Ellis leads Indians to win over Dickson

Myles Ellis poured in 21 points in just his second game back from injury to help lead the Comanche Indians to a 45-42 win over visiting Dickson last Friday.

The Indians held off a late charge by the Comets even surrendering the lead briefly in the fourth quarter before rallying for the win.

Myles Ellis hit five three-pointers over the course of the game and his three-pointer with 3:21 to go in the fourth quarter gave Comanche the lead back for good.

“Myles is our leader, he does everything for us from the floor,” said Anthony Bowie, head coach. “He communicates well. He loves the game and wants to get better. He does everything right every single day and he doesn’t take a day off. When we lost him, we lost levels of communication on the floor and we lost levels of focus and understanding. So, having him back tonight was fantastic.”

The two teams had met just six days earlier in the Lindsay tournament with Comanche getting a double-digit win, but Bowie said the final score was deceptive on how close of a game it really was.

“We knew they had a good system,” Bowie said. “We knew they had a really good program. He’s playing a lot of young guys. We knew they were coming in here for revenge and it was going to be a battle.”

Comanche has a young team as well with no seniors in the starting line-up, but the younger players were thrown into the fire last year and gained some valuable experience.

“Having watched film (of last year’s team) and talking with Coach (Heath) Ellis, I know they lost of lot of games like these last year,” Bowie said. “It’s good to see them come out and see them win those this year. We’re able to make our adjustments and do the appropriate thing in late-game situations.”

Comanche led from the opening tip until midway through the fourth quarter when the Comets made their run. The Indians led 15-8 at the end of the first quarter and 27-20 at the half. They maintained their lead in the third quarter and headed into the fourth with a 37-29 advantage.

That changed in the fourth when Dickson opened the quarter on a 9-0 run to take the lead.

That is when Myles Ellis stepped up to score the next five points to give his team the lead back.

Dickson got as close as 43-42 with 30 seconds left. Comanche wasn’t doing themselves any favors by missing free throws down the stretch, but were able to get offensive rebounds to help chew up the clock.

Briar Blair hit a free throw with 15 seconds to go to extend the lead to 44-42. With seven seconds left, Hunter Lassley picked up a big offensive rebound and was fouled on his shot attempt. He sank one of his shots to extend the lead to 45-42 to at least guarantee a three-pointer would not beat his team, but the Comets three-point attempt to tie at the buzzer missed the mark to give Comanche the win.

Scoring

Comanche: Myles Ellis, 21; Briar Blair, 10; Hunter Lassley, 6; Gunner King, 3; Colby Shannon, 3; Dillon Ellis, 2

 Lady Comets 43

Lady Indians 39

Comanche was its own worst enemy, committing 17 turnovers, many of which were unforced and Dickson took advantage to get the win.

The Lady Comets led for the majority of the game with Comanche finally catching them on a three-pointer in the fourth quarter by Kamrey Rendon and then a free throw by Kylie Roden gave Comanche its first lead with 1:21 to go.

Less than 30 seconds later, however, Dickson answered with a three-pointer to retake the lead. The Lady Indians would not score again as the Lady Comets secured the win down the stretch.

Dickson led 13-8 at the end of the first quarter and 27-21 at the half.

Comanche closed the gap to 35-31 at the end of the third quarter.

The Lady Comets did a good job containing Comanche’s leading scorer Gracee Miller, limiting her to six points on the night.

Scoring

Comanche: Kylie Roden, 10; Kamrey Rendon, 10; Gracee Miller, 6; Breelie Garlinger, 4; Jentry Whaley, 3