Boys Basketball: Hyde Park stops TF North

Updated: February 22, 2012 9:32PM

Phillip Lee provided most of the early scoring and Moshawn Thomas provided the late fireworks to help Hyde Park down host T.F. North 54-48 on Wednesday night.

``Phillip Lee is the unsung hero of this team,’’ Thunderbirds coach Antonne Samuels said. ``He is the leader for us. Whatever I ask him to do he gets it done whether it be rebounding, steals or shooting threes.’’

Lee came out of the gate red-hot. He made his first six shots including four three-pointers in leading the Thunderbirds (13-9) to a 23-14 lead with just over five minutes left in the second quarter. Lee ended up scoring all 18 of his points in the first half while missing only one shot.

``That’s the best shooting game that I had this year,’’ Lee said. ``I missed a couple in the second half so I outleted the ball to my teammates.’’

Nick Woods held the hot hand for the Meteors (10-16) in the first half. He scored 10 of his 15 points in the second quarter to pull North to within 30-27 at halftime.

North eventually went ahead and the last time the Meteors held the lead was when Marquis Todd scored on a layup at the end of the third quarter for a 42-41 lead. Greg McClain added a layup to make it 44-41.

After Hyde Park tied the game on a three by Greg Jackson. Thomas went to work. He broke the tie with a pair of free throws and then slammed home a monster jam. Thomas also held Woods scoreless in the second half. Thomas tallied 11 points and eight rebounds after he, Lomant Mimms and Marcus Smith were held out of the starting lineup for disciplinary reasons.

``I was just lazy early on,’’ Thomas said. ``The second half, I just came out and tried to help my team.’’

``Moshawn can be one of the best players in the city and the state, if he wants to be,’’ Samuels said. ``When he comes to play all four quarters, he is as good as there is.’’.

Todd finished with 10 points.

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