Boys’ basketball notebook: A nifty 50 for Jesup’s Jack Miller

CEDAR RAPIDS — His team was way ahead with about four minutes left in its game Tuesday night at North Tama.

Jesup’s Jack Miller had just gotten fouled and was headed to the free-throw line for a pair of shots. He glanced over to the scorer’s table and noticed that this would be it for him on this night, that someone was going to be replacing him.

No big deal, he thought. He’d played pretty well, his team was going to win.

Then he casually was told something by his bench and Coach Joe Smeins. You’ve got 48 points right now.

“I saw Joe getting ready to sub a kid in for me, so I was like ‘Well, I guess I better make these,’” Miller said.

Miller did, hitting the magical 50-point mark in a 77-44 victory. It’s a school record, one accomplished on 19-of-27 shooting, 8-of-13 from 3-point range.

He also made all four of his free throws, pulled down nine rebounds, had two assists and four steals.

“Really cool, actually,” Miller said. “During the game, I had no clue I was near 50 because they don’t really have that scoreboard (at North Tama) that tells you how many points you have. I knew I was pretty hot from the 3, but I didn’t know I was anywhere near 50 points.”

Miller had 40 points in a game earlier this season, so the 6-foot junior has had a penchant for going off. He leads Jesup (15-6) in scoring at 25.8 points per game, though he technically is the team’s point guard.

Jesup has a five-guard lineup.

“Obviously I’ve watched him grow up from a little guy,” Smeins said. “He’s always been able to score. Early in the game, he was getting to the bucket, hit a couple of 3s. We were so used to him scoring, at halftime, we were up 25 or so, so we went to the book and he’d had 32 points already. Hit six 3s.

“He made it look so easy. He didn’t miss, then he came out in the second half, and it was the same thing. He was scoring at all three levels: 3-pointers, at the rim, pull-ups, got to the foul line. His game has gotten so much better, and he was a really good player last year.”

Smeins said Miller has the ability to hit 3-pointers well past the arc. He started as a freshman for Jesup, averaged 15 points for a J-Hawks team that played in last year’s Class 2A state tournament.

He hit the 1,000-point mark for his career earlier this season, so with that out of the way, with the school-record 50-point thing out of the way, his next individual goal is obvious.

“Becoming Jesup’s all-time leading scorer is probably up there,” Miller said. “Getting 1,000 points was really cool. I saw a teammate do it last year, and it kind of opened my eyes to where ‘I really want to get there.’ I think there are only nine guys at Jesup who have done it.”

Jesup tied with Wapsie Valley for the North Iowa Cedar League Central Division championship. It will play either Cascade or Waterloo Columbus in its first 2A district game next week.

By the way, Sioux Central’s Jacob Hargens came along and scored 53 points the night after Miller’s huge game in a 91-85 win over Newell-Fonda. Amazingly, Hargens got that number without making a 3-pointer.

Around the hoop

— The postseason begins Friday with a few “pigtail” district openers in Class 1A. Things really get going in earned Monday with district games in 1A and 2A. Class 3A and 4A postseason pairings will be released Monday by the Iowa High School Athletic Association.

— Teams that have clinched at least a share of area conference championships are: Charles City (Northeast Iowa), MFL MarMac (Upper Iowa), Jesup and Wapsie Valley (North Iowa Cedar League Central), Marion (Wamac East), Williamsburg (Wamac West), Dyersville Beckman (River Valley North), Wilton (River Valley South), Keota (South Iowa Cedar East), Lynnville-Sully (South Iowa Cedar West), Bellevue Marquette (Tri-Rivers East) and North Linn (Tri-Rivers West).

—HLV finished the regular season with an 11-11 record. It’s the first time the Warriors have finished .500 or above since 2012.

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