Redan’s Tae Beavers (with ball) comes away with the basketball and a path for a layup as Miller Grove’s Anwar Molette (11) and Nathaniel McKelvey (1) move to impede his path during Redan’s big second half comeback victory. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Noah Melton scored all his 13 points in the second half to spur the Redan Raiders to a come-from-behind 61-58 win over the Miller Grove Wolverines in Region 6-2A boy’s high school basketball action at Redan on Tuesday night, giving the Raiders their first win of the 2025 season.
Redan trailed for almost three quarters before Melton made the big plays in the final 53 seconds of the third quarter to send the Raiders (1-8, 1-1) into the fourth quarter up 41-39. A steal for a basket and then he nailed a three-pointer on an assist from Jordan Francis with two second left in the third period for the Raiders first lead of the game since a 2-0 lead to open the game.
Miller Grove’s Carlin Cabbil tied the game at 41-41 with 7:24 to play with a drive and a pull up floater before the Raiders then went on an 11-1 run to take a 54-43 lead on a layup by Tae Beavers who took a pass from William Bankhead for the basket.
The Wolverines (6-9, 0-2) began to crawl back into the game led by Amore’ Randolph. Randolph hit a three followed by a driving layup to cut the lead to single digits. Jimmy Mattox IV pulled Miller Grove within 54-50 with an offensive put back with 3:26 to play.
Melton, who had four points and an assist earlier in the quarter, hit a floater driving in from the left wing to make it a six-point game (56-50) with 1:59 to play.
Mattox answered with an old fashioned three-point play as Anwar Molette found him underneath the basket for a layup. Mattox added the free throw and Redan’s lead was down to 56-53 with 1:39 left to play.
Beavers added another layup with 1:24 reaming for a 58-53 advantage and Melton got a steal to give the Raiders the basketball up five with 1:00 left on the clock.
Miller Grove’s full-court press then forced the Raiders into three consecutive turnovers. Randolph was fouled and hit two free throws following a steal. A second turnover led to a 1-2 performance at the line for Molette before Randolph picked up another steal and got the ball to Cabbil for a game-tying layup with 31 seconds left.
Francis helped the Raiders run the clock down to five seconds before being fouled on a drive to the basket. He hit one out of two free throws to give Redan the lead again at 59-58.
A Wolverine turnover with 2.5 seconds to play led to Melton’s two free throws to clinch the game with 1.1 seconds to play. A desperation shot at the buzzer was well short by the Wolverines. Miller Grove went 5-13 at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter and 5-17 overall in the second half.
Redan (1-8, 1-1) trailed by as much as 12 points (31-19) in the second quarter before pulling within 33-27 at the break behind a 6-0 that included a Beavers hitting a layup and two free throws before Roman Sims hit a hanging floater at the buzzer for a momentum changing moment before the half.
Melton finished the night with a team-leading 13 points for Redan while Beavers added 12 points and seven rebounds. Jimmy Mattox had a solid 16 points and eight rebounds to lead the Wolverines and Randolph added 15 points and six rebounds.
Miller Grove’s Janiya Smith (20) battles against Redan’s Londyn Felder (2) for a loose ball during Miller Grove’s 49-34 girls’ high school basketball win over Redan. (Photo by Mark Brock)
GIRLS
Miller Grove 49, Redan 34
A 10-2 run in the third quarter led by Kamiya Moore enabled the Miller Grove Lady Wolverines to pull away to a 49-34 Region 6-2A girls’ high school basketball win over the Redan Lady Raiders in the opener at Redan on Tuesday.
Redan’s Londyn Felder cut what had been a 22-12 halftime lead by Miller Grove (6-5, 2-0) to just five points with 5:47 remaining in the third quarter as she knocked a three-pointer from the right win.
Moore then answered with two baskets for Miller Grove to kickstart the key run of the game for the Wolverines. The only basket by the Raiders (1-8, 0-2) came on an offensive put back by Zanise Ward off a missed free throw.
A three-pointer by Noriah Cato made it a 13-point lead for Miller Grove with 3:21 to play in the third period. Felder hit another three, but the Wolverines finished off the quarter with a 6-0 run started by Moore with baskets by Cato and Kaeslyn Benjamin to up the advantage to 40-24 heading into the final quarter of play.
Redan got no closer than 11 points the rest of the way when Felder completed an old-fashioned three-point play with 4:23 to play.
Janiya Smith had a put back and Benjamin added a pair of free throws in the final 3.2 seconds to close out the 49-34 win.
Moore finished the game with 12 points to lead Miller Grove and Cato added 11 more. Smith had just four points in the game but grabbed 11 rebounds. Felder finished with a game-high 16 points to lead Redan.