Hoopsville Classic: It's Miller time for Cavs

More news about: Cabrini
Nov 24, 2013
There was no denying Jon Miller in Cabrini's win over Salisbury
Cabrini athletics file photo

By Rob Knox
D3hoops.com

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Jon Miller was the BMOC on the Stevenson University campus during No. 19 Cabrini’s 83-72 victory over Salisbury in the final game of the Hoopsville Classic Sunday afternoon.

Cabrini coach Marcus Kahn had one word to describe Miller's career best efforts of 24 points and 16 rebounds.

"Awesome," Kahn said. "I thought this was the best game he had in his four years here at Cabrini. This was awesome, especially coming off of his performance Friday night (against St. Mary's). I thought he had a good game, but he didn't take a shot. To go from that to 24 points and dominating the boards the way he did for us tonight was huge."
    
This was the second straight game a Cabrini player had at least 16 rebounds. Aaron Walton-Moss grabbed that many in Friday's win over St. Mary's. Miller was a beast as he was 7-for-8 from the field and 10-of-13 from the foul line. He grabbed 10 offensive rebounds.

Although Miller didn't take a shot in 19 minutes against St. Mary's, he did the little things to help Cabrini win. He has a great attitude about what his role is on the team.

"I don’t care if I play, foul out, grab one rebound, shoot or any of that," Miller said. "As long as we win that's all that matters to me. It's not always about your shot, but what's best for the team at that particular time."

His effort was needed as senior Fran Rafferty fouled out with seven points and Walton-Moss battled foul trouble for much of the game. Walton-Moss still finished with 21 points. Guard A.J. Picard contributed 18 points and Deryl Bagwell finished with 10 points including a dagger three-pointer from the corner with 55.2 seconds remaining that gave Cabrini a late 10-point advantage.

"Jon's effort enabled us to have extra possessions and limit Salisbury to one shot," Kahn said. "I wasn't pleased with our shot selection early in the game, but he gave us a second chance especially in the second half. He was always in the mix for the rebound and finishing around the basket is what he does."

In raising its overall record to 3-0, Cabrini was the only school out of the 10 teams here to win both of its games in this tournament. Salisbury dropped to 2-3 despite 16 points from Tim Harwood and 14 points from Charles Porter. Dominic Milburn scored 10 of Salisbury's 22 bench points.

After allowing Salisbury to make 50 percent of its shots in the first half, Cabrini's defense clamped down and limited the Seagulls to 35.7 percent shooting after intermission. The two teams were tied at 37 at halftime before the Cavs were able to get a quick lead to start the second stanza and keep the Seagulls at a safe distance.

Somewhere, in a few years, Miller will savor this performance, but right now, he was keeping a narrow focus.

"Feels good to get off to a great start and win two games here," Miller said. "It's not over and we have to keep going. Right now we won, but this game is over. Now, we have to get back on the bus and get ready for our next opponent."

All-Tournament Team

In addition to Walton-Moss and Harwood, the 2013 Hoopsville Invitational All-Tournament team featured Duncan Lunsford (Keystone), Ron See (La Verne), Griffin Schamp (Birmingham Southern), Darius Walker (Stevenson), Taylor Reiger (Ohio Wesleyan), Jonathan Wilt (Trinity), Nick LaGuerre (St. Mary's) and Joey Kizel (Middlebury).

Shout-out to Stevenson

Just want to mention how tremendous the Stevenson University student-athletes, administrators and coaches were during the tournament. They all made meaningful contributions during the weekend, which enabled the tournament to run like a well-oiled machine. Great job Stevenson and please make sure to pat yourselves on the back for a great weekend of fun, hoops, food, and fellowship. I will always remember my first visit to this beautiful campus.

Email Rob Knox at rob.knox@d3hoops.com and follow on twitter at @knoxrob1.