Miller Grove’s Aidan Saunders (12) goes up between Southwest DeKalb’s Darius Hogan (0) and Keith Gilmore (20) during the Wolverines win at home. (Photo by Mark Brock)
In a game that featured a combined 17 lead changes and ties in the final 11:39 of the contest, the No. 1 ranked Miller Grove Wolverines pulled out a 76-69 Region 6-5A victory over the No. 10 ranked Southwest DeKalb Panthers at Miller Grove on Tuesday night.
The final tie of the game came with 3:21 to play as Alterique Gilbert, a Connecticut signee and McDonald’s All-America candidate, cut to the basket and Raylon Richardson found him behind the Panther defense for layup to knot the game at 66-66 with 3:10 to play.
Gilbert, who finished with 24 points on the night, gave Miller Grove the lead for good at 67-66 as he hit one of two from the free-throw line with 2:53 to play following one of two consecutive turnover by the Panthers. Gilbert took the second turnover to the basket for a layup to push the lead to 69-66.
A big block by Richardson which he also tipped up court to Aaron Augustin who in turn passed to Joshua Jackmon who was fouled going to the basket. Jackmon hit one of two free throws for a 70-66 Wolverine lead with 2:08 to play.
Southwest DeKalb was not going away as Nathaniel Ambersly found teammate Darius Hogan for an open three from the left corner to cut the lead to 70-69 with 1:56 to play.
Augustin drove to the basket and floated in a layup from in front to give Miller Grove a 72-69 cushion. The Panthers failed to cut the lead with a pair of misses at the free-throw line with 59 seconds to play.
Richardson and Gilbert had drives to the basket in the final 22 seconds to make the final of 76-69.
Trailing by as much as 10 points at the half and in the third quarter the Panthers (8-1) began to get their offense rolling behind TiQuan Lewis who put in five consecutive points to close the gap to 45-41 with 5:02 left in the third period.
Keith Gilmore got a tip in off a missed shot and 43 seconds later Mandarius Dickerson gave the Panthers their first lead of the game at 46-45 with a three from the right wing with 3:39 left in the third.
Josh Archer made it 49-46 on the Panthers next trip as he found the same open shot as Dickerson to drain a three-pointer of his own with 3:14 left in the quarter.
The Wolverines (8-2) regained the lead as Gilbert grabbed a rebound along the baseline and rammed home a dunk and Richardson followed with a drive to the basket with 1:57 to make it 50-49. Richardson also had a pair of free throws to end the quarter to give his team a 54-52 advantage heading into the final quarter.
The teams traded the lead seven times in the final period with big threes from each team including Miller Grove’s Collin Young and Southwest DeKalb’s Dickerson.
Ambersly gave Southwest its last lead of the game with his second consecutive drive for a layup to make it 66-64 with 3:21 to play.
Gilbert’s 24 points lead all scorers in the game while Collin Young added 19 for miller Grove, Raylon Richardson had a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds and Aaron Augustin added 11 points.
The Panthers were led by a double-double of 19 points, 11 rebounds by TiQuan Lewis, 13 points each from Keith Gilmore and Nathaniel Ambersly and 12 points on four three-pointers by Darius Hogan.
Southwest DeKalb’s Daisa Alexander (20) drives against Miller Grove’s Alexia Strong (33). Alexander led the Lady Panthers with a game-high 20 points in the win. (Photo by Mark Brock)
(G) SW DeKalb 59, Miller Grove 49
The No. 4 ranked Southwest DeKalb Lady Panthers remained undefeated at 8-0 as they repelled a late second half rally by the Miller Grove Lady Wolverines (6-5) for a 59-49 Region 6-5A girls’ basketball contest at Miller Grove.
Southwest DeKalb led 31-21 at the half on Cori Bostic’s rebound and layup just before the buzzer as the Lady Panthers stormed back from an early 6-0 deficit.
A three-pointer by Daisa Alexander followed by Ogheneruona Uwusiaba’s layup extended the halftime lead to 14 (42-28) with 3:32 to play in the third quarter.
Imani Richardson got Miller Grove rolling as she drove the basket for a layup and then following a turnover drained a three-pointer from the right wing. Baskets inside by Chrystal Ezechukwu and a three-pointer from A’Shunta McGill pulled Miller Grove with four (46-42) with 58 seconds left in the quarter.
Uwusiaba hit a pair of free throws to close out the third quarter to give the Lady Panthers a 48-42 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
Alexander hit a three that gave Southwest a 51-43 lead, but Ezechukwu would cut it to six points twice in the next two minutes.
Bostic would finish out the game with layups on nice passes from Raven Thurman to make the final of 59-49.
Daisa Alexander finished the game with a game-high 20 points to lead four Lady Panthers in double figures including Jada Walton with 11 and 10 points each from Bostic and Uwusiaba (13 rebounds for a double-double).
Ezechukwu and 15 points to lead Miller Grove and Richardson finished with 13.
Southwest DeKalb now heads out to Phoenix, Arizona to take part in the Tournament of Champions on December 18 thru 22 against some of the top teams in the country opening the Joe Smith bracket against Springfield Central from Massachusetts at 4:00 pm on Friday.