Darious Hall and Grehlon Easter combined for 29 points as No. 2 Mills trounced Watson Chapel 68-37 in a 6A/5A-5 Conference game at the Galaxy on Tuesday night.
Mills (24-1, 11-0) hit 10 of 16 shots from the floor in the second quarter to expand a 19-5 first-quarter lead to 43-17 at the half.
The Comets 31-point victory came after back-to-back narrow victories over Benton and Pine Bluff.
"We had started developing some bad habits during the last couple of weeks," Mills Coach Raymond Cooper said. "That's not where you want to be this time of the year."
Hall, the 6-6 University of Arkansas signee, finished with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists. Easter, a 6-3 junior guard, scored 13 points, nine of which came in the first half.
"We've needed to get back to our normal selves and play as hard as we normally play," Easter said. "Our game is to scrap and play defense, and we were more like ourselves tonight."
Mills was 27 of 45 from the floor and forced 19 turnovers, 13 of which came in the first half. Watson Chapel (10-13, 4-7) was held to 13-of-32 shooting.
"We were just focused a little better tonight," Cooper said. "We had ball movement tonight where we didn't have a bunch of guys standing around and watching one guy play basketball."
Jeremiah Toney added 11 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals for Mills.
Senior Devonta' Harkless came off the bench and led the Wildcats with 14 points. Sophomore Kavon Mitchell added 10 points. Junior Kaleb Hill led Watson Chapel with five rebounds.
WATSON CHAPEL (37)
Harris 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 2-2 2, Harkless 5 3-6 14, Tate 0 0-0 0, Williams 0 0-2 0, Mitchell 3 3-5 10, Hill 3 0-0 6, Vaughn 2 1-2 5. Totals 13 9-17 37.
MILLS (68)
Easter 5 2-2 13, Allen 2 0-0 5, Hall 7 1-2 16, Toney 3 5-6 11, Jones 4 0-2 8, Ford 3 0-2 6, Virden 1 0-0 3, Curne 1 1-2 4, Ware 1 0-0 2. Totals 27 9-16 68.
Watson Chapel (10-13) 5 12 13 7 -- 37
Mills (24-1) 19 24 16 9 -- 68
Three-point goals -- WC 2 (Harkless, Mitchell); Mills 5 (Easter, Allen, Hall, Virden, Curne). Team fouls -- WC 17, Mills 18.
Sports on 02/15/2017