By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
It was not so much the second chances Monroe County got at the basket that beat the T.R. Miller Tigers. It was the third and fourth opportunities.
Monroe County's domination of the boards as well as a 10-point edge at the free throw line sparked the visiting Tigers to a 65-51 victory Friday.
The win by the visiting Tigers not only avenged a 68-67 loss to T.R. Miller back in December, but it continued a spirited stretch of play for Monroe County, which has gone 8-3 since the death of leading scorer Anthony Stovall to a cerebral aneurysm last month.
T.R. Miller (15-8) trailed just 42-40 with six and a half minutes left when Monroe County began a decisive surge where it scored 10 points in just three possessions.
The visiting Tigers got four of those points in one series with the aid of a technical foul on two free throws by Terrell McMillan and Geocoby Penn. Penn then drained a three-pointer and Reyon Thompson converted a three-point play that suddenly boosted the visiting Tigers' lead to 52-42.
Gerald Banton led T.R. Miller with 19 points.
The Tigers junior varsity used a fourth quarter rally to avenge an earlier loss to Monroe County with a 39-36 victory.
Terrelle Brooks and Kelly Stallworth both had 12 points to pace T.R. Miller (14-3).
The Tigers, who closed out the regular season Saturday with a home contest against Northview (Fla.), open up the Class 3A Area 1 Tournament at Clarke County Friday where they will take on Straughn at 5:30 p.m.
At TR. Miller
Monroe County 10 16 14 25 – 65
T.R. Miller 7 15 11 18 – 51
MONROE COUNTY (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) McMillan 7-0-7-21; Penn 2-2-6-16; Thompson 5-0-3-13; T. Armstrong 3-0-4-10; Martin 0-1-0-3; Richardson 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 18-3-20-65)
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Banton 6-2-1-19; D. Jackson 1-1-4-9; W. Jackson 0-2-2-8; Lucas 2-0-2-6; Andrews 2-0-1-5; Ty. Walker 2-0-0-4 (Totals: 13-5-10-51)
Junior varsity
Monroe County 5 18 4 9 – 36
T.R. Miller 9 8 13 9 – 39
MONROE COUNTY (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Lee 6-1-1-16; Stanton 3-0-0-6; Stevenson 1-1-0-5; Madison 1-1-0-5; Moore 1-0-0-2; Morris 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 13-3-1-36)
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Brooks 5-0-2-12; Stallworth 4-0-4-12; Ter. Walker 1-0-3-5; Cunningham 1-1-0-5; Jones 0-1-1-4; Fountain 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 11-2-11-36)
Tuesday's game
T.R. Miller posted its third win of the season over county rival Flomaton (11-17) Tuesday when it downed the visiting Hurricanes 61-51.
The Tigers trailed nearly the entire first half and fell behind by as much as 25-19 after C.J. Williams' three-pointer with just under two minutes left in the half.
Buckets by Chris Byrd and Damien Jackson chopped that deficit to two points and then the Tigers got four points in the final two seconds of the first half to take a 27-25 halftime
lead.
With two seconds left in the
See TIGERS Page 7
frame, Laine Lucas hit two charity tosses to tie the score. On the ensuing inbounds play, Williams fouled Brandon Andrews and Andrews hit two free throws that put T.R. Miller ahead. It was a lead the Tigers would not relinquish.
It was probably appropriate Andrews' two free throws were what put T.R. Miller ahead because it was Andrews who played a huge role for the Tigers in the second half.
With T.R. Miller up 39-36 and under two minutes left in the third quarter, Andrews hit a baseline jumper and two three-pointers from the corners that suddenly extended the Tigers' lead to 47-36.
Andrews added another trey in the opening minute of the fourth quarter when he banked in a third trey from the corner that matched T.R. Miller's biggest lead of the game at 50-39. Andrews later added two free throws in the period and finished up with a career best 15 points at the varsity level.
T.R. Miller's junior varsity had a much easier time against Flomaton, as it downed the Hurricanes 52-24.
Terrelle Brooks fired in 20 points to pace the Tigers, while Corey Cunningham added seven.
At T.R. Miller
Flomaton 15 10 14 12 – 51
T.R. Miller 12 15 20 14 – 61
FLOMATON (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Williams 2-4-4-20; Simpson 3-2-2-14; Lambeth 1-1-1-6; Bush 3-0-0-6; Bonds 1-0-1-3; Ellis 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 11-7-8-51)
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Banton 7-0-3-17; Andrews 1-3-4-15; D. Jackson 5-1-0-13; Byrd 4-0-0-8; Lucas 0-0-4-4; W. Jackson 1-0-0-2; Ty. Walker 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 19-4-11-61)
Junior varsity
Flomaton 2 6 6 10 – 24
T.R. Miller 11 12 13 16 – 52
FLOMATON (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Wood 5-0-2-12; Ellis 2-0-2-6; McMath 2-0-0-4; Turner 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 10-0-4-24)
TR. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Brooks 10-0-0-20; Cunningham 2-1-0-7; Jer. Knight 2-0-2-6; Ter. Walker 2-0-0-4; Stallworth 2-0-0-4; Curry 2-0-0-4; Fountain 2-0-0-4; Payne 1-0-0-2; Jones 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 23-1-3-52)