6A/5A-5 BOYS

Easter delivers for Mills

Grehlon Easter (left) and Darious Hall of Mills apply pressure on Benton’s Jai Peters (2) as he tries to pass the ball during the Comets’ 59-49 victory over the Panthers on Tuesday.
Grehlon Easter (left) and Darious Hall of Mills apply pressure on Benton’s Jai Peters (2) as he tries to pass the ball during the Comets’ 59-49 victory over the Panthers on Tuesday.

Grehlon Easter and the Mills Comets did enough to fend off the Benton Panthers, 59-49, in a 6A/5A-5 Conference game Tuesday night at the Galaxy.

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Mills had beaten Benton by an average of 31 points in two earlier meetings but found things more difficult in Tuesday night’s game. Jeremiah Toney added 11 points and seven rebounds to carry the Comets past the Panthers 59-49 at the Galaxy.

Easter, a 6-3 junior guard, scored 16 points and provided key baskets in the second half as the Comets earned their 17th consecutive victory.

"I've challenged him in practice because sometimes he's not aggressive enough," Mills Coach Raymond Cooper said. "I've told him, 'Big players make big shots.' I guess that stuck with him tonight, and I'm glad it did."

Benton (16-7, 6-4) led 5-2 with 5:38 left in the first quarter, but the Panthers went the next six minutes without scoring. Mills (22-1, 9-0) scored 17 consecutive points and Benton was no closer than eight points the rest of the way.

"That was the difference in the game right there," Benton Coach Dexter Hendrix said of the Panthers' first-half scoring drought. "Mills is so dangerous in transition. They can do so many good things. Some of that was our fault because we were rushing things and playing too fast, but at the same time, you've got to give Mills credit."

Jeremiah Toney added 11 points and seven rebounds for Mills while University of Arkansas signee Darious Hall provided 10 points and 4 rebounds.

Benton was led by senior Fred Harris, who scored 12 points and collected seven rebounds. Jai Peters and Westin Riddick each added 11 points. Peters had four steals, all in the third quarter.

Benton, which lost to Mills 77-47 on Dec. 29 and 70-38 on Jan. 10, never allowed the Comets to gain more than a 16-point (41-25) advantage Tuesday.

Mills was guilty of 13 turnovers -- 11 in the second half -- but made 21 of 41 of shots from the field.

"Overall, we were just sloppy," Cooper said. "We turned the ball over a lot. We took bad shots. We made bad decisions. We just played sloppy."

"I really like the way our kids battled all night," Hendrix said. "I thought there were a few times where Mills was up 12 or 15 points and we could have put our heads down, but we kept chipping away. When you play a team like Mills with great effort, you can't help but improve."

BENTON (49)

Angelo 2 0-0 5, Peters 4 3-5 11, Halk 2 2-5 6, Harris 5 2-2 12, Riddick 3 2-2 11, Sims 1 2-2 4, Robins 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 11-16 49.

MILLS (59)

Easter 6 2-2 16, Allen 1 1-2 4, Hall 4 1-2 10, Marshall 1 0-0 2, Toney 3 5-9 11, Ford 0 0-0 0, Clark 2 0-0 4, Virden 2 0-0 6, Jones 1 2-2 4, Keita 1 0-0 2, Curne 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 11-17 59.

Benton (16-7) 5 13 14 17 -- 49

Mills (22-1) 17 12 16 14 -- 59

Three-point goals -- Benton 4 (Riddick 3, Angelo); Mills 6 (Easter 2, Virden 2, Allen, Hall). Team fouls -- Benton 13, Mills 13. Fouled out -- Angelo, Riddick. Technicals -- Hall.

Sports on 02/08/2017

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