Miller Grove’s Jamarcus Glover (25) pulls down one of his 11 rebounds off a missed free throw. He grabbed the ball in front of teammate’s Jahmil Barber (14) and Zyair Greene (11) and Southwest DeKalb’s Chandler Sanders (12). (Photo by Mark Brock)
A furious Southwest DeKalb rally came up short as a desperation three at the buzzer was short and Miller Grove held on for a big Region 5-5A boys’ victory on the road Tuesday night at Southwest DeKalb.
The win moved the Wolverines (15-8, 7-2) into second place in the region standings behind No. 1 ranked Lithonia (21-1, 9-0) while Southwest DeKalb (11-11, 6-4) fell to fourth a half game back of Columbia (13-7, 6-3).
Miller Grove was leading 45-41 as the Panthers closed the gap on Chandler Sanders fifth three-pointer of the night with 2:44 to play.
The Wolverines went into a patient passing offense running a minute and 10 seconds off the clock before Tyreik Boyd zipped a pass under the basket to Zyair Greene for an easy layup to make it 47-41 with 1:34 remaining.
Southwest DeKalb’s Eugene Brown III hit a pair of free throws and Shaik Shahjahan answered with two of his own for Miller Grove to push the lead back out to 49-43 with 1:04 to play.
Jamarcus Glover’s layup on a feed from Shahjahan made it a six-point game again (51-45) with 31 seconds to play following Jacorry Gist’s drive for the Panthers.
Miller Grove would miss two front ends of the one-plus-one while Brown went to the line twice for the Panthers converting four free throws to close the gap to 51-49 with 5.8 seconds remaining. The second trip to the line came after Brown rebounded two missed three attempts by the Panthers.
Brown rebounded the second free-throw miss by the Wolverines with 4.0 seconds left and the Panthers called timeout facing going the length of the court. Following a second timeout by the Panthers, they got the ball up the court and called time with just 0.4 seconds to play to set up one last shot.
The ball was passed to Brown deep in the half court and his heave was short as the Wolverines celebrated the big win. It was Southwest DeKalb’s third consecutive two-point loss five days.
Miller Grove led the entire first half after jumping out to a 5-0 start, including a 10-point lead (23-13) on Jahmil Barber’s offensive put back with 2:05 left in the first half. The Panthers cut the lead to 25-21 on Brown’s three-pointer at the buzzer to end the half.
Kusamae Roper knotted the game for the first time at 33-33 as he ended the third quarter with a buzzer-beating trey of his own.
The Wolverines opened a quick 37-33 lead to open the fourth quarter on drives by Greene and Boyd on the way to extended the lead to as many as seven points (45-38) on a Boyd drive with 3:05 to play.
Greene led the Wolverines with 15 points in the game while Boyd added 14. Glover finished with 9 points and 11 rebounds. Brown led the Panthers with 19 points and 10 rebounds and Chandler Sanders who hit five three-pointers in the game finished with 18 points.
Southwest DeKalb’s Pyria Thompson (4) drives against Miller Grove defender Jalisha Mann (11) in the Lady Panthers’ 10th Region 5-5A victory. (Photo by Mark Brock)
(G) Southwest DeKalb 56, Miller Grove 29
A 21-6 rebounding edge in the second half helped the No. 9 ranked Southwest DeKalb Lady Panthers pull away to a 56-29 victory over the Miller Grove Wolverines in the opening game at Southwest DeKalb.
Southwest DeKalb’s Jayla Kimbrough played a big role in the Lady Panthers’ quick start to the second half with a three-pointer and a layup on assists from Pyria Thompson and dishing to Taylor Christmas for another easy basket as the lead jumped out to 32-18.
Jalina Robinson had eight of the 10 points for Miller Grove (6-12, 4-5) in the third period with a driving layup and two from behind the three-point arc trying to keep the Lady Wolverines in striking distance. Maya Berry closed the gap to 40-28 with a basket late in the third period.
Kimbrough and Thompson teamed up for another layup by Kimbrough as the Lady Panthers (16-6, 10-0) opened with another quick 6-0 run in the fourth quarter. Aniyah Lee and Destiny Remy both had layups in the run to push the lead to 46-28.
T. Coleman hit for the Lady Wolverines’ only point of the final period as she hit a free throw with 4:49 to play.
Lauryn Bell would hit eight consecutive points as the lead blossomed to 54-29 with 57 seconds to play. Adrieanna Brownlee’s offensive put back finished out the scoring.
Miller Grove jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on Robinson’s three-pointer, but Southwest DeKalb would take a 13-10 lead into the second quarter on Remy’s offensive rebound for a basket with 19 seconds left in the period.
Coleman tied the game for the last time at 15 by hitting one of two free throws with 4:49 to play in the half.
Brownlee’s layup with 3:28 started a 5-0 run as Southwest DeKalb pulled out to a 22-15 lead.
Berry’s rebound and put-back with 10 seconds left in the half closed the gap to 25-18 at the break.
Kimbrough finished with a game-high 19 points and added 6 rebounds to lead Southwest DeKalb. Taylor Christmas added 8 points and 8 rebounds, Adrieanna Brownlee contributed 7 points and 7 rebounds and Destiny Remy pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.
Jalina Robinson led the way for Miller Grove with 14 points while Berry finished with 7 points and six rebounds. Jaylen Clark had a team-high 8 rebounds.