The Brooks Eagles's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Thursday after their tenth straight loss. They took a hard 73-59 fall against Phillips. While losing is never fun, Brooks can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 500th, while Phillips is ranked 92nd).
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.
Even though they lost, Brooks were working as a unit and finished the game with 13 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Leading Phillips to victory were 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. Horton is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last six games he's played. Jeremiah Benjamin was another key contributor, scoring ten points along with two steals.
Brooks has been struggling recently, as they've lost 11 of their last 12 contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 2-21 record this season. As for Phillips, the victory was the fourth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 14-8.
Brooks will square off against Perspectives-IIT/Joslin at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Perspectives-IIT/Joslin is hoping to put an end to a three-game streak of away losses. As for Phillips, they will head out on the road to take on Lake Forest Academy at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Lake Forest Academy is coming into the contest on a five-game losing streak.
