The best rivalry in Raleigh. Leesville-Millbrook overtime game an instant classic.
As fans exited the gym, a Leesville cheerleader was overheard saying “that was fun.”
It’s safe to say she spoke for everyone who had just witnessed the Leesville basketball’s colossal overtime win over Millbrook. A couple of feet away in an office behind the gym, Pride junior guard Carter Whitt sat slumped in a rolling chair.
Whitt has played on the varsity team at Leesville Road since he was a freshman, but was still amazed by the environment around him.
“It was crazy,” Whitt said, adding that he had never seen the Leesville gym so packed.
The parking lot filled up an hour before tip off. By the fourth quarter of the earlier girls game, the gym was almost standing-room only. Leesville took precautions in preparation for the big crowd; extra administrators were on duty, as well as additional off duty police officers.
Just before tip, N.C. State basketball coach Kevin Keatts took a seat in the corner. N.C. Central coach Levelle Moton joined him later. By the time the game started, it was so loud it was hard to hear the person next to you. The student sections — the Maniacs from Millbrook, the Loonies from Leesville — drowned out the music playing over the speakers.
And the game didn’t disappoint. The Pride rode its student center energy and came back from a seven-point halftime deficit, winning 72-68 in overtime.
Leesville fans came to fire up their team
When overtime started, students on both sides, who stood the entire game, still had enough energy to cheer. It was all the Pride needed. Leesville (14-7, 8-1) outscored Millbrook (18-2, 8-1) 11-7 in overtime. When the game was over, the crowd, mainly the student section, went wild. Not even the extra people on hand to help keep the crowd under control could contain them. Eventually, the Leesville player made their way into the fray, and a long celebration continued even when the lights were turned off.
Pride head coach Russ Frazier said it wasn’t always like that.
“When I came here eight years ago, it used to be nobody came to this game,” Frazier said. “Millbrook brought their fans and nobody came from Leesville, and they just pummeled us and walked away. That doesn’t happen anymore.”
Frazier was quick to point out that Millbrook has won more than they’ve lost in head-to-head matchups, but the Pride usually gets at least one. Last year it came in the CAP-7 conference tournament.
Leesville is on a five-game win streak and has won two straight since junior Jalen McDonald joined the lineup. His windmill dunk in the fourth quarter accomplished two things — it gave the Pride its first lead, 52-50, and it woke the Pride’s student section.
Millbrook tied the game at 61-61, the score at the end of regulation, but never led again.
McDonald finished with 15 points, in just his second game of the year. Whitt, who finished with 21, said McDonald brings a different element to the team.
“He just makes everything easier for all of us,” Whitt said. “The athleticism, the rebounding, the slashing ability he has just opens everything up.”
A third Leesville-Millbrook game?
McDonald didn’t play in the first Leesville-Millbrook game, an 84-76 win for the Wildcats back in December. It was expected that McDonald would add a new dynamic to Leesville, but his impact wasn’t felt early on Friday.
He scored two points in the first half and Millbrook led by seven at the break. But the Pride dominated the third and trailed by two, 50-48, heading into the fourth. Moments into the fourth quarter McDonald’s dunk woke up the building and the place stayed excited.
Even in defeat, Wildcats’ coach Chris Davis learned a lot about his team and facing adversity in a tough road environment.
“You tell them all the time, being who we are we go through situations where everyone wants to beat you,” Davis said. “They gave us their best and we weren’t able to fight back from it. I think it was a good lesson. It’s something we can learn from and move forward.”
Whitt, the top player in the North Carolina in the class of 2021, called the game a momentum changing win. The next matchup between the two teams could happen in the CAP 7 tournament.
Neither coach wanted to look that far ahead, but they’ll be ready if it happens.
“When you are blessed to have really good teams in your conference,” Davis said. “You know if you make a run, if they make a run you’re going to see them. If we both win out we’ll decide how and who, but all we are concerned with right now is trying to get better tomorrow.”
This story was originally published January 31, 2020 at 10:31 PM with the headline "The best rivalry in Raleigh. Leesville-Millbrook overtime game an instant classic.."
