SHORT GAP, W.Va. — Jeremy Phillips scored 35 points and surpassed 1,000 in his career, leading Frankfort to a 93-86 overtime win over Pendleton County on Saturday.
“Reaching 1,000 points means the world to me, and has been a goal of mine since I was a little kid,” Phillips said. “This sport means everything to me, and to have an accomplishment like this is just a testament to my work ethic.”
Phillips scored 19 points after halftime and also recorded four assists and a steal.
Frankfort head coach Scott Slider believes he’s either the sixth or seventh player in program history to do so, and is the first since Jacob Young in 2016.
“For any player to get to 1,000 points, that’s a big deal,” Slider said. “He’s been a starter for us since he was a sophomore and he’s put up good numbers all three years. It’s a big deal, and he’ll tell you he’s put a lot of time and effort into that, but he also understands he would not be where he’s at if it weren’t for the rest of his teammates.”
Leading 61-59 heading to the fourth, Kycin Waites hit a triple that put the Falcons (3-3) in front 75-68 with 2:58 to play.
The Wildcats (3-2) answered with a 10-3 run, capped off by a Henry Warner and-one putback to even the score at 78.
Warner scored 10 points with a steal.
Frankfort committed a turnover with six seconds left, but Pendleton missed a layup to send the game into overtime.
Waites, who finished with 29 points, five assists, four steals and a block, scored a layup that put the Falcons ahead for good with 3:13 to play, but the Wildcats continued to hang around.
“Kycin comes to play defense,” Slider said. “He steps up, he plays strong, he goes to the hole well, he shoots the ball well. Needs to be a little sharper on some of the decision making that he does, but he’s aggressive, and when he’s aggressive good things happen.”
Jayden Hess intercepted a pass and scored on the other end to cut Pendleton’s deficit to 88-86 with 41 seconds left.
Phillips hit three foul shots over the final 40 seconds, and the Wildcats missed its final three shots to end the game.
Pendleton controlled most of the first quarter and led by as many as eight points with about 40 seconds remaining.
Frankfort struggled from the field to start the game, but stayed within striking distance after hitting four 3-pointers.
“I tried to tell myself before the game I wasn’t going to worry about it,” Phillips said of chasing 1,000 points early in the game. “But it was just hard to zone it out when the game started. Once I hit the shot to get it, everything came together.”
Chase Owens scored 12 points for the Wildcats in the first quarter and finished with 32.
Trailing 23-15 after one and 25-15 early in the second, the Falcons went on a 16-5 run to take a 31-30 lead.
“We stepped up and had some good defensive stops,” Slider said. “Pushed the basketball in transition and were able to get some easy buckets.”
Down four in the final 30 seconds of the first half, Phillips eclipsed 1,000 career points on a 3-pointer with 23.8 seconds remaining.
Hess, who scored 18 points with nine assists and five steals, answered with a triple to put the Wildcats ahead with nine seconds to play.
Phillips responded by pulling up at the top of key, burying a long triple to even the halftime score at 39.
“When we strung together some defensive stops, that’s whenever we were able to score offensively,” Slider said. “We had some good, key buckets when they put us in a halfcourt set, we still had a couple key buckets that were big and gave us an advantage.”
Braeden Laffey scored 13 points with two assists for the Falcons.
Travis Owens finished with 10 points, seven assists and six steals while Cashton Kisamore added 12 points for Pendleton.
Frankfort took the junior varsity game 53-37.
Nixon Kidwell (12), Mack McDonough (11) and Chris Davis (10) scored in double figures for the Falcons while Cameron Wyatt led the Wildcats with 14.
Frankfort heads to No. 1 Allegany (5-2) on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
“This win is huge for us and just shows how much of a force we can be in the area and the state,” Phillips said. “We have a good team and a lot of good pieces that are starting to come together. I’m very proud of my guys for how we’ve played as a team these last three games.”