In Miller boys basketball’s first two games, a Friday-Saturday doubleheader with Hagrave, the Mavericks got an explosive offensive effort from Jacob Rice as he notched 29 and 31 points in the two contests.
Wednesday night against Fishburne, it was balance that led the way for the Mavericks as four different Miller players reached double figures in a 78-26 win over the Caissons.
“We finally ran through our sets a little bit better than we did in the other games so it was good to get that feeling going and run them properly,” Rice said.
Rice scored 13 points and three assists in the effort, but it was T.K. Bryant who led the scoring attack with 19 points and five assists. Bryant was aggressive taking the ball to the rack and finished strong, battling through contact on several drives to pick up points. Eli DeLaurier also had a big game with 14 points and six boards while Clarence Rupert’s 12 points, five boards, five steals and four assists rounded out the double digit scorers. Ethan DeLaurier chipped in eight points and five rebounds.
The Caissons had few answers for the Mavericks’ aggressiveness on offense and couldn’t solve Miller’s defense on the other end of the floor either, turning the ball over constantly or struggling to find good shots against Miller’s height inside.
The DeLaurier brothers face one of the tougher challenges because of the Mavericks’ short bench that requires big minutes from the big men.
“I love my bigs, they’re great and you know you’ve got to feed them every time because they work hard and grind,” Rice said.
Miller is also leaning on some pretty well-developed team chemistry as most of the Mavericks’ players are returners.
“The chemistry on this team is really amazing because a lot of the guys have known each other for a long time but there are also some new kids,” Eli DeLaurier said. “I think it’s a really good mesh, the chemistry has really come together.”
It showed Wednesday as they made short work of the Caissons. Miller is set to travel to take on Eastern Mennonite Tuesday at 6 p.m.
