Well-rested Mills finishes strong

MILLS 52, BENTON 43

HOT SPRINGS — Idle for 19 days, the Mills Comets came up with a late run on Thursday to turn back Benton 52-43 in the semifinals of the Spa City Shootout at the Bank of the Ozarks Arena.

Junior guard Branton McCrary scored a game-high 19 points, and the Comets outscored the Panthers 11-2 in the final 3:17 to advance to today’s 5:30 p.m. championship game.

Mills (9-2) won the Jammin’ for Jackets Tournament on Dec. 9. Since then, the Comets’ only opponents had been their junior varsity team and boredom.

“You try to have some intrasquad games to break up the monotony but it’s not like playing a game,” Mills Coach Raymond Cooper said. “At halftime [Thursday], the guys were like ‘man, the court is big and we’re winded.’ The layoff definitely affected us.”

Benton (12-3) pushed Mills to the max, tying the game on Evan Sims’ layup with 3:47 left. The Comets took the lead for good 30 seconds later when junior guard Orion Virden connected on a 15-footer.

Down 43-41 and with leading scorer Jai Peters having fouled out at the 2:18 mark, the Panthers had a chance to take a lead, but a three-pointer from the top of the key was long.

“We had a three-pointer and we felt good about it,” Benton Coach Dexter Hendrix said. “But what was big in the last two minutes is that Coach Cooper slowed it down when they were up two. He pulled the ball out and made us come out and guard them.”

Mills’ center Kaevon Jones hit a layup with 1:44 left and Benton’s Sawyer Oulch countered with two free throws at 1:35. Virden added a free throw with 1:23 left to put Mills up 46-43.