Jacob Mills shoots against West Rowan. Brian Wilhite photo.
By Mike London
Salisbury Post
CHINA GROVE — A thousand practice jump shots per week have led to 1,000 points for Carson junior guard Jacob Mills.
“Yes, sir, if I had to put a number on it, I’d say I get up a thousand shots per week,” said the 6-foot-3 marksman, who entered Friday’s game against Northwest Cabarrus averaging 18.7 points per contest.
Mills’ overall game is growing steadily, but it’s that jump shot — a smooth, precise and lethal stroke — that he’s known for. At Carson, they sometimes refer to him as “The Robot” because the stroke is automatic. It never changes.
Mills has been somewhat successful at shaking the “3-point shooter” label, especially this season, as he’s often Carson’s second ball-handler. He’s making more plays for his teammates than ever. He’s driving more than ever. He’s making more 2s than ever. He’s getting to the foul line more than ever. He’s convincing lots of bewildered opponents that he’s a player, not a shooter.
“He’s such a good shooter that you kind of wonder what went wrong whenever he misses an open shot,” Carson head coach Brian Perry said. “Jacob has so many games where he’s 6-for-10 or 5-for-9 or 4-for-7 on 3s. He shoots super percentages. But it’s not like he’s limited to 3-pointers. He can do a lot of things well on a basketball court. He’s already got more assists than he had all last season. He’s gotten taller and stronger and is defending better. He’s got about as good a pull-up as you’ll ever see from a high school guy. He’s also a pretty crafty finisher at the rim, and he can use either hand.”
Mills scored his 1,000th point for the Cougars — he’s actually got 1,500 for his career if you throw in the season he played as a varsity eighth-grader at Rockwell Christian School — in a recent South Piedmont Conference game with East Rowan. Mills was pleased that it came on a 2, not a 3.
“Crossover dribble into a mid-range pull-up,” Mills said. “I was happy to get it with that type of shot because that’s something I’ve worked hard on. I hadn’t thought about the 1,000 points much, but it kind of hit me that night. I felt very blessed, thankful for my family, teammates and coaches. I got about as emotional as I ever have been on a basketball court.”
Mills said the question he’s most frequently asked is, “Do you think you shoot as well as your dad did?”
It’s not a question he can reasonably answer, as his father, Josh, played in the first half of the 1990s for North Rowan and Wingate.
“I’ve heard my dad could really shoot the ball,” Mills said. “But we don’t have any film of him shooting. I wish we did.”
In his early years it looked like Josh Mills would become a champion distance runner. He competed for coach/sportswriter Ed Dupree’s Faith Flyers. He was a 10U cross country state champ and he took first place in regional competition against athletes from six states.
But the basketball bug bit him hard by the time he got to middle school, and he decided to focus on hoops. He went to Erwin, where one of his teammates was Faith Flyers high jumper Brian Perry.
There was so much hoops talent in Rowan County in the early 1990s that some terrific players didn’t get a chance to shine until they were juniors. Mills played little for the North Rowan varsity as a sophomore, scoring a total of 15 points. As a junior in the 1989-90 season, Mills started at point guard for coach Bob Hundley and averaged 11.4 points for a team that had Larry Dixon, now the head coach at Morehouse College, and Mike White as the go-to scorers.
As a senior, Mills played the 2-guard and teamed with White to lead the Cavaliers to a 21-5 record and the 1990-91 conference championship. Mills scored 30 against Concord in an electrifying game that decided the SPC title. Mills also had a career-best, 35-point game that season. He averaged 18.5 points and was All-Rowan County and All-South Piedmont Conference.
Mills and Perry, were middle school teammates, but they were high school opponents with Perry playing for East Rowan and Mills at North. Their teams had some scraps. In the 1990-91 season, North beat East by two points three times — 59-57 in the Christmas Tournament final, 84-82 in overtime, and then 64-62. Mills scored 16, 22 and 21. Perry countered with 17, 28 and 27.
Mills was 6 feet tall and wasn’t heavily recruited, but it only takes one school, and Wingate coach John Thurston wanted Mills pretty bad.
Mills suffered enough injuries for an entire roster as a Wingate freshman — sprained ankle, pulled groin, broken nose. He played in only eight games.
As a sophomore, he was in the rotation for the Bulldogs, shot a strong 41 percent from the 3-point line and averaged 6.1 points.
His best college season was 1993-94, his junior year. He shot a lethal 47 percent for the Bulldogs from the 3-point line, averaged 12.7 points and was named team MVP. He went 7-for-8 on 3-pointers against Elon to break the school record.
Mills lost his mother — teacher Jeanne Mills died of cancer at 49 — in late May 1994.
Mills had some strong shooting games in the South Atlantic Conference as a senior, but a strained stomach muscle slowed him down some. He didn’t quite have the same magic he did as a junior when everything was falling for him. But he hung in there and earned the degree his mother wanted him to get. Then he headed to Raleigh for a YMCA job and graduate school.
Mills eventually returned to Rowan County. Mills and Perry reunited as best friends, and their sons (Brian’s son is CP Perry), who were the same age, had inherited the hoops gene, both the physical ability and the burning desire needed to sharpen that talent.
“My earliest team basketball memory is playing at Hall Gym for a team coached by (Salisbury attorney) James Davis,” Jacob said. “I just played because my friends were playing and I thought it might be fun. My dad didn’t push me into basketball at all. When I started playing I was really young and I didn’t even know my dad had played.”
In time, he would hear the stories about the North Rowan and Wingate glory days. His dad was able to pass on his knowledge of the game, and Brian Perry, who had played for Rick Roseman at East, was able to teach young Mills even more. There were lots of long hard days in the gym, CP Perry against Jacob Mills, one-on-one — for hours.
“One of us would leave in tears and one of us would leave those sessions feeling pretty good,” Mills said.
Mills and Perry have played together a long time now as running mates, the creator and the shooter. Mills, Perry and their taller buddy Drew Neve became a hoops version of the Three Musketeers. They all reclassified, gaining another year of physical maturity, and they played varsity ball together at Rockwell Christian School as eighth-graders. They scored so many points for the Chargers — CP had a 50-point game — that they were well-known by the time they arrived at Carson as freshmen.
Mills was a consistent force right from the start for the Cougars, an automatic double-digit scorer. He missed two games his freshman year, but he averaged 14.8 points. As a sophomore, he missed one game, but he averaged 16.2, including a 32-point effort in a 91-88 overtime loss to SPC champ Robinson.
“Considering the opponent and how tough Robinson is, that might have been the best game I’ve ever played,” Mills said.
As a junior, he’s been in double figures 14 times in Carson’s 15 games. He’s topped 20 points six times.
“Some teams face-guard CP, but some choose to face-guard Jacob,” Coach Perry said. “If they try to take away one of them, it opens up driving lanes for all of our other guys.”
Those driving lanes narrowed some in recent days when the Cougars got the news they wouldn’t have Neve for the rest of this season. For all the lightning that Perry and Mills have provided, Neve, 6-foot-4, athletic, fearless and the owner of a sweet inside-outside game, brought the thunder for the Cougars. He’ll be missed, but the Cougars (14-1) are still good enough that they held off Robinson for a major SPC win without him on Tuesday.
Mills will be asked now to rebound more and to score even more.
Recruiting has been quiet for Mills up to this point. He had a serious ankle injury during AAU ball last summer which cost him some looks by college coaches, but the height is there, the stroke is there, and the work ethic is there. He expects things to pick up this summer on the recruiting front. He has built a reputation as one of the state’s top shooting guards.
“College basketball has been the goal a long time,” Mills said. “I want that and my dad wants it for me. But right now, the only thing we’re focused on is Carson and winning championships.”
