By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Concluding Week One at .500, the Nov. 24 match up with the Halls Tigers presented the Millington Trojans with a chance to have a winning record and gain another lesson in winning basketball.
One of the lessons Trojans Head Coach Jewell Gates has been drilling into his players minds since his arrival to Millington is win the third quarter. In years past, the Trojans would be leading or within a few points before imploding coming out the locker room.
Against Halls, the Trojans were ahead 39-31 at halftime. The old Millington trend of losing the third period didn’t take place with the Trojans’ guard play dictating the overall pace to help Millington build at 58-46 advantage heading into the fourth.
The Trojans kept the heat on Halls in the final 8 minutes leading to a 86-71 win and a 2-1 overall record.
“The guards are getting it a little bit more,” Gates noted. “Grandberry, Haynes and Chris Barnes makes a different for us. He’s a scrappy guy. A different upbringing from a couple of these other ones. That helps us a little bit because he’s survived some of that grind and gritty stuff some of us don’t like to do. We’re getting better with that gritty stuff.
“We found a way to keep fighting and stuck it out,” he added. “We made a couple of layups and a couple of big threes from Haynes. Then Grandberry hit one. Some inside baskets from Reyes. So we stuck that third quarter out better than we have in the past. That’s a good thing I see and at least we’re doing that a little bit better.”
Seth Grandberry and D’Camron Haynes joined forces with Chris Barnes, Winston Moore and Brandon Payne for overwhelming perimeter play for the Tigers. Halls matched the Trojans play for play in the first 8 minutes of the game in the William Osteen Gymnasium with Millington nursing a 17-16 lead.
Haynes got the Trojans off to a good start in the second quarter with a triple. Barnes followed with a three-pointer of his own to make the score 23-16. Halls kept pace throughout the first three quarters behind the scoring output of their guard who dropped 43 points by the end of the night.
Millington got timely shots the rest of the first half from Grandberry, Barnes and freshman Blake Garner. The Trojans were ahead 39-31.
Millington freshman Jackson Powell made the lead 10 points with a layup to start the third quarter. The closest Halls would get the rest of the quarter was 9 points. Barnes and Payne snapped any momentum the Tigers tried to create with a three-pointer and layup respectively.
To close the period Garner hit a layup on a fast break and big man Diego Reyes stepped out to drill a trey to make the score 58-43. Millington was head 12 points starting the final period.
Halls scored 25 points in the final 8 minutes of the game. But the Trojans dropped 28 points on the scoreboard to win the contest. Millington’s triumph over Halls added to the 71-35 win over Macon Road.
Gates described the Halls win as a ugly win he’s take over a pretty loss any day. The veteran coach said his players have to learn from giving up 43 points to one player by being more mentally tougher and listen to all the coaches.
“We gave up 48 to that kid from Ripley last year in a similar situation,” he recalled. “We have to learn how to deny a guy like them the ball. The other coaches were on the sideline telling our guys, ‘Once he passes it, don’t let him get it back.’ Instead of us when he gives up getting tight with him so he doesn’t get it back, we relax and let him get it back. And we let him go to work because he’s good enough to go to work.
“We have to get better on that,” Gates concluded. “We have to get better on stopping somebody’s top gun. That little guy from Ripley who had 48 on us last year, he’s back. He’s looking forward to playing us again. Last time he saw us he put 48 on us.”
