Mills tops Parkview for 3rd time in a row

MILLS 95, LR PARKVIEW 72

Mills has had Little Rock Parkview’s attention as of late, but after Friday night’s rout, the Comets appear to have the Patriots’ number as well.

Senior guard Grehlon Easter scored 29 points and junior forward Kevin Cross had 17 points and 14 rebounds as Mills ran away to a 95-72 victory in the semifinals of the Jammin’ for Jackets Tournament at Cirks Arena.

Junior guard Branton McCrary had 15 points for the Comets (7-2), who beat Parkview for the third consecutive time. Mills knocked off the Patriots 64-61 to claim the Class 5A state championship last season, then held on to beat Parkview 64-55 on Nov. 25. But Friday night’s matchup played out a bit differently than the previous two.

The Comets trailed for just 14 seconds and led by as much as 27 points. The Patriots made several charges at cutting into Mills’ lead in the second half, but every time Parkview would get close, the Comets had an answer.

Mills, which advances to play Little Rock Hall at 5:30 today in the title game, shot better than 60 percent in its first-round victory over Little Rock Central on Thursday and continued its torrid shooting against the Patriots. The Comets shot 31 of 49 (63 percent) from the floor, including 18 of 23 in the second half, and committed just 9 turnovers. The Patriots, on the other hand, were 25-of56 shooting (45 percent) and turned the ball over 15 times. Parkview was also outrebounded 29-24, but the biggest detriment for the Patriots was their inability to stay out of foul trouble.

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, commit Ethan Henderson, who had 29 points and 15 rebounds in the teams’ previous meeting, played just four minutes in the first half. The senior picked up his third foul at the 7:53 mark of the half, drew his fourth just 51 seconds into the second half and ended the night with just one point. The Patriots were whistled for 26 fouls overall and had two other players foul out.

Mills had no such worries. Parkview led 2-0 before Mills scored 15 of the game’s next 18 points, with Easter scoring 10. The Patriots went nearly eight minutes between field goals and missed 14 shots in a row during that stretch.

The Comets still led 32-18 before Parkview used an 8-0 run to slice its deficit to six. But back-to-back buckets by Easter and McCrary ignited a Mills’ spurt and helped the Comets pull out to a 42-31 lead at halftime.