The Millbrook Men's Basketball team has seemed to have no problem with putting their opponents away rather easily since the calendar turned into 2016. In Cap-8 Conference play, the Wildcats' average margin of victory is just over 34 points. On Tuesday night, they took those gaudy to a new level with an 86-31 victory at Wakefield.
It took the Wildcats two minutes to force the Wolverines into calling a timeout. The stoppage came with Millbrook already ahead 9-0 on baskets from four different players. In that early stretch, the tenacious defense from Faison Brock and company forced Wakefield into five turnovers.
Steal after steal would be proceeded with basket after basket for Millbrook. John Burwell, who dished out five assists in the first half, lobbed a pass to Trejon Jacob for an alley-oop, and dropped another pass to Brock for a one handed, tomahawk jam in transition. The early 21-4 Wildcat run was ignited by the starting five, and continued from several bench pieces.
With starting guard, Jordan Whitfield, and sixth-man, Rashad George out of the lineup, junior Patrick Dorsey stepped up in a big way for Millbrook in the first half. He closed out a first quarter, that saw the Wildcats ahead 27-10, with a three pointer from the left wing. He wasn't done there as he flipped sides and downed one from the right wing on the next offensive possession. Following a pair of misses from downtown, Dorsey found the net two more times before the second quarter wrapped up. He went 4-6 from beyond the arc in the first half for all 12 of his points on the night. It was the first time that the 6'5 forward had scored in double-digits since dropping a career high of 20 on December 15th at Wake Forest.
Millbrook had long ball fever in the opening half as nine of their ten triples in the game fell in the opening 16 minutes. Trejon Jacob, and John Burwell got in on the fun to extend the Wildcat lead to well over 30 points, then Monté Harris pulled up in transition and sunk a three ball in the face of a defender. With just over a minute remaining in the 2nd stanza, Millbrook was already threatening the mercy rule. Harris would bank in a near half court shot as time expired which epitomized the strong first half play of the Wildcats. The half court heave gave Millbrook a 42 point lead at 59-17 going into the break and it meant that the remainder of the game would be played under a running clock.
The three ball was the hot topic of the first half but the offense in the second would come in the paint. Faison Brock, who led all scorers with 19 points in the game, and 9 at halftime would open the 3rd Quarter with three consecutive baskets and two free throw makes. Burwell would get his hands in on an errant pass and take it coast-to-coast for the score. It's always better to give than receive and that's what the Wildcat point guard did two plays later as he flipped another alley-oop to Trejon Jacob to give Millbrook a 52 point advantage. For the second straight game, Burwell would lead all players with 7 assists.
Jacob wrapped up his night with one final dunk in transition before giving way to the likes of Adrian Scarborough, and CJ Thompson who would end up accounting for 15 of the 'Cats 27 second half points. Scarborough put back an errant shot, then he got another basket in the lane to fall, this time while being fouled, for the old fashioned three point play. Thompson on the other hand, added three points in numerous ways. He downed a wide open corner three with 3:24 left in regulation, and promptly ripped the ball free of the Wolverine point guard as he crossed half court on the next play. Thompson went up for the layup and got it to fall while being fouled. He would get the free throw to go, and finish his night with a career high 8 points. Junior forward Gee Kalejaiye would also register a career high in points with 6, his four rebounds (all offensive) would also by a career best. Five different Wildcats would score in double figures, and four players would come away with three or more steals on the night. The Millbrook defensive pressure forced the Wolverines (4-16) into 31 turnovers in the game, 24 coming in the first half. Phil Protz, who grabbed a game high 7 rebounds, would also lead the Wolverines in scoring vs. the Wildcats for a second straight game with 9 points.
With the win, the Wildcats are 18-1 on the season, and 8-1 in Cap-8 Conference play. They have a quick turnaround as Wednesday night, Millbrook will travel to Enloe to makeup a previously postponed quad at 8:00 PM. The JV Wildcats tip-off vs. the Eagles at 5:00 PM that evening. For more information, follow us on Twitter at @MillbrookMBB.