In their first area games of the season and first game of 2012, the T.R. Miller Lady Tiger and varsity Tiger basketball teams improved their records with wins over the Excel Panthers.
The Lady Tigers cruised their way to a 56-16 win over the Lady Panthers to improve their record to 7-6 overall this season and to 1-0 in area play. The varsity Tigers hung on for a 49-47 win over the Panthers to make their overall record 5-5 this year and their area record to 1-0.
In B-team action Tuesday night, the Tigers lost to Excel 45-30 in their first game in 11 days. The loss dropped the B-team Tigers to 2-4 this season.
T.R. Miller’s teams will be back in action Saturday at home against W.S. Neal. The game for the Tigers will be just their second home game this season and the first of three straight. Of the 10 remaining regular season games for the T.R. Miller basketball teams, six will be home games.
Game time Saturday against W.S. Neal is set for 4:30 p.m. with the B-teams beginning play followed by the girls and then the varsity game.

Excel 45, TRM B-team 30
In a game that saw the Excel B-team hit nine 3-pointers, the T.R. Miller B-team lost to the Panthers by 15 points Tuesday on the road, 45-30.
The Panthers scored 14 points in the first quarter with 12 coming from 3s as they started the game on a 9-0 run and led the Tigers 14-8 after one quarter of play.
In the second quarter, the Tigers roared back to cut the lead to four points, 19-15, with 2:15 left before the half. But from that point on, the Panthers would end the quarter on a 5-0 run to lead by nine at the half, 24-15.
Excel would open the third quarter on an 8-0 run to increase their run to 13-0 and stake claim to a 32-15 lead with 4:25 left to play in the quarter.
Excel would go on and outscore the Tigers of Brewton 10-5 in the quarter to increase their lead to 14 points, 34-20, heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, Excel would edge out T.R. Miller by one point, 11-10, to get the win by 15 points.
Kellyn Winn led the Tigers in the loss as he poured in 12 points. Trae Walker followed with seven points and Dominique Jackson and Jalen Jones had four points each. Keion Smith chipped in two points and Michael Woods added one point in the loss for the Tigers.
T.R. Miller shot 6-for-7 from the free throw line in the loss while Excel was 2-for-6.

TRM Lady Tigers 56, Excel 16
The T.R. Miller Lady Tiger basketball team picked up their second straight win and first area game win Tuesday in a big way as they defeated the Excel Lady Panthers by 40 points, 56-16.
Every player on the team played in the big win with mainly non-starters playing the whole second half.
Leah Brundidge and LaTeysia Montgomery had big games Tuesday in the win as both outscored Excel by themselves.
Brundidge led the way with 21 points while Montgomery had 20 points. Nastarcia Drakeford finished with four points and O’Nesha Hall added three points in the win.
Tiana Stallworth, Tempest Thompson, Shakera Nicholson, and Taylor Guthrie all had two points in the win for the Lady Tigers.
“Well, the girls are getting a little better,” T.R. Miller Lady Tiger head coach Ron Jackson said. “We have been doing a lot of fundamental work. When you are a young team and just starting out in the game, you have to start working on the ball-handling and the shooting. We have some promise with this team and if they stay with it, I think they will probably be a pretty decent team.”
The Lady Tigers led Excel 1-0 50 seconds into the game before Excel took their one-and-only lead with 6:05 left in the first quarter with a 2-1 lead.
From that point, the Lady Tigers would finish the first quarter on a 16-0 run to lead 17-2 after one quarter of play.
In the second quarter, T.R. Miller turned a 24-6 lead into a 38-6 lead as they used a 14-0 run in the quarter to outscore the Lady Panthers 21-5 to hold a 38-7 lead at the half.
The Lady Tigers would increase their lead to 50-11 heading into the fourth quarter as they held a 12-4 advantage in the third quarter. In the fourth, T.R. Miller edged out Excel 6-5 to get the 40-point win.
The Lady Tigers were 4-for-8 from the free throw line in the win while Excel shot 1-for-12.

TRM varsity Tigers 49, Excel 47
Leading by two points in the final seconds of the game Tuesday, Tiger Mark Bryant blocked an Excel shot at the buzzer to help preserve a two-point win, 49-47.
With the Tigers lead by six points, 49-43, with 44.5 seconds left in the game, Excel would connect with one of two free throws with 43.5 seconds and hit a 3-pointer with 24.1 seconds left to cut the lead to two points.
A Tiger turnover with 18.4 seconds left would give Excel back the ball before the Panthers turned the ball back over to the Tigers with 8.1 seconds left in the game. Excel would foul the Tigers with 6.9 seconds left, but two Tiger misses gave the Panthers a final shot in the final seconds to tie the game and send it to overtime or win the game in regulation.
After a missed Panther shot and an Excel rebound, Bryant would block the final shot for the Panthers to get the win by two points.
T.R. Miller was 9-for-17 from the free throw line in the win while Excel was 4-for-9. The Tigers were 3-for-7 from the line in the final 54.5 seconds of the game.
In the boys game, Jackson said they kind of underestimated Excel.
“We didn’t really come out with the mindset that we needed,” he said. “We have got to come out and play every game like it is a championship game. I think we are working on that and moving in that direction. If we can just get that mindset and if we can go out and play for the full 32 minutes of the game, I think we will be fine. We have a good, decent bunch of kids. They are good kids, they just have to get mentally ready.”
In the first quarter, the Tigers held an 11-6 over the Panthers after turning a 6-4 deficit with 4:36 left into an 11-6 lead heading into the second quarter following a 7-0 Tiger run.
In the second quarter, both teams scored 14 points each as the Tigers went into the half with a five-point lead, 25-20.
In the third quarter, T.R. Miller jumped out to a seven-point lead, 29-22, with 5:29 left in the quarter before Excel clawed back with a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 29-28 with 2:40 left to play in the quarter. Although Excel would outscore T.R. Miller 10-8 in the quarter, the Tigers lead 33-30 heading into the fourth.
In the fourth quarter, T.R. Miller led Excel 39-32 at the 6:04 mark before the Panthers went on an 8-0 run to take a 40-39 lead with 3:22 left in the game.
T.R. Miller would return the favor with a 7-0 run to hold a 46-40 lead with 1:47 left. Excel would cut the lead to 46-43 but the Tigers held a 49-43 lead with 44.5 seconds left.
Following a 4-0 run from the Panthers to cut the lead to 49-47 with 24.1 seconds left, neither team would score as the Tigers held on for the win.
Darrion Salter led the Tigers in the win with 16 points and was joined in double figures by two other Tigers. Bryant finished with 11 points in the win and Caleb Dickey had 10.
Kameron Winn followed with six points and David Barragan and Jaquan Dewberry both had three points for the Tigers.