Miller books trip to Petersburg

It wasn’t a pristine effort, but Miller managed to overcome some general sluggishness and punch its ticket to Petersburg and the VIS Division II semifinals with an 82-68 victory over Walsingham Academy.

“We’re going to have to knuckle down in practice [today],” said Miller forward Marshawn Powell. “We’ve got to put energy into it, we’ve got to play ‘D’ and we’ve got to move our feet.”

Powell staked Miller to a 14-point halftime lead with a monster first half, putting up 18 points and eight rebounds before the break. He finished with 27 points, four assists and nine boards after frontcourt mate Hippolyte Tsafack handled the bulk of the rebounding in the second half. Tsafack posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 boards.

Still, despite the big advantage at the break, Miller appeared frustrated and out of rhythm during the majority of the game.

“If we do that on Friday [in the semifinals], there won’t be a Saturday — we know that,” said Miller coach Fred Wawner. “Hopefully we got it out of our system.”

Walsingham managed to cut into Miller’s lead in the third, but a surge by the Mavericks early in the final frame stretched the lead back to 17 points, and shortly thereafter, the Trojans’ Corey Brown, who finished with 16 points, fouled out, leaving Walsingham with just Keenan Brown as a real scoring threat. Brown led the Trojans with 23 points, including three 3-pointers.

Mychal Parker and Brice Kofane rounded out the offensive effort with 14 and 13 points each, and the two were both efficient and effective as shot blockers. Parker had three blocks and a pair of steals and Kofane finished with five rejections.

D’Andre Corbin was one of the few players for Miller who posted decent defensive numbers, registering seven steals. The point guard also dished out four assists.

Miller’s problems started on the defensive end where Walsingham did a solid job of adjusting to the Mavericks’ sets. The Trojans attacked the basket when Miller went man-to-man and buried open 3-pointers (Walsingham hit seven buckets from long range) when the Mavericks switched to a zone.

“We have to defend and we’re pretty good at it when we choose to,” Wawner said. “I just felt like there wasn’t a time where we did a good job stopping the ball and playing the assignments we talked about the night before.”

With the Potomac School or St. Anne’s-Belfield looming in the state semifinals at 5:15 p.m. on Friday, Miller needs to correct that lack of energy fast.

“Offensively we could have run our stuff a little bit better and be stronger with the ball,” Powell said. “But it was the defensive end. I guess we came in here playing like we knew we’re going to win. That’s the problem — we can’t always do that or we’ll end up at home.”