Millbrook boys basketball
Millbrook's Errick Davis (left) slips a pass in between Sanderson's Kevin Black and Montez Hedgepath (30) during the Wildcats' 52-48 win over the Spartans Monday, Dec. 21.
Wildcats stave off Spartans' late push
A win never comes easy on a rival's court, and the Millbrook boys basketball team experienced that first hand in Monday's 52-48 victory over Sanderson.
Although the Spartans never led — and faced a nine-point deficit with 2:18 remaining — Millbrook still needed to hold off a late Sanderson rally to pull out a narrow victory in the crosstown clash.
In fact, without the clutch free-throw shooting of sophomore Shi-Chee Moore and senior B.J. Orr — who each hit a pair foul shots in the final 16 seconds — the Wildcats might have fallen in a contest they seemingly controlled for 46 minutes.
Afterward Millbrook senior Jarrick Brown, who scored a team-high 13 points, said the Wildcats momentarily got away from what they do best — play defense — during the Spartans' surge.
"We just had to settle down some, and do what we know how to do — play hard and play good defense," he said. "I think that's where we loosened up, and we had to get back to that."
Click here for highlights of the Millbrook/Sanderson boys basketball game Dec. 21.
But Monday's contest looked like anything but a nail-bitter as Millbrook set the tone early, and stymied the Spartans' attack through much of the contest.
Forward Donzel Hill's dunk on the Wildcats' opening possession gave the squad an early lift, and Millbrook jumped out with an 8-2 run, capped by Tyrrel Tate's lay-up midway through the quarter. (Coincidentally, Hill opened the second half with a dunk as well.)
"It definitely got us going," Brown said of Hill's early slam. "Anytime Donzell gets easy buckets like that it gets him and the team pumped up."
The Wildcats continued to fire away, closing out the quarter on a 10-3 run as Tate connected from beyond the arc as the period ran out.
In full control, leading 8-7, Millbrook maintained a 7- to 10-point lead through the first half, never allowing the Spartans to bridge the gap. Sanderson struggled from the field, converting just two buckets, but managed to stay in contention by hitting nine of 13 free-throw attempts in the second quarter.
But Orr delivered a late first-half blow, nailing a trey from the corner with just 15 seconds remaining before intermission. The Wildcats went into the half up 28-20.
"Entering the game, we were focusing on defense," Brown said. "We wanted to keep them from driving in, and we wanted to keep them off the glass and also get out on their shooters. I think we did that well early."
The Spartans needed a pair of Kevin Brown three-pointers and back-to-back lay-ups from Chris Carter to rally back in the third quarter. And by the start of the fourth — Matt James raced in for an early lay-up — Sanderson trailed by just four points with seven minutes to play.
The Wildcats retaliated with their own run, and on Tate's lay-in with 2:18 left, Sanderson looked out of the picture, trailing 46-37.
But Black nailed another trey, and James dropped in two lay-ups and two foul shots. On James' second free throw, the Spartans cut Millbrook's lead to 48-47 with fewer than 30 seconds remaining.
However, Moore and Orr ended all suspense converting at the line.
Brown said he wasn't surprised Moore — just a 10th-grader — and Orr came through in the clutch.
"He does it all the time in practice, and he comes out in the game, with the fans screaming and everything, and knocks them down with no problem. He really stepped," Brown said." And BJ, I knew he would come through for us, too."
Tate finished with 11 points, Hill added eight and Orr had six.
Only four Spartans scored Monday as Black poured in 18 points, James tallied 13, Franklin Wolfe added nine and Carter posted six.
Millbrook's Tyrrel Tate (42) gets off a shot as Sanderson's Chris Carter (52) applies pressure.
With the victory, Millbrook improves to 7-2 this season and 2-1 in Cap-7 Conference play, heading into this week's GlaxoSmithKline holiday tournament at Broughton.
"I think this win will be good for us as we head into there because it gives us some momentum," Brown said. "The tournament should be a great challenge for us. We are trying to make a run at a state championship this year, and these are a lot of good teams from around the country, and that will really prepare us for the conference tournament and the state playoffs."
But Monday, Brown was just happy to pull one out on the Spartans' home court.
"This is one of our biggest games, and we just love coming over there to play. And it feels great to win here as a senior," he said.
Millbrook plays Walton of Marietta, Ga., Monday at 12:40 p.m. in the GSK tournament at Broughton's Holliday Gymnasium.
Sanderson is slated to participate in the Chatlee Shootout at Lee Senior High next week.
The Spartans face East Wake Dec. 28 at 2 p.m., and are scheduled to face Cary or East Chapel Hill Dec. 29 at 6 p.m. Sanderson's third match-up is to-be-determined.
