The Milan News-Leader
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Milan seniors want more
Big Reds happy with winning season but want Chelsea upset
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 1, 2007
When the five members of the Milan boys' basketball team's class of 2007 look back on their senior season, they each agree that they will, without question, look back fondly on the team's 11-8 winning record and the program's improvement from a three-win season just two years ago.
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"We've been able to put together a good team and we've had a good season," point guard Randy Monty said. "I'm real glad I've been part of this team. We've had some success and hopefully that success will carry over to next season."
But each of the five —Monty, center Justin Fugate, forwards Erik Draves and Cameron Hynds, and guard Milton Page —also agree that there's still one more big piece out there they would love to add their legacy. Namely, an upset of undefeated, third-ranked Chelsea Monday in the first round of district playoff competition.
"We want to bring something back," Page said. "We want to say 'This is it. This is what we accomplished.'"
"They've got everything to lose and we don't have anything to lose," said Fugate, the future defensive end at Northern Michigan University. "We've just got to go in and play ball."
Draves admitted that defeating the Bulldogs will be a tall task, but that it's also one the Big Reds are capable of putting off.
"They're a good team. They're clutch from everywhere on the court. But they're not invincible," he said. "Everybody's going to have to play their 'A' game. We're focused. We know that if we don't play our very best game, we'll lose."
One asset the Big Reds will have to draw on as they prepare for Chelsea will be the team's cohesiveness. The seniors work well together on the court because each's skills compliment the others: Hynds –– the team's leading rebounder at 6.7 boards a game –– and Fugate are physical battlers under the boards; Draves is the team's most polished interior scorer and leading shot-blocker (with 1.5 a game). In addition, Page is a slashing scorer whose quick hands have made him second on the team in steals behind only Monty and Monty is the heady point guard, equally capable of shooting from long range or driving to the basket.
"We all get along so well," Hynds said, "including the team's six underclassmen. We've banded together as a team. It has been the best it has been for a while."
The Big Reds have become a unit even though this is their first season as a complete group. This has been Hynds' first year on the varsity and Draves' first full season after transferring from Ypsilanti.
"This the first season I've really been able to contribute to my team, ever," he said. "That's why this season has meant so much, especially with it being a winning season."
Not everything has been perfect for the seniors in 2006-2007, however. Fugate missed the first several games of the season through injury ("It's my senior season, so I really wish I'd played in all the games," he said) and Page said the team "could have done better. There were some teams we should have beaten."
In the end, though, even Page said he was happy with the way his team had played, a sentiment echoed by each of the seniors. That happiness is one reason why Monty said he wasn't ready for the season to end, whether it does against Chelsea or not.
"I don't really think it's sunk in yet," he said. "I don't think it's going to until it's over."
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