Philip Simmons boys, girls edge BE with home court advantage

The Philip Simmons High School boys’ and girls’ basketball teams both picked up big victories on Dec. 9 with home court wins over Bishop England.

 

But the Iron Horses won’t have much time to celebrate. They travel to Father O’Brien Gymnasium Dec. 16 to battle the Bishops. Throw in Dec. 14’s contests against Class AAAAA power Goose Creek, and it’s one challenging week.

 

The Iron Horse girls beat Bishop England 53-45 to improve to 6-2 on the season, while the Iron Horse boys won 41-29 over BE to even their record at 4-4.

 

Garrett Campbell, who coaches the boys’ team, doesn’t put a lot of emphasis on his team’s record at this stage of the season, after losing some skilled offensive players from last year’s team that went 25-4.

 

“We could be undefeated right now if we played a cupcake schedule,” Campbell said. “But we don’t see any value in that. We play tough competition to get us ready for region play. We strive for excellence and to accomplish that, we have to accept the challenges.”

 

The Iron Horses beat perennial SCISA state power Porter-Gaud in the season-opener, and the game against Goose Creek marked the second time this season the two teams faced each other. The Gators, who began the week with a 7-1 record, are one of the top teams in Class AAAAA.

 

Dec. 16’s game will mark the second time in a week the Iron Horses will play the Bishops.

 

“It was a great victory, very exciting,” Campbell said. “But we have to get back at work because we have some big challenges this week. We like challenges and we want as many challenges as possible to get us ready for region and the playoffs.”

 

PS VS BE BOYS

 

Bishop England traveled to The Phil and gained a 19-18 halftime lead. The Iron Horses recovered to take a 28-26 lead after three stops, and were dominant at both ends of the court in the final 8 minutes, outscoring the Bishops 13-2 to record the victory.

 

Robert Watson, who transferred from BE to Philip Simmons, led the Iron Horses with 14 points. Campbell is trying to develop depth, and the mission is being accomplished as seven Iron Horses entered the scoring column.

 

Bishop England, which fell to 4-4, used a 1-2 scoring punch as Jack Van de Erve and Andrew Puckhaber combined for 23 of the Bishops’ 29 points.

 

PS VS BE GIRLS

 

In the girls’ game, Philip Simmons took a 21-20 lead at halftime time and started to pull away in the third quarter, building the lead to six points after three periods.

 

The Iron Horses, who own a 6-2 record, were led by Kennedy Rivers and Kylee Kellermann, who each scored 12 points. Zhaire Mack and freshman Germany Moore also were in double figures with 11 points each.

 

Lissie Van de Erve and Lizzy Tompkins led the Bishops with nine points each.

 

Both BE teams were scheduled to play only one game this week, and that’s the home game against PSHS.