Every road team needs to have the heart of a thief.

Miller Grove head coach Sherman White preached this message for any road game. It was a message hammered home this week as it travelled to county and 6B-AAAAA foe.

The Wolverines made the necessary defensive plays as it beat Tucker 70-60 on Friday in the newly named WMS Venable Gymnasium.

“We knew it was going to be tough because this is a tough environment,” White said. “Our guys have been in situations like this. When we get into situations like this our guys are prepared. When you’re on the road, you have to steal one on the road.”

Miller Grove had a marginal lead early in the fourth quarter, which was not to White’s liking. The No. 11-ranked Wolverines, in the Hoopseen Power Poll, responded after a timeout.

They started to pull away thanks in large part to the teams defensive tenacity. Miller Grove (15-4, 9-0) converted turnovers into scoring opportunities and made sure the Tigers, ranked No. 5, struggled to get a clean look at the rim.

“We played a solid game of defense,” White said. “It has been a long time since we played that solid of a defense. I am very happy about that.”

The catalyst behind the Wolverines performance on both ends of the floor were the usual suspects in senior guard Keith Pinckney and sophomore guard Alterique Gilbert with a solid contribution from senior forward James Walker.

Pickney and Gilbert have a synergy together and it is hard to get this duo rattled. Late in the fourth, the tandem just clamped down defensively and forced Tucker (14-2, 5-1) into critical turnovers. The Wolverines guard’s raced down the floor on any of those mistakes to either find each other or open teammates. This helped turn a 54-43 lead into a 62-49 lead, which the Tigers could never overcome again.

Pickney finished with a gmae-high 20 points. Gilbert added 19. Walker chipped in with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Devin Dorsett scored 10 points off the bench.

However, the biggest contribution may have come from Kendall Williams. The junior guard was assigned to guard Jon Dunmeyer. Williams contested every shot and caused havoc for the senior guard.

“We could not let him get loose,” White said. “(Kendall) did a fantastic job against him. I’m proud on how he handled that assignment. He is the kind of stopper guy you need to have on the floor.”

Tucker coach Donald Hartry lamented on the outcome of the game.

“We played a class act ball club and we made too many turnovers,” he said. “We made some crucial turnovers at bad times. They are a good basketball team, who we have to see again if we want to win it all.”

Senior TJ Thomas, who picked his scoring in the fourth quarter, scored a team-high 16 points and seven rebounds to lead the Tigers. Shembari Phillips chipped in with 11 points. Dunmeyer was held to nine points.