Hammonds, Soroye Lift Montrose

After Montrose Christian's 71-36 win over California's Mission Prep in their opening game of this past weekend's West Virginia Showcase at Shepherd College's Butcher Center, most figured their second game with The Miller School from Charlottesville, Va. would be another easy game for Coach Stu Vetter's players. The Mustangs did get a 66-52 victory but the game was much closer than expected.

The play of Miller's Bryant Wallace, a 6-foot-7 freshman big forward, gave the Devils a spark off the bench which kept the game close. Though Wallace didn't play many minutes, he did provide an answer for MC's 6-foot-11, 235-pound senior center Tunji Soroye, who is headed to Virginia, and 6-foot-8, 230-pound junior forward Uche Echefu. Echefu had 17 points and a game-best 10 rebounds with Soroye picking up nine rebounds.

Senior Tom Hammonds, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound shooting guard / small forward, led all players with 22 points on 9-of-12 from the floor. Senior 6-foot-0 guard Antwan Hardy added 19 points.

While Montrose Christian did lead from 6:36 of the opening period, the shortened-benched Devils played with a lot of intensity and surprised many when Wallace hit the court. Miller was led by the pure shooting of 6-foot-5 Mladen Cvijanovic's 20 points. Cvijanovic, who plays the post when Wallace isn't in the game, hit 6-of-9 from beyond the arc.

The Serbian native, who possesses a very strong frame, tied for the team high with William & Mary signee Laimonas Kisielius; each had five rebounds. Senior James Ponton, a 5-foot-10 guard, added 11 points.

Wallace made his presence felt quickly when he put back a missed shot to narrow the deficity to 12-9 with 1:56 on the first quarter clock. Montrose had extended the lead back to 19-12 when a three by Cvijanovic got the Devils within four at 19-15, 6:17 remaining in the half.

Miller was able to keep within single digits of Montrose until Hardy's three extended the margin to 50-38 at the start of the last period. The Devils pulled to within nine at 52-43 on a layup by Kisielius a minute later. That was the last time the margin was under 10.

Montrose Christian, clearly the best team at this event, was 2-0 over the weekend, raising their season record to 9-4. The loss evened Miller's tournament mark to 1-1; the Devils are 12-7 overall.