Vicksburg, star Phelps fall in North State final|[02/24/08]

Published 12:00 am Sunday, February 24, 2008

OXFORD — Seeing Jonathan Phelps writhing in pain was something no basketball fan at Oxford High wanted to see, especially those from Vicksburg.

But Phelps’ Vicksburg High teammates fought on and took a senior-laden New Hope squad to the bitter end. Kelsey Howard’s potential tying 3-point shot was just short and the Trojans escaped with a 61-58 win in the Class 4A North State Tournament championship game.

Despite the loss, Vicksburg (29-7) will play in the Class 4A State Tournament in Jackson on Tuesday night at 8 against Moss Point. Moss Point beat Port Gibson in the South State consolation game, 70-59.

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New Hope (27-8) will have a week off with a bye. Ridgeland (27-10) came out with the third spot after upsetting Division 3-4A champ Callaway, 46-43.

VHS coach Dellie C. Robinson was extremely proud of the way his team battled without its injured star Phelps, who averages 24 points a game and was the 2007 Vicksburg Post Player of the Year.

“My guys are not going to quit. I am so proud of how hard they fought. We had a chance,” Robinson said.

“Phelps, though, makes us better and I hope we have him back because I think we’ll see New Hope again.”

Phelps went down at the 1 minute and 22 second mark of the first quarter with an apparent knee injury. A trainer for Oxford said it was a strained MCL ligament, and Phelps did not return to the game. He will have an MRI exam on Monday to determine the full extent of the injury.

“We just had to come together as a team. We showed we can play without him,” fellow VHS senior John Qualls said. Qualls was one of the Gators who stepped up in Phelps’ absence, scoring 10 points and grabbing eight rebounds.

It was a Qualls basket from 10 feet that pulled the Gators to within five at 50-45 with five minutes left. New Hope countered with a basket and two free throws from Dale Hughes to take its biggest lead at 54-45 with 4:40 left.

Vicksburg finally got a break when New Hope’s Ray Knight missed a one-and-one and Howard responded by draining his third 3-pointer of the game to make it 56-52 with 1:20 left.

Down six after two made free throws, Maurice Williams made a 3-pointer for the Gators to cut the deficit to 58-55 with 51 seconds left. Hughes dropped in two free throws for his final tally of 22 points to up the lead back to five, 60-55, with 38.3 seconds left.

Howard came through again, nailing his fourth trey to make it 60-58 with 23 seconds to go. Knight then made one of two free throws to make it a three-point game and set up the final sequence.

Darius Williams, who replaced Phelps at guard, found his way out of a trap but the final play to Howard was rushed a bit, causing Howard to come up short on his last shot.

“It was tough but Kelsey did get a shot. We really could’ve used that 3-pointer Mike (Ammons) hit that they took away on a 3-second violation,” Robinson said.

For the game, the big difference was the presence of 6-foot-9 New Hope center Rashanti Harris inside. He controlled the boards with 18 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots.

“I thought Vicksburg did pretty well with him (Phelps) being out. He’s a Dandy Dozen. But I rather him be hurt than me,” Harris said.

Ammons, Vicksburg’s freshman center, had a team-high 17 points, four rebounds and two assists. Howard had 15 points and two assists. Darius Williams hit his first three shots and ended with six points and five assists.