Total team effort leads Hawks over Benedictine
Instead, the junior spread his wings and flew.
Miller's effort exemplified a total team effort in Hiland's 67-60 victory over a monstrous Cleveland Benedictine team at Hiland on Wednesday, Dec. 29 at the closing game of the Hiland Holiday Showcase.
The moment in time was at the end of the third period, when Miller made a poor decision, drawing the ire of head coach Mark Schlabach, which led to him grabbing some pine time beside his coach. A little heart-to-heart later, and Miller was back in, and looking to make a difference.
"He made a horrendous play there, and he could have wilted, but instead he went out and was really focused and confident," said Schlabach. "He hit a big three tonight and was clutch from the free throw line down the stretch."
Miller went 6-for-6 from the charity stripe with the game in the balance, barely drawing iron on any of the free throws.
But on this night, it was much more than one player, as heroes came from all angles.
Despite its size, Hiland knew it would have trouble containing Benedictine's giants in the paint, as well as the athleticism of guard Desmond Ridenour. Time and again Mike Roberts (6'6") and Mark Williams (6'8") used their brute strength to grab offensive boards and put in easy buckets. But Hiland stayed with the Bengals, trailing 32-28 at the half. Miller hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 32-31, and after Williams hit a pair of free throws, the Hawks actually took a 37-34 lead on two buckets from Dylan Kaufman and another from Miller on a sweet pass from Jalen Miller.
But the Bengals then went on a 10-0 run eight of the points courtesy of offensive rebounds. Down seven, the Hawks were on the verge of being taken down, but instead, crept back to within striking distance, when Kaufman grabbed an offensive board of his own and laid it in, then fed Luke Burch for a lay-up. When Ridenour drove the paint to end the third quarter, Benedictine led 46-41.
"We could have been in real trouble down seven, but I think we made some really good decisions and took good shots," said Schlabach. "I thought we showed some nice maturity and patience when we absolutely had to have it."
Little by little the Hawks kept gnawing away at the lead. Jalen Miller found Seger Bonifant on a back-door cut. Burch connected on a pair of charity tosses.
Kaufman's steal and lay-up drew the Hawks to within one at 48-47 with 5:55 to play. Ridenour hit a 15-footer, but Bonifant made tow free throws, and after Winston Grays hit a spinning shot in the lane, Kaufman drained a triple to knot the score at 52 with 3:43 to play.
Westley Parr gave the Bengals a momentary 54-52 lead on, yes, another put-back off the glass. However, Noah Boyd, who had been silent since a good first quarter, gave the Hawks a 55-54 lead with a 3-pointer form the corner. After a Bengals miss, Boyd connected again from nearly the same spot, and Hiland had a 58-54 lead with 2:30 to play.
"We knew that the 3-pointer was going to be part of the game plan tonight because of their physical size down low," said Schlabach. "We kept telling Noah on the bench that he needed to keep slinging them."
He heeded that advice, and came through with a pair of daggers that had the Bengals reeling. When Bonifant hit a pair of free throws, the bib Benedictine team staggered even more. However after the teams traded buckets with one minute to play, Ridenour scored twice on slashing drives, the second after a Hiland turnover, that made the score 62-60 with 34 seconds to play. But Jason Miller wanted the ball now, that miscue to end the third a distant memory. He calmly sank four straight free throws, the last with 12 ticks left on the clock, and gave Hiland a 66-60 edge and the game.
"It was a nice team win," said Schlabach. "Every guy who played tonight did something to help us win. We hit some huge shots down the stretch. We didn't panic when we could have had things come undone, and we kept battling. In games like these last two games, we want to win, but more importantly, we want to play top competition and compete hard. I thought we did that on both nights."
Kaufman led the hawks balanced attack with 16 points, with Miller adding 15, Boyd and Bonifant each scoring 11, Burch adding 10 and Jalen Miller chipping in with six. Ridenour scored 19 points for the Bengals, as did teammate Williams, while Roberts who battled foul issues all evening and eventually fouled out, was held to eight.