TRM Lady Tigers defeat Atmore Tuesday, Tiger B-team and varsity fall
Published 1:38 pm Wednesday, November 30, 2011
In the first home game of the season for the T.R. Miller Tiger basketball teams Tuesday against Atmore, only the Lady Tigers were able to pull out a win.
In the B-team game, Atmore defeated T.R. Miller 51-28 to start the season 0-1 for the Tigers.
In girls action, T.R. Miller rallied to defeat the Lady Blue Devils 37-31 to improve their record to 2-2 this year. The Lady Tigers started their season last week in the Choctawhatchee Thanksgiving Tournament where they went 1-2, winning their final game.
In the boys game Tuesday night, Atmore cruised their way to a win over the Tigers 70-34 to drop the Tigers to 0-1 to start the season.
All three T.R. Miller teams will be back in action Monday at Hillcrest. Game time is set for 4:30 p.m. with the B-teams starting things off followed by the girls then the varsity teams.
Atmore 51, TRM B-team 28
An 8-0 run to start the game and other runs of 5-0, 8-0, and 7-0 later in the game allowed the Atmore B-team to defeat T.R. Miller’s B-team 51-28 Tuesday.
Atmore’s press defense early in the first quarter gave the Blue Devils an early 8-0 lead in the game and a 10-4 lead after the first quarter.
T.R. Miller tied the game at 10-10 with 3:10 left before the half after a 6-0 run of their own, but from there, Atmore outscored the Tigers 10-2 to hold a 20-12 lead at the half. Atmore finished the half on a 5-0 run.
In the second half, the Blue Devils continued on their run and increased it to 8-0 and later used a 7-0 run in the quarter to increase their lead to 32-19 heading into the fourth.
In the fourth quarter, Atmore outscored the Tigers 19-9 to get the win by 23 points.
Trae Walker led the Tigers in the loss with 13 points and Kellyn Winn had eight points. Terry Samuel chipped in five points and Michael Woods added two points.
T.R. Miller shot 4-for-11 from the free throw line while Atmore was 9-for-21.
TRM Lady Tigers 37, Atmore 31
The young T.R. Miller Lady Tiger basketball team grew up Tuesday as they defeated Atmore 37-31 for their second straight win after starting the season 0-2.
Down 30-23 after three quarters of play, the Lady Tigers stepped up their defense and outscored Atmore 14-1 in the fourth quarter to win by six points.
T.R. Miller trailed Atmore 9-3 after the first quarter, but rallied in the second quarter and used a 9-0 run to outscore Atmore 13-6 to claim a 16-15 lead at the half.
In the third quarter, the Lady Tigers jumped out to a 22-17 lead with 4:22 left in the quarter and would later hold a 23-21 lead with 3:13 left.
From there, Atmore would end the quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 30-23 lead into the fourth.
In the fourth, T.R. Miller went on an 8-0 run to hold a 31-30 lead with 4:03 left to play. After Atmore tied the game at 31-31 with 3:51 left in the game, T.R. Miller ended the game on a 6-0 run to get the win by six points.
“I really think the girls showed a lot of discipline,” T.R. Miller Lady Tiger head coach Ron Jackson said after the win. “We are getting to the point where we are playing defense a little bit better. I think that conditioning was a big factor and we were fortunate to come back in the end and beat Atmore. Atmore is a good team. They are well-coached and have some good athletes that get after it. They really played hard.”
Jackson said late in the game his Lady Tigers’ defense helped get the win.
“I think towards the end, LaTeysia Montgomery stepped up her defense on the point and really put pressure on their point guard and Leah (Brundidge) seemed to take control offensively,” Jackson said. “We got two crucial baskets from Shay Nicholson that really sparked us and gave us the life we needed. We are still improving on our pressure defense and we are going to get better at it as the season goes along. We are still young, but I am just ecstatic about this win. It could have easily went the other way. Their coach from Atmore did a great job and we were just fortunate at the end that we got some lucky breaks and was able to pull it out.”
Leah Brundidge led the Lady Tigers with 19 points and Taylor Guthrie and LaTeysia Montgomery both had six points. Shay Nicholson added four points and Jasmine Montgomery added two points.
The Lady Tigers shot 8-for-16 from the free throw line in the win while Atmore was 4-for-16, including 1-for-8 in the fourth quarter.
Atmore 70, TRM varsity 34
The T.R. Miller Tiger varsity boys basketball saw their season start out in a rough way Tuesday night at home as the Escambia County Blue Devils of Atmore cruised their way to a 36-point win over the Tigers.
Atmore started the game on an 18-run and ended the run with a crowd-pleasing alley-oop dunk.
The dunk led to T.R. Miller’s first points of the game as the Blue Devils were called for a technical foul on the dunk after hanging on to the rim.
Darrion Salter got T.R. Miller’s first points of the game as he connected for two free throws with 3:24 left in the first quarter.
Atmore would finish the quarter with a 24-8 lead. In the second quarter, the Blue Devils saw their lead get cut to 26-13 with 6:42 left before the half. With their lead down to 13 points, Atmore would go on another 18-0 run to take a 46-19 lead over the Tigers at the half.
T.R. Miller started the third quarter by getting the first five points to cut the lead to 46-24 with 7:12, but those points would be the last points in the quarter for the Tigers as Atmore would end the quarter on an 11-0 run to hold a 57-24 lead heading into the fourth.
In the fourth, Atmore’s run would increase to 15-0 and they would outscore the Tigers 13-10 to get the win by 36 points.
Mark Bryant led T.R. Miller with 10 points and Salter finished with nine points. Caleb Dickey added six points and Jaquan Dewberry chipped in five points. Kameron Winn finished with four points in the loss for the Tigers.
Atmore was 4-for-8 from the free throw line while T.R. Miller was 7-for-12.
“The boys have got to really learn to play and control the tempo. We can actually control the tempo, but Atmore did a great job of pushing the ball up the court and getting us into a run-and-gun game with them. Once we did that, we played right into their hands with them and we were down 20 points before we knew it,” T.R. Miller boys head coach Ron Jackson said. “They came out fired up and ready to play and we came out lackadaisical. To play on an up-tempo team like that, you have to got out shooting and be ready to play. I think that was a good eye-opener for our kids. I think it will make them realize what it is going to take in order beat a good team.”
Jackson praised the defensive effort of Caleb Dickey Tuesday in the loss to Atmore.
“Caleb Dickey out there and he laid it on the line,” Jackson said. “If I can get five to get out there and lay it on the line like Caleb, if they would have laid it on the line tonight, we may have not would have won, but it would have been much closer than it was.”