Even though he played in all 25 of his team’s games last season, Kyle Phipps toiled unnoticed at Hillsboro, averaging less than five points per game as the Hawks finished 10-15.
The storyline has changed dramatically for Phipps and his team. The 5-8 senior guard has blossomed into one of the most prolific scorers in the St. Louis area, averaging 21 points per outing. He scored 22 as Hillsboro crushed Fox 80-43 on Friday in Arnold to improve to 14-5 on the season.
Junior Noah Holland added 19 points for the Hawks, to go along with seven steals and four assists. Sophomore Luka Pool had 16 points and seven assists and 6-6 junior Kieren Jones yanked down a dozen rebounds and blocked three shots. Hillsboro sank 10 of 15 attempts from 3-point range.
“To be honest, I really mismanaged (Phipps) last year,” said Hillsboro head coach Dan Johnson, the longest-tenured boys head basketball coach in Jefferson County at 12 years and counting. “I should have gotten him a lot more minutes. During our exit meeting after last season, I told him, ‘We’re going to give you the keys, you be the guy and drive it.’”
Phipps took the steering wheel Friday, although the Hawks started sluggishly as the undermanned Warriors jumped in front 11-5. Phipps got his first bucket with 3:28 left in the first quarter. Then he drained three from long range, boosting the Hawks to a 24-15 advantage.
Phipps let Pool and Holland take over the scoring duties in the second quarter. After Fox closed the gap to 27-20 on a traditional 3-point play by 6-4 freshman Ethan Mazzola, Pool and Holland each sank a pair of treys and Holland drove the lane for another basket to cap a 14-0 run for the Hawks.
Senior Brendan Moss tried to rally the Warriors, banking in a 3-ball, and sophomore Kyle Gast added a 3-point play inside to cut the Hillsboro lead to 41-25. But an 8-3 run by the Hawks gave them an insurmountable 49-28 advantage at halftime.
Two quick baskets by Gast to start the third quarter made it 49-32, and Johnson called timeout to get his squad back on focus. The Hawks closed out the quarter with a 25-2 run for a 74-34 lead. “We’ve got a really good balance at the top, with Holland, Jones and Phipps,” Johnson said. “We have some top offensive players, but they know it’s important to play defense first.”
Phipps pointed out that he’s hardly a one-man show.
“We’ve got shooters, and big men,” he said. “I think the work I did in the off-season, multiple times a day, has been the key to my personal scoring success. (But) I always like to say that I have to thank my teammates for what I’ve been able to do, and what we’ve been able to accomplish. I think we’re pretty dangerous.”
For Fox, the loss was their six in a row and ninth in their last 10 games as they slid to 3-13 on the season. Moss and Gast led the team in scoring, with 14 and 12 points respectively, but the Warriors’ main problem was defense; this was the first time this season they allowed 80 points.
“We’ve got young guys trying to fit in with experienced ones, and unfortunately we’re still waiting for it to click going into February,” Fox head coach Mike Wilken said. “I thought we had been playing pretty well, especially lately against Normandy and Clayton (both losses on the road), but took a big step back tonight. That’s what makes this so frustrating, plus (the Hawks) are a tough team.”
Fox has six games left in the regular season, starting at Affton (11-6) on Feb. 2, after the Leader deadline. Hillsboro visits Festus (14-4) Friday night; the Tigers already have clinched the championship of the large-schools division of the Jefferson County Activities Association.