Basketball: Miller Grove, Tucker Split Battles of Ranked Teams

Kyre’ Hamer was on fire from outside the arc and inside the arc as he scored 30 points to lead his No. 1 ranked Miller Grove Wolverines to an 80-69 victory over No. 8 ranked Tucker at Miller Grove on Friday night.

Hamer had given the Wolverines a 19-16 lead heading into the second quarter with a pair of free throws then hit three consecutive from the three-point arc to open a 28-19 advantage with 5:55 left in the half.

James Walker and Keith Pinckney took over for Hamer the rest of the first half with Walker hitting for six points and Pinckney adding five to propel Miller Grove (17-3) to a 43-25 halftime advantage.

Devonta Fitzgerald fueled a late Tucker rally scoring 12 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter and the Tigers (11-6) pulled with nine points with 29 seconds to play after trailing by as much as 21 in the fourth quarter.

Hamer hit for three more on a basket and one of two from the free throw line in the final 29 seconds to put the game away for the Wolverines.

James Walker hit for 13 points and Alterique Gilbert had 14 all in the second half to join Hamer in double figures for the Wolverines. Jon Dunmyer added 15 points to join Fitzgerald, a Texas A&M signee, with his 27 for the game.

(G) Tucker 48, Miller Grove 39
The No. 2 ranked Tucker Lady Tigers used a 9-0 run to end the third quarter and to start the fourth quarter to pull away from the No. 3 ranked Miller Grove Lady Wolverines for a 48-39 victory in girls’ high school basketball action to open the night at Miller Grove.

The victory avenged a 37-32 loss to Miller Grove back on January 4 in the Peach State Classic.

The two teams were in a constant back-and-forth battle through most of three quarters staying within one point of each other most of the first 22 minutes of the game.

Miller Grove was up 31-30 when Tucker freshman Najila Shamsid-Deen hit a layup to give Tucker the lead for good at 32-30 with 1:03 left in the third quarter. Shamsid-Deen followed with another layup on a pass from Nuba Jackson to send Tucker into the fourth quarter up 34-31.

Jackson hit a three-pointer to open the fourth quarter and Shamsid-Deen followed with two layups on assists from Tori Robinson as the lead grew to 41-34 with 5:34 to play in the game. Leading by six (45-39), Tucker got a pair of free throws from Erykah Davenport and one from Jackson to put the game away.

Nuba Jackson hit for 14 points and Najila Shamsid-Deen added 12 to lead the Lady Tigers (17-3) in the win. Katie Hunt had 11 points to lead Miller Grove (16-4).

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Mark Brock is the Information Officer/Statistician/Web Manager DeKalb County Schools Athletics