By GEORGE THWAITES
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
RICHLANDS, Va. — Ideally, Richlands’ Luke Phillips plays at small forward.
Thanks to injuries and other lineup issues, the 6-foot-5, 205-pound junior has played quite a lot under less-than-ideal circumstances this basketball season. The Blues have continued to thrive in spite of that fact.
“I think his natural position is a 3, but we’ve asked him to play every position this year,” said Richlands head coach Fred Phillips, his father. “He doesn’t really like to play point guard and he really doesn’t like to play at center. But he’ll do anything for the team and anything the coaching staff asks him to.”
For a kid who’s been moving all over the clipboard, he’s putting up together some pretty consistent numbers. He’s scoring an average of 18 points per game, pulling down eight rebounds per game and distributing six assists per game while collecting 2.5 steals and 1 block per game.
“We’ve had a lot of ups and downs with our lineup,” said Luke Phillips, who earns Pocahontas Coal Association/Bluefield Daily Telegraph Player of the Week honors for the first time. “Small forward is where I like to be. But I just tell coach to put me wherever the team needs me.”
The trigger for his earning this weekly award was his statistic-rich outing in last week’s 86-40 rout of Twin Valley up at Pilgrim’s Knob. He canned four 3s on his way to 24 points, got 10 rebounds, handed out six assists, took three steals, rejected three blocks and drew a charge.
Of note: He was playing at point guard — one of his two least-favorite spots on the floor — after the Richlands starter came out with a concussion.
In a 77-44 win over Tazewell, he had 15 points, six rebounds, five assists, seven steals, two blocks — and drew a charge.
This past Tuesday night in a 72-62 loss at Graham, he scored 28 points and played to the finish carrying four fouls despite an heroic G-Man effort to shut him down and foul him out.
He’s had to play some center after starter Landon Lowe came out with a sprained MCL. Similarly, he’s had to fill in at power forward since Scottie Ball took a four-game suspension. Prior to Tuesday’s loss at Graham the Blues (7-2) had won seven straight. You get the picture.
In a large part, Richlands surely owes its winning streak to Luke Phillips’ versatility. He has little doubt to whom he owes thanks for this week’s honor.
“I could not do any of this without my teammates. They get me the ball ... they just want to go out and win. Everybody on this team is as unselfish as can be,” said Phillips.
“I tell my teammates every day in practice just to push me as hard as they can, to make us both better. I’m going to work as hard as I can against them and I’m going to develop at every position, not just small forward. I want to strengthen my weaknesses,” he said.
Luke is tied with teammate Will Moir for one leading statistical category: charges taken. They both have taken 10 on the year.
“I thought he got another one at Graham, but it was called a block, so that’s just hearsay,” quipped his father.
The kid certainly isn’t afraid to take a charge.
During the 2015 season, Luke went out for his first season of football with the Blue Tornado, playing at wideout. He didn’t see the field too much but made an impression when he did. He was targeted six times and made six catches — no drops. Four of the receptions were for touchdowns.
Fred Phillips noted that Luke never once complained about playing time and the overall experience has lent new physical and mental dimensions to his basketball game.
“I think running the routes has made him much quicker on the basketball court. The contact on the football field contributes to letting him go underneath and mixing it up,” Fred Phillips said. “The winning football tradition at Richlands is a good thing in itself. It just showed him how to win.”
Moving Luke all over the lineup has been a necessity, but having him capable of stepping into other roles at a moment’s notice could be quite a luxury if the Blues get all their other players healthy, eligible and in their proper spots. In the meantime, all the extra off-season hours he spent on individual ball handling drills has come in handy.
“Small forward is the ideal situation for me,” Luke said. “Because of my size, most of the time I have bigger guys on me. I like to use my speed. I’m not the fastest kid, by any means, but most of the time with centers guarding me and bigger guys on the floor, I like to go get the ball.”
Fred Phillips said his son is “a complete player” who may not be flashy at any one category of play, but he’s very good at all categories. As a coaches’ kid, he understands the game better than a lot of players. But there is a flip side to being a coaches’ kid.
“It’s hard to coach your own kid. You can be too extreme. You can be either too easy on him or too hard on him,” said the head coach. “I guess I’m too hard on him at times. But I try not to bring any of that home.”
At the same time, the Blues skipper admits he is proud of Luke’s off-the-floor accomplishments. The kid was elected junior class treasurer by his classmates. He’s got a 3.6 GPA with four or five college classes already under his belt thanks to the school’s dual enrollment program. And he’s a good citizen, participating in activities that promote drug-free schools in Tazewell County.
Father and son spend so much time together during basketball season that they tend to give each other a little recreational breathing room during the off-season.
When he’s not playing AAU football or doing off-season conditioning for football, the youngster’s favorite leisure activity is grabbing a spinning rod and a tackle pack full of Strike King Bitsy Tubes (rigged with an eighth-ounce jig) and heading for the Clinch River.
“Besides playing basketball, my favorite thing to do is fish for smallmouth bass. In the summertime, I could wade in the river and fish all day long,” said Luke, who hopes to expand his fishing horizons this coming spring and summer.
But this is his basketball season — not his fishing season. He is fully-focused on achieving a team goal.
“We’ve never won a regional basketball game. My goal right now is to win at least one,” said Luke, who was a freshman when the Blue Tornado lost to Gate City in the opening round of the 2A West regionals. “My goal is for us to go farther than any other Richlands basketball team.”

Honorable Mention

Boys
Bluefield: Donta Hopkins had 12 points, three assists, three rebounds and four steals IN A win against Westside and scored 23 points with five assists, three rebounds and two steals in a win against Graham. Mookie Collier scored 17 points with four assists, five rebounds, two steals and a block against Westside and scored 18 points with four assist, five rebounds and four steals against Graham.
Graham: Roman Workman scored 21 points in the loss to Bluefield and 22 in an 87-66 win over Grayson County. Thomas Clarke scored 27 points against Grayson County. Nick Morgan scored 18 against the Beavers and Chandler Cooper scored 16.
Grundy: Christian Jackson scored 15 points in a 50-43 loss to Hurley. Ethan Duty scored 14 point against Hurley.
Hurley: Brady Justice scored 16 points and had eight rebounds in a win over Grundy. Zack Lester scored 15 points against Grundy. Dalton Hurley scored 12.
James Monroe: Caleb Spencer scored 20 points in a loss to PikeView.
Montcalm: Trent Jenkins scored 12 points in a loss to Narrows. Jared Janutolo added 11 points that game.
Mount View: De’Moni Edwards scored 13 points in the loss to River View. Kenneth Brown scored 12 and Jaquane Imes added 10 against River View.
Narrows: Steven Dunford scored 24 points in a 55-52 win at Montcalm. Cole Blaker had nine points, nine rebounds.
PikeView: Seth Meadows had 14 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, going 10-for-10 from the free throw line, in a 73-61 win over James Monroe. Tyler Boyd scored 22 points in the win at James Monroe. Hunter Hill scored 12 against the Mavs.
Princeton: Colton Fix and Cole Cochran scored 16 points apiece in a 54-52 loss to Greenbrier East. Jacob Whittington scored 11.
River View: Tyree Baker scored 30 points in a 97-47 win over Council. He hit seven 3-pointers, had 10 rebounds and distributed nine assists. He scored 24 points in a 68-42 win over Tazewell. Baker scored 38 points, 34 in the second half, in a 59-55 win over Mount View. Brian Mitchell scored 20 points against Council and 20 against Tazewell. Ronnie Morgan had 15 rebounds, Todd Coeburn had 15 points and Jonah Baker scored 12 points against Council and grabbed 14 rebounds against Tazewell.
Wyoming East: Logan Blankenship scored 25 points and had 10 assists in a win over Summers County. Jonathan Sims scored 14 points in that game.

2015-16 Boys Basketball Winners
Week 1: Daniel Boothe, Mercer Christian
Week 2: Hunter Hill, PikeView
Week 3: Jeremy Thompson, Bluefield
Week 4: Tanner Robinette, Honaker
Week 5: Roman Workman, Graham
Week 6: Luke Phillips, Richlands