High school basketball: No. 17 Sidwell Friends defeats No. 19 Wheeler 57-54 to capture State Champions Invitational

In a thrilling back-and-forth contest, No. 17 Sidwell Friends (Washington, D.C.) uses a late surge to knock off No. 19 Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.) 57-54 to capture the State Champions Invitational title.

Three-star junior Caleb Williams led the way with a game-high 24 points to go along with four steals, while Lehigh commit Cam Gillus chipped in 15 points, seven rebounds and four steals in the win.

After a slow start that saw Wheeler fall behind 15-2 midway through the first quarter, the Wildcats quickly bounced back and finished the first period on a 11-3 spurt to cut the deficit to 18-13.

After Sidwell Friends scored the first five points of the second quarter to extend its advantage back to double-digits at 23-13, Wheeler again responded strong with a 15-4 run to end the first half with a one-point deficit at 28-27.

Wheeler continued its momentum into the third quarter, closing out the period on a 5-1 run sparked by a pair of baskets from junior Ricky Mckenzie to grab a 47-40 lead.

Sidwell Friends (29-4) flipped the script in the fourth quarter, opening the quarter on a 13-2 run to take a 53-49 lead with 3:10 remaining in the contest.

Sophomore Acaden Lewis kicked off the run with a mid-range jumper, followed by a layup from Gillus. After a layup on the other end from Iowa State signee Jelani Hamilton, Williams converted a layup prior to a pair of made free throws from Gillus to cut the deficit to 49-48. Williams then knocked down a mid-range jumper before nailing a 3-pointer from the left corner to extend the Sidwell Friends advantage to 53-49.

After junior Josh Hill converted on one of two free throws to cut the deficit to 53-50, Sidwell Friends had another answer on the other end as senior Chris Russell grabbed a rebound off his teammates miss and converted a layup with 1:30 remaining.

Senior Damion Mitchell knocked down a pair of free throws before converting a layup to cut the deficit to 55-54 with 30 seconds remaining.

With just three fouls in the half, the Wildcats had to quickly foul four times to put Sidwell Friends at the free throw line to extend the game. However, their game management down the stretch was poor as it took approximately 20 seconds to commit four fouls before senior Arinze Achufusi calmly swished a pair of free throws to give the Quakers a 3-point advantage with 10 seconds remaining.

Wheeler (27-7) was unable to score on the other end as Sidwell Friends escaped with the closely contested victory.

Hamilton finished with a team-high 20 points, six rebounds and four assists on 6-of-7 from the field and 4-of-5 from 3-point range.