By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
While Greenville's Andrew Tomlin walked away with the Most Valuable Player Award at the T.R. Miller Holiday Tournament, T.R. Miller senior Greg Bogan certainly did everything he could to make himself a candidate for the award.
Bogan led the tournament in scoring with 60 points over the three games played with contests of 13, 18 and 29 points.
Flomaton's C.J. Williams was runner-up in the scoring race with 56 points with rounds of 19, 15 and 22. Tomlin was third with 54 points with games of 10, 21 and 23. W.S. Neal's Marcus Folmar and Greenville's Devoski McMeans tied for the fourth spot with 51 points. Folmar had games of 15, 17 and 19 points, while McMeans had games of 18, nine and 24.
The 29 points Bogan had against Greenville Saturday was the single game tournament high. Flomaton's Alphonso Wesley had the next best game with his 26 points against Pace in the opening round. Greenville's McMeans had the third highest individual total with 24 against Flomaton in the semifinals. Tomlin had a 23-point game against Flomaton in that contest. Also in that game Flomaton's Williams had a 22-point effort.
Bogan also had the tournament high of nine three-point field goals, which included a single game best five against Greenville. Mary Montgomery's Maurice Coleman was runner-up in treys for the tournament with eight, while Flomaton's Williams was third with seven.
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On several occasions this season T.R. Miller Tigers coach Rob Atkinson has stressed the importance of defense for his team's success.
Here is a glaring statistic that backs it up. In the seven games T.R. Miller has won, it has allowed 262 points, an average of 37.4 per game. The most points T.R. Miller allowed in any of those games was 43 (against Escambia County and W.S. Neal).
In the six games the Tigers have lost, T.R. Miller has allowed 380 points, an average of 63.2 per game. The fewest points they allowed in any of those games was 54 against Monroe County. The other five opponents all scored 60 or more.
The recent Red Level Boys Holiday Tournament
See BITS Page 7
should have been named the Tiger Invitational.
The field contained the Red Level Tigers, the T.R. Miller Tigers, the Straughn Tigers, the Luverne Tigers and the Samson Tigers.
The only non-Tiger schools were the Florala Wildcats, Kinston Bulldogs and New Brocton Gamecocks.
T.R. Miller Lady Tigers senior Ashley Samuel is only 123 points away from moving into second place on the T.R. Miller girls all-time career scoring list.
Deanna Jackson is the all-time scoring leader with 2,398 points. Felicia Jackson is second at 1,911. Then comes Samuel in third place with 1,778.
Samuel has tallied 348 points so far this season through 13 games, an average of 26.7 per game. T.R. Miller has 13 more games left guaranteed. Samuel needs to average only 9.4 points a game in those contests to pass Felicia Jackson.
Catching Deanna Jackson is another story. Samuel trails her by 620 points. She would have to average 47.7 points a game to catch Deanna Jackson.
"Ashley probably won't catch Deanna, but she should pass Felicia barring injury. Ashley has a great chance to reach 2,000 career points and that would be a great accomplishment in itself," T.R. Miller girls coach Ron Jackson said.
Meanwhile Lady Tigers sophomore Joy McCorvey has moved into ninth place on the Lady Tigers' career scoring list.
McCorvey has accumulated 751 points so far, 208 of which have come this season. There is a good chance McCorvey could crack the 1,000 point barrier before this season is over.
McCorvey, who is averaging 16 points a game so far this season, needs to average 11.5 a game over the next 13 games to reach 1,000.
Only four T.R. Miller girls have reached 1,000 career points. In addition to the Jackson sisters and Samuel, Valerie Etheridge is in the club with 1,015 points.
Both the T.R. Miller Tigers and Lady Tigers have rescheduled their home date against Red Level for January 31. Game time is 4:30 p.m.
That game was originally set for December 2, but was pushed back due to football playoffs.