No. 2 Millbrook used a 57-point first half to dispatch of Ashley 89-42 in the opening round of Wilmington’s 25th Annual Leon Brogden Holiday Basketball Tournament.
Jalen McCoy and William Felton combined to score 28 points as the Wildcats improved their record to 12-0 this season.
Felton and Matthew McIntyre paced Millbrook in the opening frame with six points each.
Mikai Stanley earned 7 of his team-high 13 points for Ashley in the first quarter. After one, the Wildcats held a 28-10 lead over the Screaming Eagles.
McCoy made his presence felt in a 29-point second stanza. The junior entered off the bench, and scored 7 points of his own including an alley-oop in transition to draw an applause from those in Hoggard’s Sheila Boles Gymnasium.
Despite recording its largest offensive output of the night in the second quarter, Ashley went into the halftime break trailing 57-28. All 13 of Stanley’s points came in the first half, Tai Freeman contributed 7 of his 9 points in the same span.
Up handily in the third with a running clock triggered, Millbrook’s defense held the Screaming Eagles to a mere four points. Collin Lewis tallied 10 points for the Wildcats including a pair of three-point baskets in the period.
Late in the third, Lewis set the school’s all-time record for charges drawn in a career with 35.
As the score continued to rise for the state’s leader in points per game, Millbrook received fourth quarter scoring contributions from McIntyre, McCoy, Bradley Barnes, and Adam Carey.
The Wildcats will advance to the semi-final tomorrow night to play either Jay M. Robinson or the tournament’s host school, Hoggard.
Ashley falls to 1-6 on the season. The loser of the Robinson versus Hoggard contest will take on the Screaming Eagles in the consolation bracket semi-final.