I swear, I’m not as big a nerd as this headline suggests. Walk with me. “Pacific Rim” is a movie set in the future when humanity is at war with super-big monsters called the Kaiju (basically, Godzilla knock-offs). To combat these creatures, the militaries of the world built enormous robots called Jaegers, which were so large and complex it took two pilots working with coordinated symbiotic synergy to operate them.

Desi Sills and Marquis Eaton have become the pilots operating the Red Wolves Jaeger.

The Red Wolves Jaeger simply cannot function properly without Sills and Eaton working in unison. Eaton, a long time citizen of the Red Wolves, has performed per his usual, chipping in 3.5 assists and pouring 11 points into the bucket. Sills seemed to seize his destiny as the primary scorer reluctantly. After dishing 21 points in the season opener, his offensive contributions in the next three games amounted to 8, 12 and 9 points while making a sub-optimum 31.3% of his shots.

Morehead State turned Sills around. In the loss, Sills field goal percentage hit 58.3% (15 points). In his last four, Sills has averaged 19 points on 59.75% shooting. During that span, Sills’ former Jonesboro High battery mate Marquis Eaten has raised his average to 12.75 points per game and 4 assists.

With Norchad Omier working the inside (he’s sort of his own Jaeger), Sills and Eaton are free to set the pace offensively, activating a hive mind honed by a shared high school state championship. Nowhere is this more evident than in Pine Bluff, when the Red Wolves shook off a 14-point halftime deficit to win by eleven. Sills scored his most points ever in the victory of the Golden Lions, while Eaton put the team on his shoulders in the second half, nailing three pointers and achieving perfection at the free-throw line.

The connection between Eaton ands Sills is growing stronger. Sills is gaining confidence as the primary scorer as Eaton does as Eaton does and that’s come up big in tough moments.

Let’s cross our fingers that the rest of the squad Jaegers-up.

PHOTO CREDIT: Me