Jordan Whitfield (pictured) scored 20+ points for a second consecutive game. Millbrook moves to 5-1 in the Cap-8 Conference with the win.
Over the course of the last five games, Jordan Whitfield has shown the ability to score in bunches. When he is on, he is on, and Friday night's win over Sanderson was a prime example of it, as the 6'1 Junior downed six three's in the victory, including three in the span of two minutes, as the Wildcats bounced back from a loss to Heritage with a 90-67 win on the road.
Three points from Whitfield started the Millbrook offensive output as he took the opening tip to the hole for the basket while drawing the foul. His three point play seven seconds into the contest was followed two minutes later by a three from downtown to force a Sanderson timeout. Sandwiched between Whitfield's first and second made baskets of the game were a trio of three's from Trejon Jacob, Rashad George, and Monte' Harris. Millbrook went 7-17 from behind the arc in the first half of play.
Gee Kalejaiye found the scorebook in the second quarter with Millbrook up 24-15, when he tipped in a errant shot. Kalejaiye, who finished with 4 points, made his first career start on Friday night. He lined up next to Faison Brock who would score 10 of his 19 points in the first half. Brock went a perfect 5-5 from the line in the first two quarters, and he knocked down both of his attempted field goals in those frames, one coming on a three point play, and the other being his first made three point basket of the season.
Trejon Jacob closed out the first half by navigating through the Spartan defense to cap off his 12 point night. That bucket sent the team's into their locker rooms with the Wildcats comfortably holding on to a 50-31 lead.
The second half did not get off to as hot of a start as the first but, Millbrook turned some lock down defense into offense as Brock and Kalejaiye went up and blocked two Sanderson layup attempts off the glass. The second block sprung a Wildcat fastbreak for John Burwell, who would draw the foul while making the basket for a three point play.
After allowing Heritage to shoot 88% from behind the arc last Friday night, the Millbrook defense stepped up to cut the Spartans' three point shooting percentage to less than half of that, as they cashed in on only 42% of their shots from downtown. Another drastic improvement was the Wildcats' ability to get to the glass and secure rebounds. They out rebounded Sanderson 36 to 13 in the game which included 18 rebounds on the offensive glass, second most to their 22 vs. Enloe on December 11th. Adrian Scarborough, and Trejon Jacob led that charge with four offensive boards apeice, and they combined for 14 total rebounds.
Jacob turned two of those rebounds into assists, both coming in the fourth quarter on three pointers from Jordan Whitfield. After being fouled on a steal, and hitting his two free throws, Whitfield found nothing but net one more time to finish with 24 points on the night. Since Millbrook's 61-44 win vs. The Christ School on December 29th, Whitfield has downed 17 three pointers, and he is averaged a team-high 20.4 points per game. Brock finished with 19 points, Jacob added 12, and John Burwell finished with 11. It's the fourth consecutive game in which the Wildcats have had four or more scorers in double digits. Senior, CJ Thompson also added a career high 6 points, late in the contest, to the Millbrook total. The 6'3 Forward entered the game having scored 4 points all season.
With the victory, Millbrook remains in a tie for first place in the Cap-8 Conference. The tie remains, but number of teams in the tie has decreased following Broughton's victory over Heritage on Friday night. The Wildcats (14-1) are all knotted up at 5-1 in the Cap-8 with Leesville (9-6), who pulled away late from Wakefield at home. Conveniently, that two way tie will be broken rather quickly as the two teams wrap up the first half of conference play against each other on Wednesday night at Millbrook. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 PM and a sell out crowd is expected, admission is $7.
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