By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
If nobody ever made a mistake, nobody would ever have anything to learn.
It is how well the T.R. Miller Tigers learn from their mistakes in Saturday's 63-50 loss to the Flomaton Hurricanes that remains to be seen.
"We're a young team. We're going to make mistakes, but we have to learn from our mistakes," T.R. Miller coach Rob Atkinson said.
Eighteen turnovers certainly played a role in T.R. Miller's downfall, but it was when and where the Tigers made those mistakes that proved costly.
"A lot of those turnovers were unforced," Atkinson said. "We also had some defensive breakdowns at the wrong times that hurt us. It was the kind of game where if we scored, we couldn't get a defensive stop. If we got a defensive stop, we couldn't score."
T.R. Miller, which finished the tournament 1-2 and in third place, found itself in a 10-3 hole just two minutes into the game.
Sparked by a bucket and four free throws by Trey Paul, T.R. Miller (3-2 overall) caught the Hurricanes at 12-12 with two minutes left in the period.
Flomaton (which finished the tournament 2-1 and in second place), not only scored the last seven points of the quarter to take a 19-12 lead, but the Hurricanes got a half-court three-pointer from C.J. Williams at the buzzer.
That lead eventually reached double digits a minute into the second quarter when Brian Wesley's trey put the Flomaton (8-1) up 22-12.
Greg Bogan and Laine Lucas rallied the Tigers before half-time arrived. Bogan drained a three-pointer, scored off an offensive rebound and hit a jumper near the free throw line, while Lucas hit a baseline jumper and another shot from the wing at the half-time buzzer. That bucket gave T.R. Miller a 29-28 lead at the midway point.
That was the Tigers' first lead since they led 1-0 15 seconds into the contest. It also turned out to be their last lead.
Flomaton regained the lead in the opening moments of the third quarter and later widened it to 42-34 after a steal and layup by Alphonso Wesley.
T.R. Miller was able to cut that deficit in half before the quarter ended after field goals by Bogan and Paul made it 42-38.
Bogan, who led the Tigers with 18 points, did his best to keep T.R. Miller within striking distance in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. Bogan hit a jumper from the wing, a three-pointer from out front and a baseline jumper that had T.R. Miller within 50-45.
The Tigers then picked a bad time to go on a three-minute scoreless stretch. During that time the Hurricanes extended their lead to 56-45. T.R. Miller would not get any closer than nine points the rest of the way.
"Flomaton has a good team. Our players played hard and we made several runs at them. I thought both Laine and Tye (Walker) gave us several good contributions from inside. We just have to get better as a team though," Atkinson said.
Both Bogan and Paul were named to the all-tournament
See TIGERS Page 6A
team.
The Tigers will be back in action Friday when they host Monroe County. T.R. Miller also has a home date Saturday against Northview (Fla.).
At W.S. Neal
T.R. Miller 12 17 9 12 – 50
Flomaton 19 9 14 21 – 63
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Bogan 6-2-0-18; Paul 4-0-6-14; Lucas 5-0-1-11; D. Jackson 2-0-0-4; Bougard 0-1-0-3 (Totals: 17-3-7-50)
FLOMATON (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) B. Wesley 11-0-3-25; A. Wesley 3-0-11-17; Williams 1-2-1-9; Johnson 1-0-3-5; Lewis 1-0-3-5; Brooks 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 18-2-21-63)