MILES, TX — After a seven-point win over Ballinger in their last meeting, the Miles boys basketball team knew it had to come ready to play in Tuesday’s rematch.
The Bulldogs were more than ready from the opening tip.
Miles flew out to a 19-3 lead and ran away with a surprisingly dominant 58-29 win.
Cooper Ellison scored 26 points and Ethan James added 17 to lead Miles, which remains just a game behind Roscoe for first place in District 8-2A.
Miles improved to 14-4 overall and 6-1 in district. Ballinger (13-13, 4-3) is still in third place in district despite the loss.
“I think we came out focused and played with a lot of energy and a lot of intensity,” Miles head coach Gerald Butts said. “We locked them up pretty good on defense, and our shots were on tonight.”
Ellison and James each knocked down three 3-pointers, and Jaylen Torres added another.
Ballinger briefly looked like it might recover from the rough start when JJ Baez hit back-to-back 3-pointers to get the Bearcats within 21-14 early in the second quarter.
Ellison answered with a 3 of his own, however, and Miles closed the first half strong to take a 36-19 lead into halftime.
“I’m just proud we came out hot and played good defense the whole game,” Ellison said. “We played lockdown defense. It’s easy to win when you don’t let them score.”
James said Miles’ seven-player roster is a tight group that knows how to play together on the court.
“Even though we’re a small group, the seven of us play together every day, and we’ve played together since seventh grade, some of us since kindergarten, so we have a lot of really good chemistry,” James said.
Miles will be off Friday before visiting Winters next Tuesday. The Bulldogs will host first-place Roscoe on Friday, Jan. 31 with the district title on the line.
Roscoe beat Miles 55-30 in their last meeting.
“We’ve still got Roscoe ahead of us and some games on the road we need to take care of,” Butts said. “This is a senior bunch, and they realize what’s on the line and what’s at stake. I actually believe this bunch, they want to make a deep run.”
Ballinger was led by Baez with 12 points. Freshman Marcus Cook had nine points.
Ballinger will play again Friday when it hosts Winters.
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