Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports
LOGAN Fourth-ranked Logan caught fire in the second half and sophomore Ivan Miller had a career night, posting a double-double to help lead the Wildcats to a 70-52 win over regional foe Buffalo (Putnam) in the Wildcat Classic Saturday evening at the Willie Akers Arena.
Miller scored a career-high 26 points on 11 of 14 shooting and hauled down 12 rebounds to lead a balanced Wildcat scoring attack. Miller's career night was just one of the storylines from Saturday as Logan overcame a seven-point second half deficit thanks to some hot shooting in the final 11:35.
Thanks to five first half 3-pointers, and 16 points off the bench from Anthony Pitchford, Buffalo (4-9) led 29-25 at halftime, and held a seven-point advantage, 34-27, when Braxton Mitchell scored with 7:18 to play.
After trimming the deficit to three, 38-35, Logan caught fire from the knocking down eight of its next 10 shots in a 3:35 span, going on a 19-5 run to turn a three-point deficit into an 11-point lead, 54-43, after three quarters.
Logan would go on to shot 70.3% in the second half, going 19 of 27 from the field and forced 12 Buffalo turnovers.
The Wildcats took the lead for good, 40-38, when Miller scored in the paint with 2:57 to play in the third quarter. Miller had nine points in the third and scored 13 points in each half.
Logan led by seven, 15-8, in the first quarter following a pair of Miller free throws with 1:46 to play in the opening quarter before the Bison closed the quarter on an 8-0 and took a 16-15 lead on the second of two Pitchford 3-pointers with 0:03 remaining.
Pitchford was one of two Bison players to reach double figures. Wesley Mallett finished with 12 and Asher Flanery and Nathan Harris each had seven.
Zayden Sherrod had 10 of his 16 in the second half for Logan. Matt Hatfield and Lambert had nine each and McCormick Ilderton finished with eight points and five rebounds for the Wildcats.
Logan, winners of two straight and 11-3 overall, will hit the road Thursday for an important with reigning Class AA champion and sixth-ranked Charleston Catholic. Both schools are undefeated against Class AA Region IV competition and the game could very well decide who gets the top seed in the seven-team regional tournament.