Millbrook boys basketball
Millbrook's Stephen Townsend (3) drives toward the basket during Tuesday night's season opener at Knightdale. The Wildcats' couldn't overcome a 16-point, second-half deficit, falling 71-64.
Wildcats' first half 'dooms' opener
Although the Millbrook boys basketball team rallied back at Knightdale Tuesday night, cutting a 16-point, second-half deficit to just three on Jarrick Brown's lay-up with 37.3 seconds left, the Wildcats couldn't complete the opening-night comeback, eventually falling 71-64 to the Knights.
While Millbrook's late rally might have fallen short, Wildcat head coach Scott McInnes didn't fault his squad's final surge for the loss, but rather he blamed Millbrook's sloppy start.
"We had 16 turnovers in the first half, and when you do that, you're doomed," the coach said outside the Wildcats' visiting locker room following the game. "We were bad on offense, but the turnovers are what really hurt us."
Off the opening tip, Millbrook got off to a nice start as Danny Mizerk nailed a three-pointer on the Wildcats' first possession of the season. However, the squad's offense quickly fell silent, not producing a bucket for the next five and a half minutes.
Click here to see highlights from Tuesday's game.
During that span, the Knights scored the game's next 14 points, taking a 14-3 advantage on Anthony Pope's lay-up with 3:01 left in the first quarter.
Down 11-points early, Millbrook finally regrouped as Mizerk hit a short jumper, BJ Orr followed with a trey from the corner and Tyrrel Tate added a dunk and later a putback.
The Wildcats' late push helped erase the Knights' lead, making the game 15-12, Knightdale, at the end of the first.
Unfortunately for Millbrook, Knightdale's Ahmad Abdullah soon caught fire, nailing his next three three-point attempts to start the second. Abdullah's third trey put the Knights' up 26-16 with 4:13 left before intermission.
Millbrook couldn't duplicate a late run in the second quarter, and Tyler Nicholson's fast-break lay-up in the closing seconds of the first half put Knightdale up 35-24.
"I thought both teams were sluggish to start, but then they hit some big three-pointers," McInnes said. "And we turned the ball over way to much, which led to some easy buckets."
In the second half, Millbrook got a lift from forward Donzell Hill, who came off the bench to score six of his seven points in the third quarter.
Following the game, McInnes lauded Hill for his energy, saying "He was really active when he was in there. He helped a lot on the boards because we were getting killed there in the first half."
But Knightdale wouldn't allow the Wildcats to catch up, maintaining a 10-point advantage throughout most of the quarter. In fact, Adrian McDowell's back-to-back buckets midway through the period pushed Knightdale's advantage to 16 points.
By picking up its defensive intensity, Millbrook drew within six points, 60-54, midway into the final period, but just as the Wildcats seemed to make a move, the Knights bounced back.
With just over a minute remaining, the game looked well in hand for Knightdale, leading by seven, but Brown and the Wildcats didn't relent.
The guard nailed a jumper with 1:10 left, making the game 67-62, and added a lay-up 30 seconds later.
But a Millbrook offensive foul and a late lay-up by Knightdale's Tyler Nichols squashed any suspense, giving the Knights a seven-point win.
Brown and Tyrrel Tate were instrumental in the Wildcats' fourth-quater run, dropping nine points apiece in the period. Tate finished with a team-high 22 points, Brown added 13, and Mizerk had 10.
Nicholas' scored a game-high 23 points for Knightdale.
Afterward, McInnes pointed out the Wildcats aren't playing smart basketball offensively, and too often settled for a quick shot.
"We're not passing the ball enough, and we're not moving the ball," the coach said. "We have to be more patient. Right now, it's one pass and done. We have to be more unselfish."
McInnes said it's important his senior-laden group concentrate on getting better, if they want to reach their goals.
"We want to be good, but right now it's a whole bunch of talk," he shrugged.
Millbrook visits Apex Thursday (Nov. 19) at 7:30 p.m.
