Phil Campbell boys wrap regular season with overtime win at Russellville
Four quarters wasn’t enough in this one.
Tuesday night’s varsity boys’ basketball action between Phil Campbell High School and host Russellville High School needed an overtime period to determine the victor. In the end it was the Bobcats that came out on top in both teams’ regular season finale.
Phil Campbell led narrowly for most of the game, holding a 15-9 advantage after the first quarter, a 27-24 lead at the break, and a 47-43 lead after three. But in the fourth quarter, Russellville, propelled by sophomore Sir Williams and a couple of clutch three-pointers from junior Daniel Aycock, was able to close the gap, tying the game up 63-63 before the end of regulation.
In the overtime period, Phil Campbell senior Madden Welch, who finished with a team-high 22 points, continued to menace the Golden Tigers scoring nine of the Bobcats’ 13 points in the period. Welch hit two jumpers in OT and sank five of his six free throw attempts. Meanwhile, the Golden Tigers, who had progressively improved from quarters one through four, were only able to put up five points.
Final score: Bobcats 76, Golden Tigers 68. The result improved Phil Campbell’s overall record to 16-11 and dropped Russellville to 6-19.
Besides Welch, two other Bobcats hit double figures in the win. Freshman Miles Duboise had 18 points and junior Austin Elliott finished with 14 for PCHS.
Russellville’s leading scorer was Williams, who dropped a game-high 27 points in the defeat. Aycock finished with 17 points for the Golden Tigers, and senior Malaki Groce had 10 points.
Up next for both teams are their respective area tournaments.
Phil Campbell will travel to Mars Hill in Florence on Saturday, February 7 to take on Sheffield in the semifinal round of the Class 3A Area 15 tourney. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The winner of that game will face the winner of Mars Hill and Colbert Heights on Tuesday, February 10.
Also on Saturday, Russellville will travel to Moulton to play West Point in the Class 5A Area 15 semifinal. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. The winner gets Lawrence County in the area title game the following Tuesday.