By BY BRUCE HIXON – sports editor
Home has been a comfort zone for T.R. Miller for the last month with nine straight home games, but it is the road where the Tigers are undefeated this season.
Granted, T.R. Miller has played just two road games so far which includes Friday's 58-48 triumph over the Flomaton Hurricanes.
Perhaps it was their first taste of life outside their home environment since the season opener at Northview that explained the Tigers' sluggish start that saw them fall behind 7-0 and 9-2 over the first four minutes to a Flomaton squad it lost to 53-52 back in the opening game of the Escambia County Tournament last month.
The Tigers (8-3) recovered from their slow start before the first quarter ended. They ended the frame on an 8-0 run and took a 12-11 lead on a bucket by Terrelle Brooks off a steal by Terrence Walker in the final minute.
Flomaton (9-6) bounced back in the first three minutes of the second quarter to takes its last lead with five minutes left in the first half before T.R. Miller responded with a 10-0 run that put the Tigers on top to stay.
The Tigers ended the first half on a 14-4 run and a 29-23 lead when Terry Hetherington drove inside the lane and scored at the halftime buzzer.
Twice in the third quarter the Hurricanes cut the lead to a mere point, the last of which came when Tony Ellis scored on a fastbreak with 2:10 left that narrowed the gap to 34-33.
Brandon Andrews hit two buckets in the final minute of the period, which included a three-pointer at the buzzer that widened the lead to 44-35.
Wade Jackson gave T.R. Miller its first double-digit lead a minute into the fourth quarter on a bucket that made it 46-35. Jackson had seven of his game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter on his way to his second straight 20-point night.
The Tigers secured their win at the free throw line where they hit 10 of 13 attempts in the final period, which included a five-for-six effort by Andrews.
T.R. Miller's junior varsity gave new coach Marc Edge his first victory with the program, as it downed Flomaton 57-39. Derrick Riley led the Tigers (3-2) with 15 points, while Alaric Watson added nine.
Edge made his debut the night before when T.R. Miller lost to Hillcrest 51-34. Riley was also the top scorer for the Tigers in that game with 13 points. Cortez Banks added seven.
T.R. Miller gets back into Area play Tuesday when it heads to W.S. Neal. Play starts with the junior varsity game at 4:30 p.m.
At Flomaton
T.R. Miller 12 17 15 14 – 58
Flomaton 11 12 12 13 – 48
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Jackson 6-0-9-21; Hetherington 7-0-0-14; Andrews 2-1-5-12; Stallworth 1-0-5-7; Walker 1-0-0-2; Brooks 0-0-2-2 (Totals: 17-1-21-58)
FLOMATON (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Walton 7-0-4-18; Ellis 5-0-2-12; Rees 4-0-0-8; Lewis 2-0-0-4; Brooks 1-0-0-2; Edwards 1-0-0-2; Lambeth 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 21-0-6-48)
Junior varsity
T.R. Miller 14 20 9 14 – 57
Flomaton 4 9 13 13 – 39
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Riley 7-0-1-15; Watson 3-1-0-9; Redfern 3-0-1-7; T. Lane 2-1-0-7; Banks 2-0-2-6; Lewis 2-0-0-4; McCorvey 2-0-0-4; Powell 1-0-1-3; M. Lane 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 23-2-5-57)
FLOMATON (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Perry 2-1-0-7; Bradley 2-1-0-7; Ross 1-0-4-6; Chavers 0-1-2-5; Brantley 2-0-1-5; Bradley 0-1-0-3; Dixon 1-0-0-2; Johnson 1-0-0-2; Thomas 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 10-4-7-39)
Tigers win Area opener
T.R. Miller picked up a huge win Thursday when it opened the Area season with a 51-42 victory over the defending 4A state champion Hillcrest Jaguars.
The Tigers got a game-high 22 points from Wade Jackson, who collected 21 of those in the second half when T.R. Miller opened up as much as a 13-point lead.
Three buckets by Kelly Stallworth got the Tigers off to an 8-2 lead through one quarter, but Hillcrest used a pair of buckets from Justin Holder to go on a 12-7 run in the second quarter and trim the gap to just 15-14 by halftime.
Jackson caught fire in the third quarter when he knocked home four traditional field goals along with a three-pointer that enabled T.R. Miller to extend its lead to 33-28.
Jackson racked up 10 more points in the fourth quarter, which included an eight-for-10 effort from the free throw line.
Outside of Jackson, the Tigers struggled from the free throw line for the game and down the stretch. Take away Jackson's eight-for-10 performance in the fourth quarter and the Tigers were just seven-for-17 from the free throw line. Six of those misses came in the fourth quarter.
Those misses nearly caught up with the Tigers. T.R. Miller had a 10-point lead with only two minutes left, but missed free throws and a couple of buckets on the other end enabled Hillcrest to cut the gap to just four points before the Tigers were able to shut the door.
At T.R. Miller
Hillcrest 2 12 14 14 - 42
T.R. Miller 8 7 18 18 - 51
HILLCREST (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Holder 4-0-4-12; Curtis 3-0-0-6; Boochie 1-1-0-5; Riley 1-1-0-5; Knight 1-0-2-4; Dees 2-0-0-4; Clarence 1-0-0-2; Watson 0-0-2-2; Bryant 0-0-2-2 (Totals: 13-2-10-42)
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Jackson 5-1-9-22; Brooks 3-0-3-9; Andrews 2-1-1-8; Stallworth 4-0-0-8; Hetherington 1-0-2-4 (Totals: 15-2-15-51)
Junior varsity
Hillcrest 11 13 12 15 – 51
T.R. Miller 11 6 10 7 – 34
HILLCREST (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Lyons 3-1-2-11; Lark 5-0-1-11; Malcolm 5-0-1-11; Gross 1-0-5-7; Thomas 2-0-0-4; Likely 0-1-0-3; Shannon 1-0-0-2; Watson 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 18-2-9-51)
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Riley 4-0-5-13; Banks 2-1-0-7; Watson 3-0-0-6; T. Lane 2-0-0-4; M. Lane 1-0-1-3; Lewis 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 12-1-7-34)