By By Adam Robinson – Sports Editor
Wow! That is all T.R. Miller head coach Rob Atkinson could say as he came out of the joyous T.R. Miller locker room after his Tigers had just defeated the No. 6 team in the state in the Monroe County High School Tigers 56-55 Friday night in Brewton to improve to 5-1 on the season.
After being up 16-6 and 32-21 at the half, and leading as much as 19 at one time, the Tigers were outscored 17-8 in the third quarter as Monroeville cut the Tiger lead to 40-38 at the end of the third quarter.
Fourteen seconds into the fourth quarter, Monroeville had their first lead of the game at 41-40, but the Tigers reclaimed the lead at 44-41 with 6:38 left in the game after Jordan Knight's steal and dish to Corey Cunningham.
After taking a 47-45 lead with 5:10 left in the game, Monroeville connected on a 3-pointer to again reclaim the lead 48-47 and then took the lead 55-51 with 1:37 left to play.
That would be the last points of the night for the visiting Tigers as Teres Fountain knocked down two big free throws for T.R. Miller to bring the Tigers within 55-53 with 1:14 left.
After a missed one-and-one opportunity for Monroeville, the Tigers got the ball with 20.4 seconds as Atkinson called a time out.
It was then that T.R. Miller's Brandon Andrews launched the game winning 3-pointer for Miller with 7 seconds left to give the Tigers a 56-55 lead.
It was Andrew's only points in the fourth quarter, but they were three big points.
Monroeville had one last chance to get the win, but a slip on the inbound pass took time as a last second shot rattled around the rim and glass and a T.R. Miller rebound as time expired gave the Tigers the upset win as excited fan and players celebrated at mid court.
Fountain led the Tigers with 14 points.
The Tigers will be back in action the day after Christmas when they travel to Fort Walton Beach for the Choctawhatchee Playground Area Shootout.
The Tigers will open the tournament at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday.