Miller’s Bench Time Helps Compton Post 98-86 Overtime Win

Gilbert Miller was struggling with his three-point shots--a situation that Compton College Coach Lee Porter couldn’t tolerate for very long.

So Porter benched Miller to give the sophomore guard some time to think about his shooting and Compton’s opponent--College of the Canyons.

The brief, first-half respite worked. Miller returned to score a game-high 31 points, 12 in overtime, to lead host Compton to a 98-86 victory over Canyons in the first round of the Southern California regional playoffs Saturday night.

Compton (20-10), the No. 13 seed, plays at Santa Monica (No. 4), the co-Western State Conference champion, in a second-round game Tuesday night.

With Canyons leading, 75-74, with 4 minutes, 30 seconds remaining in regulation, Miller hit a three-point shot to put Compton ahead, 77-75. Canyons’ Rusty Morse scored on a driving layup with 34 seconds left to tie it, 79-79, and send the game into overtime.

That’s when Miller went to work.

Miller, who averages 23 points, scored 12 of Compton’s 19 points in overtime to help the Tartars eliminate the Cougars, the No. 25-seeded team.

“We sat him down for six minutes in the first half, because he had something else on his mind,” Porter said of Miller.

Porter said Miller was preoccupied with the death of his grandmother on Friday.

“He played under a lot of stress,” the coach said.

Canyons led, 42-34, at halftime on the strength of Butch Mettinger’s shooting. Mettinger scored 16 of the Cougars’ first 19 points and had 18 in the first half.

The sophomore guard, however, was silent in the second half. He was held to only six points as the Cougars were outscored, 45-37, down the stretch.

“We were playing well without using Mettinger as our main scorer,” Canyons Coach Lee Smelser said of the guard’s second-half performance. “We just couldn’t get him on track in the second half.”

Morse added 20 points for Canyons (18-14) and Darrin Moloznik added 14. Del Linzy scored 12.

Del Waun Young had 27 points for Compton. And Vincent Camper added 25--two points below his scoring average.

Camper pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds and Miller dished off 11 assists. Linzy led Canyons with 10 rebounds while Morse had six assists.

After scoring his first 16 points, Mettinger sat down with 8:04 left in the first half. Canyons could hardly afford to have him out of the lineup, however, with the Cougars trailing, 26-19.