By Thomas Sellers Jr.
The first quarter of the District 15-2A opener for the Ripley Tigers and Millington Trojans was a microcosm of the entire contest. On Jan. 8, the Millington Trojans surged out to a 17-5 lead exciting the William Osteen Gymnasium faithful. Then the Tigers roared back to close the opening quarter on a 13-1 run to deadlock the game at 18-18. The Trojans recovered to dominate the next two quarters building a 59-44 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Millington led by as much as 21 points at 55-34. Ripley rallied again trimming the Trojan advantage to single digits late in the fourth quarter. But Millington held on to prevail 69-62. “What went right for the first 27, we played with a little energy,” Millington Head Coach Jewell Gates said. “We weren’t afraid. The last 5 we went back to being soft and showing who we are. Until we become tougher, we are not going to win big games. “We are not going to Covington and win playing like that,” he added. “We’re not going to go to Haywood playing like we did the last 5 minutes and win. Not Bolivar, Fayette-Ware or Ripley, they will beat us by 20 up there if we play like we did the last 5 minutes tonight.” The first 5 minutes of the Ripley game belonged to the Trojans. After the Tigers took a 5-4 lead, Millington proceeded with a 13-0 run. Hunter Klutts got the Trojans rolling with a three-pointer. The latest to the 1,000-point club hit two more triples to make the score 13-5. The next Trojan to join the scoring fun was Taveon Collier with a bucket in the paint. After Kaevyon Lewis exploded to the rim for a layup, Millington appeared poised to runaway leading 17-5. Then the Tigers closed out the first quarter outscoring Millington 13-1 to deadlock the game at 18-18. The Trojans dominated the second quarter 25-11 to go ahead 43-29. Klutts dropped 8 points in the period. Millington big man Bobby Macklin did work in the paint with 7 points. It was Macklin hitting a shot in the third quarter that put the Trojans ahead 47-32. Later Macklin made another shot and Lewis drained a pair of foul shots giving Millington a 55-34 advantage. From that point on, Ripley outscored the Trojans 28-14 to give Millington nervous moments until the final buzzer. “We must grow up,” Gates said. “And we’re not 10th graders anymore. We can not use that excuse ever again. I’m tired of hearing stuff on the outside mess. ‘I am too this. I am too that.’ These boys have to toughen up.” Gates said there are many layers to his players gaining mental strength to take on the rest of the district schedule. The veteran coach said it starts with him. “It’s going to take them being in the gym with me everyday,” he said. “It’s going to take them not listening to their mamas and their daddies. They’ve got to hear one voice — that’s mine.
“That’s on them,” Gates concluded. “It takes a man to block the outside out and stay in this locker room with us. We have a hard time doing that which makes it difficult. Will we win? I believe so. But will we win convincingly and put people away? Not like this, the way we played the final five minutes.”
