Miller a clutch master for Mustangs
Some average high school players panic in the clutch. Some great players try to do too much and fail. Morgan Park junior guard Adam Miller was cool, precise and effective with the game at stake Monday.
Miller received the ball with four seconds left and the score tied. He made two moves and got to his spot in the lane and made a jumper to give the No. 4 Mustangs a 67-65 victory against No. 6 Bolingbrook in the Martin Luther King Day City/Suburban Classic at Fenwick in Oak Park.
“I knew it was going in the whole time,” Miller said. “As soon as I let it go, I was already checking how much time was left on the clock because I knew it was going in. I thought they might still have a second left, but by the time it went in, the clock ran out, and it was game.”
There was never any panic in Miller. He knew where he wanted to be on the floor to win the game and was able to get there.
“It was a hard shot,” Miller said. “I could’ve settled for the three or even a onedribble pull-up, but I got deeper in there, and it was a better shot. I had been hitting midrange shots all game, so I went to the one I was knocking down.”
Morgan Park’s bench erupted in celebration and mobbed Miller. Tensions were high in the second half. The Mustangs picked up three technical fouls in the third quarter.
“We are the most hated team in the state of Illinois,” Morgan Park coach Nick Irvin said. “They beat my players up every game. We persevered through it. That’s how we’re built.”
Miller scored 27 points. Morgan Park (19-3) led by 11 at halftime, but Bolingbrook led 52-48 after the tumultuous third quarter.
“When you have the Player of the Year on your team, you have a chance to win every night,” Irvin said. “I knew that was going in when it left his hand.”
Kam Leonard, Bolingbrook’s 6-8 senior, played very well in the second half and finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
“He was tremendous on the boards,” Miller said. “Sometimes you just look and stare at people and say wow.”
Kyel Grover scored 15 points for the Mustangs,
and Chris Roberts added eight points and six rebounds. Senior Karl Jones finished with eight points and seven rebounds.
“[Miller] is a great player, and he showed it,” Bolingbrook coach Rob Brost said. “If there’s a better guard in the state, I’d like to see him. For that matter, we’ve played all
over the country, and he’s the best player I’ve seen. You have to hand it to him. He made a tough shot, and they won the game on that.”
Joseph Yesufu led the Raiders (14-4) with 21 points, and Tyler Cochran added 19 points and 10 rebounds.
“We just had too many little errors,” Brost
said. “The game was lost at the free-throw line and with our carelessness with the ball, just too many turnovers. There are no moral victories here for us. We’re not a program about that. We want to handle ourselves with class starting with the coaches and all the way down to the players.”