The Milan News-Leader
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Milan falls to Grosse Ile, 55-39
Poor shooting foils Big Red effort versus Grosse Ile
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: January 18, 2007
To beat Huron League favorite Grosse Ile last Friday, the Milan boys' basketball team would have had to play their very best basketball.
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According to Big Reds head coach Jeremy Davies, his team played well. But they didn't play their very best, and Milan fell 55-39.
"I'm relatively happy with the way we played," Davies said afterward. "We got the ball inside, we got the ball outside. On defense, our 2-3 zone was very effective. But guys need to make plays when they have the opportunities. We've got to knock down shots when we're open."
The Big Reds finished the game shooting only 26 percent from the field and a frigid 2-for-18 (11 percent) from behind the three-point arc. The loss is the Big Reds' second home defeat in a week after a 60-48 setback to Flat Rock Jan. 9, and dropped Milan to 5-3 overall and 1-2 in Huron League play.
Despite the cold shooting, Milan had looked to make a game of it in the early moments of the third quarter. A Red Devil basket to start the period extended their nine-point halftime lead to 26-15. But baskets by Erik Gunderson and Randy Monty sandwiched a three-pointer by Zack McGovern to pull Milan within four, 26-22, with 5:11 still to play in the quarter.
The visitors responded, scoring 12 of the next 16 points to go up 38-26. A Milton Page basket to close out the quarter brought Milan within striking distance, but Grosse Ile scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter to put the game beyond doubt.
Monty scored 16 points to lead the Big Red attack. He was followed by Gunderson with seven, Page and McGovern with five each, Erik Draves with four, and Paul Irwin with two.
While Davies had hoped for a win, he said the team's performance was much stronger than in the loss to Flat Rock, with Milan's 9-of-11 performance from the free throw line, in particular, a "huge improvement."
Against Flat Rock, the visitors outscored the Big Reds in every quarter, stretching their 13-11 lead after the first quarter to 30-22 at the half and 43-32 at the end of three en route to their 12-point win.
Zack McGovern and Justin Fugate led the Big Reds with 12 points each in the defeat. Monty scored seven, Draves and Gunderson had four each, Brandon Duval had three, and Irwin, Page and Cameron Hynds had two each.
The Big Reds came out against Grosse Ile determined to improve on that performance and it showed early on, with a Monty three-pointer and strong defense helping the Big Reds hold a 5-3 lead halfway through the first quarter.
But the visitors finished the period on a 9-2 spurt and would not trail again. The lead stretched to 13 before free throws by Page and Gunderson, and a basket by Page in the dying seconds of the second quarter trimmed the advantage to 24-15 at the half.
The Big Reds might take solace in the fact that they were much more competitive with the 7-1 (3-0) Red Devils than previous victims Airport, which fell 66-27. But Davies doesn't want his team looking backward with St. Mary's Catholic Central (also 3-0 in Huron play) on tap for Tuesday night.
"We've got 24 hours, and then we start preparing for our next game," Davies said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to get back on track.
Full coverage of the game will be available in next week's News-Leader.
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