Mills clamped down on Little Rock McClellan on Thursday night, holding the Lions to their lowest point total of the season and winning 57-38 in front of a capacity crowd at the Lions' Den.
Senior forward Kevin Cross scored 19 points and pulled down 12 rebounds as the Comets (15-4, 8-0) broke open a close 4A-5 Conference game by outscoring McClellan 14-5 in the first four minutes of the third quarter.
"Every time we play McClellan it's a knock-down, drag-out game," Mills Coach Raymond Cooper said. "We stretched [the lead] out in the third quarter, but it was not indicative of how hard fought this game was. Tonight I thought our guys just gutted it out. We were tired. They were tired. We did enough to get out of here."
Leading 27-23 at the break, Mills turned the game in its favor on back-to-back 5-footers from seniors Branton McCrary and Orion Virden to start the third quarter. Virden followed with a 21-footer to give Mills a 34-23 advantage, and McClellan was never any closer than eight points.
The Comets have won 15 of their past 16 games, including their last five. McClellan (13-6, 6-2) saw its five-game winning streak come to an end.
McClellan hit only 12 of 41 (29.2 percent) from the floor. The Lions also struggled from the free-throw line, going 14 of 25, including a 4-of-12 performance in the second half. The Lions, who entered the game averaging 68.5 points, had scored no less than 51 points in their previous 18 games.
Mills outrebounded McClellan 46-31, including a 14-3 advantage on the offensive end.
"It's hard to get a second chance when you take an undisciplined shot," McClellan Coach Chris Threatt said. "When you take shots within your rotation, it gets people moving. In the first half, we didn't need many second chances because when we got ball movement we had somebody at the rim. In the second half for the first three or four minutes, everything we took was a one-dribble, pull-up shot."
McCrary scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half. Virden finished with 11 points, 9 of which came in the final two quarters. Sophomore Kiyler Hudson grabbed 11 rebounds.
McClellan senior Elijah Green led his team with 15 points. Senior James Nichols added eight points and a team-high seven rebounds.
"I knew it would come down to defense because [McClellan] is going to make you play," Cooper said. "There's no strategy you can come up with because [Threatt] does such a good job of mixing their defenses up. You just have to play good defense and take care of the basketball."
GIRLS
LR McCLELLAN 75, MILLS 51
Sophomore Takyra Miles hit 3 of her 5 three-pointers in the third quarter to help the Lady Lions (7-8, 4-4) down the Lady Comets (5-12, 2-6).
Mills led 32-31 early in the third quarter, but the three-pointers from Miles sparked McClellan to outscore the Lady Comets 22-7 the remainder of the quarter.
Junior Brittney Patterson led McClellan with 19 points while pulling down 13 rebounds. Miles and freshman Taya Bridgewater each added 16 points. Freshman Raven Brown scored 14 points and sophomore Jykiara Brown collected a game-high 15 rebounds. Bridgewater and Raven Brown each had five steals.
For Mills, seniors Lavoya Lewis and Ta'mia Halk each scored 14 points. Jasmine Ellison added 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Sports on 01/18/2019