By Staff
with comeback win over Tigers
BY BRUCE HIXON
sports editor
The T.R. Miller gymnasium has become almost like a second home for the Flomaton Hurricanes this season. In fact, Monday's game was Flomaton's seventh at T.R. Miller this season.
The Hurricanes showed they felt right at home, as they erased a nine-point halftime deficit and snatched a 65-62 win from the host Tigers.
The victory enabled Flomaton (17-9) to win the rubber match of the season series. The Hurricanes edged T.R. Miller by a point in overtime at the Escambia County Tournament before T.R. Miller returned the favor with a 10-point victory at Flomaton last month. It marked the first time since the 2003-04 season Flomaton has won the season series against its country rival.
The Tigers (14-6) erased a six-point first quarter deficit to take a 32-23 lead at halftime only to see the Hurricanes storm back with 42-second half points.
Part of Flomaton's surge can be attributed to offensive rebounds. The Hurricanes had four offensive rebound buckets in the third quarter and five in the second half. Another offensive rebound led to two free throws.
The Tigers continued their recent trend of falling behind when they spotted Flomaton a six-point on two occasions in the opening frame. The last of those came when Tony Ellis' three-pointer five minutes into the contest gave Flomaton a 12-6 lead.
T.R. Miller battled back to tie the game at 12-12 on two free throws by Terrelle Brooks later in the quarter.
Even though the Hurricanes regained a two-point lead by the end of the quarter and a one-point edge early in the second period, the Tigers seemed to take control of the contest over the final five minutes of the first half.
Back-to-back buckets by Cory Cunningham, a three-pointer and traditional field goal by Brandon Andrews and a baseline jumper by Terry Hetherington gave T.R. Miller a 27-18 lead.
The Tigers matched that nine-point margin of lead on two other occasions in the first half, one of which was the halftime gap of 32-23.
T.R. Miller still appeared to be in control of the game for most of the third quarter. The Tigers still had a solid seven-point lead, 40-33, after Wade Jackson scored on an offensive rebound five minutes into the second half.
The complexion of the game changed over the last three minutes of the third quarter when the Hurricanes got three offensive rebound buckets by Dominique Banks and another one by Scott Walton. Those four buckets plus one by Nick Lewis sent Flomaton on a 10-2 run and a 43-42 lead headed into the fourth quarter.
Walton, who led all scorers with 25 points, had three buckets, one of which came on a three-point play, in the first two and a half minutes of the fourth quarter that helped Flomaton stretch its lead to 52-46.
The Tigers got the spark they needed with just over three minutes left. Flomaton was about to run its lead up to eight points when Dee Brooks went in for a layup, but Terrence Walker came from behind and swatted the shot away.
T.R. Miller followed the blocked shot with a bucket by Hetherington, a three-point play by Jackson and another basket by Hetherington to take a 57-56 lead with 2:11 left.
Ellis put the visitors back on top with a field goal, while Walton followed with a basket off an inbounds pass and two free throws to put the Hurricanes up 62-57 with 42 seconds left. This time Flomaton did not relinquish the lead.
T.R. Miller's junior varsity reached the .500 mark in its final game of the season, as it knocked off Flomaton 42-37. The Tigers (7-7) were led by Derrick Riley with 16 points, while Justin Payne and Alaric Watson each had six.
T.R. Miller will host the Class 4A Area 2 Tournament, which tips off Friday. Second-seeded Andalusia faces third-seeded Hillcrest in the opening game at 5:30 p.m. The top-seeded Tigers play fourth-seeded W.S. Neal at 7 p.m. The two winners will return for Monday's 7 p.m. championship game.
At T.R. Miller
Flomaton 14 9 20 22 - 65
T.R. Miller 12 20 10 20 - 62
FLOMATON (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Walton 7-0-11-25; Ellis 3-1-3-12; Banks 6-0-0-12; Rees 3-0-0-6; Brooks 2-0-1-5; Lewis 2-0-1-5 (Totals: 23-1-16-65)
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Jackson 2-0-12-16; Hetherington 6-1-1-16; Andrews 3-1-0-9; Brooks 1-0-5-7; Cunningham 2-0-0-4; Middleton 2-0-0-4; Stallworth 1-0-2-4; Fountain 0-0-2-2 (Totals: 17-2-22-62)
Junior varsity
Flomaton 6 7 9 15 - 37
T.R. Miller 7 10 12 13 - 42
FLOMATON (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Chavers 1-2-3-11; Berry 2-1-0-7; Brantley 3-0-1-7; Johnson 1-1-1-6; Bradley 0-0-3-3; Ross 1-0-1-3 (Totals: 8-4-9-37)
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Riley 4-0-8-16; Payne 3-0-0-6; Watson 1-1-1-6; Redfern 2-0-0-4; T. Lane 2-0-0-4; McCorvey 1-0-0-2; M. Lane 1-0-0-2; Banks 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 15-1-9-42)