The top-ranked Miller Grove boys basketball dynasty is showing no signs of ending any time soon.
The Wolverines solidified their position as the favorite in Class AAAAA with a 70-60 victory Friday over No. 3 Tucker in a Region 6 showdown between DeKalb County rivals. Keith Pinckney scored 20 points, Alterique Gilbert had 19 and James Walker added 14 for the Wolverines, who led by six points after the first quarter and gradually pulled away.
Miller Grove (15-4) is trying to win its sixth consecutive championship in the state’s second-highest classification. No other boys team in Georgia history has won more than four titles in a row. The Wolverines broke that record when they beat Gainesville 61-57 in the final last season.
“We come into it every year expecting to win a championship,” Miller Grove coach Sharman White on Wednesday. “We feel like if you’re going to play, you might as well play for all the marbles. We say it at the beginning of the year, and we don’t have to repeat it throughout the year and repeat it and repeat it because it’s been established from Day 1 that the guys that walk through that door and put on our uniform, they understand that we play for championships every year. Our expectations don’t change from year to year.”
Miller Grove’s victory against Tucker extended its winning streak against Georgia teams in its classification to almost two years, since a 56-54 loss to Chamblee on Jan. 20, 2012. The Wolverines are 157-26 since the start of the championship run in 2008-09. Sixteen of the losses came against out-of-state teams as Miller Grove has loaded up its schedule annually with top national competition. The Wolverines’ next game will be Monday in Dayton, Ohio, against Roselle Catholic (N.J.) in the Flyin’ To The Hoop Invitational. Roselle Catholic is ranked No. 16 nationally in the USA Today poll.
“Playing the games that we play, we haven’t ducked or dodged anyone,” White said. “We play some of the toughest teams, not only from the state but around the country. ... By playing some of the best competition, we try to prepare ourselves for what we like to think is the best time of the year, and that’s the playoffs.”
Guards Gilbert and Pinckney are the team’s leaders. They rank among the top 10 in DeKalb County in scoring, assists and steals, according to statistics released by the county earlier this week. Gilbert, a sophomore, averages a county-leading 4.3 steals. He also is third in assists (5.1) and tied for fifth in scoring (17.9). Pinckney ranks eighth in scoring (16.6), 10th in steals (2.5) and fifth in assists (4.4). He was a second-team all-state selection last season and has signed with Tulane.
“They’re our catalysts,” White said. “They get us going. They do a great job of putting us in good positions offensively and they do a great job defensively. They’re some real sharp and high-character kids, and that helps on all different fronts.”
Seniors Walker, Omar Venable and Deven Dorsett rank among the top 11 in the county in either rebounding or blocked shots, and sophomore Raylon Richardson is 13th in rebounds (7.5) and 11th in blocks (1.4).
“We’re still not definitely where we want to be, but I like where we are,” White said. “We’re just trying to get better as the season progresses, and I think we’re doing a good job of that. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and our guys are just working hard to get better. We like where we are. We could be better, but that’s just the coach in me saying that.”
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