-game losing streak. As for Brooks, they will face off against Perspectives-IIT/Joslin at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
