The Mills Comets made the big plays down the stretch in a 58-43 victory over eStem on Friday night at the Arkansas School for the Deaf in Little Rock.
The Comets (15-8, 4-0 4A-5 South Conference) led 43-39 early in the fourth quarter and took charge with a 15-0 run to put the game away.
eStem (24-7, 3-2), which trailed 43-36 going into the fourth quarter, closed to 43-39 on a three-pointer by Kingston Alexander. But Mills’ Antwan McCray answered a three pointer to make it 46-39.
The Mets closed to within 46-41 on a driving basket by Jayson Williams before the Comets ripped off the next 15 points to seal the victory.
Anthony Hester made 1 of 2 free throws with 4:43 left and McCray followed with a three-point play to make it 50-41 with 3:24 left. Marshall Watts made two free throws with 2:25 left to stretch the lead to 52-41. After an eStem timeout with 2:11 left, Hester made a jumper and Trey Rhodes scored off a turnover to make it 56-41.
“Great victory,” Mills Coach Raymond Cooper said. “This was a tough environment. It was loud in here. This is one of the toughest places to play in the state. I told my guys it’s going to be war when we go over there. Their fans were raucous.”
The Mets shot 13 of 38 (34.2%) from the floor, including 6 of 19 (31.6%) on three pointers. They also turned the ball over 18 times, which led to 15 points for the Comets.
“Eighteen turnovers, 15 points, that gives them the game,” eStem Coach Monty Patel. “That killed us. That’s fine, we have to find something to get better. We didn’t adjust well.”
Cooper, whose team trailed 12-11 late in the first quarter before going on a 12-1 run to lead 23-13 in the second quarter, credited several defensive adjustments in turning the game around.
“They had us on our heels in the first half and we made a few adjustments and finally they caught on and we made some plays,” he said. “We made some big defensive plays which helped break it open.
“They were beating us to the basket and we had to stop their penetration. That was the biggest thing. They were getting downhill. We had to do something to keep them from getting to the basket.”
The Comets were able to take a 35-25 lead into halftime. eStem went on an 11-3 run in the third quarter to close to within 38-36. But Maziyah Curry made two free throws and a three-pointer for Mills to make it 43-36 going into the fourth quarter.
Patel said his team, which made 10 of 16 free throws, didn’t do a good job of getting to the line consistently.
“We didn’t get to the free-throw line at times,” he said. “The first quarter we did a great job and in the second quarter, we didn’t get to the line and that got us down 10. Third quarter, we got it to seven and had a chance to cut it to two or take the lead and didn’t finish.”
Marshall Walls led the Comets with 16 points and six rebounds. McCray had 15 points and 5 rebounds, while Hester added 13 points.
Alexander and Williams led the Mets with 11 points.
Despite the loss, Patel said there is plenty of time for his team to left to recover before the postseason.
“We have a lot of time left,” he said. “We have regionals. We’ll see them again and we might see them again in state. We have to steady the ship and not panic.”
Cooper agreed that there are plenty of important games left in the regular season.
“We have all of these makeup games and not having a lot of time to practice,” he said. “eStem is going to be a tough team in the tournament.”
GIRLS
ESTEM 51, MILLS 49
Precious Powell came up big at the free-throw line for eStem (13-16, 3-2) against Mills (9-9, 3-1)
Powell, who led the Lady Mets with 22 points, made two free throws with 12.1 seconds left for a 50-49 lead. She added 1 of 2 with 2.7 seconds.
After Powell missed the second free throw, Mills called timeout. La’Zariyah Sanders passed the ball to Gregory, who led the Lady Comets with 16 points. In a mad dash down the floor, she lost control of the ball as time expired.
eStem, which trailed 36-28 midway through the third quarter, closed to within 39-36 at the end of the quarter and finally took the lead at 43-42 on a three-pointer by Mya Aikens with 5:40 left.
Mills took a 49-47 lead on a basket by Eerial Williams with 1:55 left. Simya Magsby, who finished with 12 points for eStem, made 1 of 2 free throws with 1:43 left to make it 49-48 before Powell put the Lady Mets ahead.