HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP : Miller Leads Helix Past Mt. Miguel, 79-59

Midway through halftime of Helix High’s 79-59 boys’ basketball victory over Mt. Miguel on Tuesday, Helix guard Bobby Miller was the first to emerge from either locker room.

Miller grabbed the first ball he could find, awkwardly dribbled in for a make-believe breakaway layup and missed. Horribly.

Not to be discouraged, he got his own rebound, bounced out to a spot about 20 feet out and proceeded to drill three in a row.

That’s more like it.

Miller is not playing basketball because of some tremendous inside game. His role is as a shooter.

And after a slow start this season, he proved that repeatedly to Mt. Miguel in their Grossmont 3-A League game.

Miller scored a career-high 20 points by making four three-pointers and eight of eight free throws.

But more importantly, his rediscovered touch and the presence he has become outside, has opened some wide inside lanes for teammate Lloyd Lake, who even without much assistance is one of the top players in the county.

“(Lake) had a lot of one-on-one opportunities today, which was surprising,” Miller said. “Normally, teams try to double and triple team him.”

With Miller now a threat from the outside and Mt. Miguel (11-13, 2-5) widening its zone to try and stop him, Lake drove to the basket seemingly at will and finished with 23 points, 13 of those coming from 18 free throws.

They took us out of everything we tried to do, said Mt. Miguel guard Marcos Gallardo, who matched his season-high of 30 points by scoring 18 in the fourth quarter.

“We fouled Lloyd Lake way too much,” he said. “We weren’t supposed to do that. And we let Miller shoot too much. We weren’t supposed to do that, either.”

Miller attributed his slow start this season to being overweight and out of shape, and a midseason bout with the flu didn’t help.

But as he accurately pointed out, “I picked a good time to start hitting, huh? Right before playoffs.”

Indeed. Though Helix will be considered an underdog in the Section Division II playoffs, the Highlanders (17-6, 6-2) have played above the expectations of their coach, John Singer.

“I knew we’d have Lloyd,” Singer said, “and he’s still the man. But this is a team that’s gotten better and better. If you would have told me we’d win 17 games this year, I would have laughed at you.”