DAYTON — Many flocked to the University of Dayton Wednesday night to see how close Woodward guard Paul McMillan IV would get to passing Lebron James on the OHSAA's all-time scoring list.
But the senior showed he can help his team win in many different ways as Woodward handled Chaminade Julienne, 58-45, for a district championship.
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In the third quarter, McMillan caused a turnover on a Chaminade Julienne press-breaker that lead to a pair of free throws, found Keleise Frye for Woodward's first field goal of the second half, then lofted an alley-oop to high-flying sophomore Ru Mills.
McMillan still scored when he needed to, finishing with a game-high 19 to go with six rebounds and four assists. He finished with a +/ of 13. He is 19 points away from passing Lebron for sixth place on the all-time scoring list.
"The way Paul is playing right now is outstanding," Woodward head coach Jarelle Redden said. "If he keeps playing like this, you'll keep seeing the Bulldogs advance."
Making a deep tournament run is paramount for McMillan after reaching the sectional finals twice over his first three prep seasons.
"Now finally making it one step closer to my ultimate goal which is to win a state championship, it feels great, but we still got work to do," McMillan said.
It's Woodward's first district championship since 2018 and the second for Redden, now in his fifth season.
McMillan was one of four double-digit scorers for the Bulldogs. Junior Kanye Moreland caught fire from deep, going 3-for-3 from downtown and finished with 14. Frye and Mills each had 10 and Quanny Bostic pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.
Woodward's defense made life miserable for a Chaminade Julienne offense that was held under 60 points for the first time in the tournament. Woodward forced 10 turnovers and the Eagles shot just 14-of-41 from the floor.
"The goal was to wear them down," Redden said of his team's defense. "I knew by the third quarter they'd be tired and they did exactly what we thought they'd do by throwing the ball out of bounds."
Chaminade Julienne cut Woodward's lead to single digits just once in the fourth quarter after an 8-0 run. Evan Dickey led the Eagles with 11 and Jonathan Powell added 10.
Woodward 58, Chaminade Julienne 45
Woodward (22-3): Bostic 2 0 5, Frye 5 0 10, Mills 4 2 10, McMillan 5 7 19, Moreland 5 1 14. Totals: 21 10 58
Chaminade Julienne (17-8): Dickey 5 0 11, Bowman 1 4 6, Tucker 2 3 7, Chandler 3 1 9, Powell 2 4 10, Cartwright 1 0 2. Totals: 14 12 45.
Halftime: W 30-23. 3-pointers: W 6 (Moreland 3, McMillan 2, Bostic), CJ 5 (Chandler 2, Powell 2, Dickey).
The Enquirer will update this story with complete coverage of the three Division II district finals at UD Arena Wednesday night
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