MDI Boys Basketball Team Outlasts Foxcroft Academy

The Foxcroft Academy Ponies came to Bernard Parady Gymnasium on Monday, January 21 with a 4-9 mark, but it was deceiving, as most of their losses were close, and Foxcroft Academy is an excellent 3-point shooting team, so they're always in it to the very end. Such was the case yesterday when they played the MDI Trojans.

MDI scored first when Jon Phelps' basket gave MDI the quick 2-0 lead with 7:47 left. Kaleb Smith tied the scored for Foxcroft Academy with 6:51 left 2-2. MDI then went on a 7-0 run with Adam Gray scoring a pair of baskets and Jon Phelps draining a 3-pointer and MDI led 9-2 with 3:38 left. Kaleb Smith went 2-2 from the free throw line and Ryan Rebar's 3-pointer with 2:52 left made the score 9-7MDI. Adam Gray then went 2-2 from the free throw line for the Trojans and MDI led 11-7 with 2:44 left. Foxcroft Academy went on a 6-0 run as Hunter Smith drained a 3, Rebar went 1-2 from the free throw line and Kolby Kendall's basket counted and with 1:30 left Foxcroft Academy led 13-11. MDI's Abe Philbrook drained a 3 pointer and the Trojans led 14-13 but Kaleb Smith's basket with 45 seconds left gave Foxcroft Academy the 1st Quarter lead 15-14.

Andrew Davis came off the bench in the 2nd Quarter sparking MDI as he scored 7 points in the quarter. He started off with a 2 with 7:19 left and the score was tied 16-16. Rebar drained a 3 pointer for Foxcroft and Davis answered with a 2 pointer for MDI and Foxcroft Academy led 19-18 with 6:31 left in the half. Kendall extended FA's lead with a basket but Davis then made a basket and went 1-2 from the line and the score was tied 21-21 with 5:26 remaining. Hunter Smith's basket put Foxcroft Academy back up top 23-21 with 5:13 left. Adam Gray went 1-2 from the free throw line for MDI but Hunter Smith's 2 with 1:51 remaining extended FA's lead  25-22. MDI's Ben Walls hit 4 consecutive free throws and MDI had the lead with 1:13 left 26-25 before Kendall's basket went in with 51.3 seconds left giving Foxcroft Academy the 27-26 half time lead.

Foxcroft Academy started the scoring in the 3rd Quarter with Hunter Smith's basket but MDI then went on a 15-0 run as Ben Walls hit a basket, Davis a basket, Philbrook 4-4 from the free throw line and John Phelps had a 3 pointer, a 2 pointer and then a 3 pointer and with 2:36 left, MDI was up top 42-30. Hunter Smith then scored consecutive baskets for the Poinies and with 29 seconds left MDI was up 42-34. Mooers basket was followed by Kaleb Smith getting fouled at the buzzer and when he made 1-2 from the free throw line the 3rd Quarter ended with MDI up top 44-35.

MDI and Foxcroft traded baskets to start the 4th Quarter with Gray and Rebar scoring and then Ben Walls went 2-2 from the free throw line with 6:44 left and MDI was up 48-37. Hunter Smith then drained a 3 pointer followed by a Philbrook 2 pointer for MDI and it was 50-40 MDI with 5:34 left.  Kaleb Smith went 1-2 from the free throw line followed by Mooers going 2-2 from the line and it was 52-41 Trojans with 4:42 left. Foxcroft Academy went on a 6-0 run with Kendall sinking a 2, Rebar going 2-2 from the free throw line and Hunter Smith scored and with 3:28 left MDI's lead was 52-47. Then with 3:20 left Hunter Smith fouled out for the Ponies, and Philbrook went 1-2 from the line and MDI was up 53-47. Rebar's 3 pointer with 2:09 left made the score 53-50. With 1:25 left Kaleb Smith was assessed a technical foul and Walls went 1-2 from the line and MDI's lead was 54-50. With 9.6 seconds left Rebar sank another 3 pointer and it  was 54-53. Kolby Kendall fouled out with 4.9 seconds left and Philbrook went 2-2 from the line and MDI was up 56-53. Rebar's 3 pointer at the buzzer fell short, and MDI escaped with a 56-53 win.

Ryan Rebar scored 17 points including 4 3-pointers and Hunter Smith had 16 points including 2 3 pointers for Foxcroft Academy. MDI was led by Jon Phelps with 13 points including 3 3 pointers, Abe Philbrook had 12 points going 7-7 from the free throw line and a 3 pointer and Andrew Davis had a season high 9 points for MDI. MDI also received excellent play from Andrew Dalton at the guard position off the bench.

With the win, MDI improved to 11-2 and hosts Presque Isle on Friday January 25th at 7:30 with that game being heard on WDEA AM 1370 and WDEA Internet Radio. Foxcroft Academy falls to 4-10 and hosts Dexter Friday night on Friday, January 25th.

More photos of the game may be seen here. All photos courtesy of Walter Churchill.

Box Score

Foxcroft Academy

MDI