Wakefield boys basketball
Wakefield's Nigel King (left) fights for room against Millbrook's Donzell Hill during Tuesday night's game. Nigel later won the game with a late jumpshot.
King's game-winner pushes Wolverines past Cats
Prior to hitting his game-winning jumpshot Tuesday night, which lifted the Wakefield boys basketball team to a 49-47 victory over Millbrook, junior Nigel King unsuccessfully bided his time on the bench.
"He must have tapped me 40 times saying he wanted back into the game," laughed Wakefield assistant coach Dexter Cooley, recalling King's anxiousness.
But once King got his chance, he made the most of it.
As teammate Dominique McDonald in-bounded the ball with 4.4 seconds left in a tied game, King found himself open outside the three-point line. With Millbrook's Shi'Chee Moore swooping in for a steal — which nearly disrupted the play — King gathered himself, and put up a leaning jumper which went cleanly through the basket with less than a second left.
Just how Wakefield head coach Pat Kennedy and his staff drew it up, right? No quite, the coach shrugged.
Click here for highlights of the Wakefield/Millbrook Dec. 15 boys basketball game.
"Oh yeah, we designed it the whole way," he joked. "Not quite. That's not the pass you want — having it go cross court on an out-of-bounds play. But that's just players making plays. Dominique threw that cross-court pass, and Nigel made a play."
Ironically, King recalled he envisioned himself hitting the game's biggest shot — he just didn't have the details down right.
"I was sitting on the bench, and I said, 'If I get in the game, I'm going to hit a game-winner' — but I was thinking it was going to be a three-pointer. It was a two-pointer, but we still won the game," smirked King. "It's my first game-winner, and it feels good."
King's heroics concluded a back-and-forth contest, which Millbrook took the upper-hand in early.
On the strength of Donzell Hill's nine-point first quarter — the forward finished with a team-high 15 points — the Wildcats jumped out to an 13-9 advantage.
But the Wakefield defense tightened up in the second, holding Millbrook to just six points.
With the Wildcats' offense silenced, the Wolverines pulled ahead as senior Maurice Nash scored seven of his 17 points during the period, including a short jumper to close out the half, giving Wakefield a 22-19 lead.
Nash's success Tuesday can be traced back a day, Kennedy said later.
"Maurice had a great practice yesterday and he carried it over to the game," the coach said. "He was big for us today."
But Millbrook senior Jarrick Brown put the breaks on the Wakefield's run in the second half, dropping in four buckets during a third-quarter run. He finished the game with 12 points.
Wakefield showcased its depth during early stages of the second half as six different players contributed points in the third.
King acknowledged the Wolverines' depth can cause opponents difficulties. "It's great because other teams can guard everyone, and on different nights different people can step up," he said.
Added Kennedy, "We tell our guys to be prepared for opportunities. It might not be this game, it might not be next game but we might need you in four games. We had a lot of guys itching to get back in tonight, which is nice. It's nice that we have so many competitors on this team."
While King hit the most memorable shot of the night, his teammates helped put him in position to play the game's hero.
Millbrook's Jarrick Brown (with ball) looks to get off a shot against Maurice Nash Tuesday.
After Millbrook's Danny Mizerk grabbed a rebound and hit a beautiful turnaround, Hill added a lay-in with 90 seconds left, getting the Wildcats a 47-44 advantage.
But McDonald calmly dribbled up the floor two possessions later, and nailed a three-pointer with just under a minute remaining, tying the game at 47-47.
On the Wildcats' next possession, Keith Armstrong drew an offensive charge on a driving Brown, giving the Wolverines the ball back.
Kennedy, always the defensive-minded coach, highlighted the play later, saying "Without that stop, we don't get an opportunity to win the game."
Then came time for King's bucket.
"I knew it was going to come down to the end," the junior said. "We just finished like we are supposed to."
King, McDonald and Xavier Saddler-Mee finished with seven points a piece, and Abe Maingi added five.
For Millbrook, Tyrrel Tate scored 11 and Mizerk had six.
The Wolverines travel to Leesville Road Thursday, Dec. 17, while Millbrook heads to rival Sanderson Friday, Dec. 18. Both boys games begin at 7 p.m.
