The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
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Big Reds take step forward, step back
Milan stays stuck on one win after losses to Airport, New Boston
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 21, 2008
Last Thursday at home against Airport, the Milan boys' basketball team showed that despite their lopsided record and injury troubles, they can be more competitive when things go right.
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Unfortunately, Tuesday night the Big Reds showed that things can still go wrong, too, as visiting New Boston Huron dealt Milan a 58-40 home loss.
The Big Reds were celebrating Senior Night and downed the Chiefs 71-66 in New Boston for their only win of the season Jan. 17. But this time the Chiefs seized control from the opening tip with a 14-0 run to start the game and never looked back.
"We're not playing the way we're capable of," head coach Jeremy Davies said. "We played very well against Airport. We have it in us to play good basketball. I just don't know why we can't do it consistently."
The losses wrapped Milan's Huron League campaign with a 1-13 record and dropped the Big Reds to 1-18 overall.
Against the Jets, Milan saw the visitors stretch what had been slim 17-13 and 25-21 leads at the end of the first and second quarters to 11 points, 46-35, entering the fourth quarter.
But behind a team-high 18 points from Zach McGovern, the Big Reds roared back with a 20-point fourth quarter and led by five points in the final minute, only to see the Jets rally and escape with a 57-55 victory.
"I think if we'd pulled that one out, tonight would have been very different," Davies said after the New Boston Huron loss. "We were trapping and I don't think Airport adjusted real well. We got them out of their sets. There was a 100 percent difference in our energy in that game and tonight's game. But we didn't put it away."
McGovern was followed by Paul Irwin with nine points, Andy Kuck with seven, Joe Ewer with six, Lance Smith with five, DeAndre Mitchell and Brandon Duval with four, and Mike Craig with two.
Tuesday, the Big Reds never mounted a serious challenge to the Chiefs after the slow start. Smith's basket with 2:45 left in the first quarter gave Milan its first points, but Huron would build the lead to 17-2 before an 11-4 Big Red run capped by five straight points from Duval brought the home team within 21-13 with 4:51 to play in the first half.
Milan would score just two more points before the break, however, and trail 29-15 going into the locker room. The Big Reds would open the third quarter with a 9-2 spurt (capped again by a Duval three-pointer) to narrow the gap to 31-24 midway through the period, but could come no closer. The Chiefs closed the quarter on a 10-2 run of their own for a 41-26 lead entering the fourth and pushed it to 18 points, 46-28, with seven minutes remaining.
A McGovern three and Nick Holzman basket helped Milan put together a 7-0 run to come within 11 with 3:30 to play, but the Chiefs answered with baskets on each of their next two possessions to squelch any hope of a miracle comeback.
McGovern led the Big Reds with 11 points, followed by Duval with nine, Smith, Irwin, and Kuck with four each, Mitchell and Holzman with three apiece, and Demetries Love with two. Kuck led the team with six rebounds while Irwin posted a team-high four assists.
Despite the disappointment of the loss to the Chiefs, Davies insisted his team could still cause some surprises both in their trip to Onsted for their regular season finale this weekend and in Monday's first-round district game, at home against Chelsea at 5 p.m.
"If we can get one on Saturday, watch out," he said.
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