The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
HAPPY ENDING
...but wins home finale, 63-43
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 8, 2007
The Milan cheerleaders and many young Milan fans wore bandages wrapped around their heads during Thursday's game against Monroe-Jefferson as a show of support for Milan basketball senior Randy Monty, playing with a similar bandage after a recent fall in practice.
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However it might have looked, though, by the end of the game it was Jefferson who had the headache after Milan thumped the visiting Bears 63-43.
The win was the final home game for Milan's five graduating seniors.
"I don't know if I can even express how much that means," Monty said of walking off his home court for the last time a winner. "It feels great."
The win improved Milan's overall record to 12-8 and boosted them to the .500 mark in Huron League play at 7-7.
Milan took control of the game with an explosive third quarter. After struggling from the field and trailing 24-23 at halftime, the Big Reds scored the first seven points of the second half on a Monty basket and five points in 12 seconds from junior guard Zack McGovern.
The Bears responded with a pair of baskets, but Milan closed the quarter on a 12-0 run powered by two more McGovern three-pointers and took a commanding 42-28 lead into the fourth.
"All we had to do was come out and play the way we wanted to play," Milan head coach Jeremy Davies said of the second-half turnaround. "In the first half, we weren't executing on offense or defense. We were lucky to just be down one. We came in at the half and just told them to play our game."
"We didn't get yelled at or screamed at at halftime or anything," Monty said. "Coach said to just come out and play the way we know how to play."
After falling behind by 17 early in the fourth, Jefferson pulled within 51-38 with 4:47 to play. But Monty and Erik Draves combined to score the game's next seven points for a 58-38 Milan lead, putting the game well beyond doubt.
Monty led the Big Reds with 22 points, followed closely by McGovern with 19. Justin Fugate scored eight points and grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds. Draves scored four points, while Cameron Hynds, Milton Page, Erik Gunderson, Paul Irwin and Lance Smith each scored two.
With Fugate's recent improved play, including a season-high 11 points in Milan's previous game against Napoleon, and the continued good work on the boards by Hynds and Draves, Davies was more than happy with how his post players were performing headed into the postseason.
"Fugate is playing better than he has all season," Davies said. "All our bigs are playing really, really well. They've really stepped up for us."
Both teams began the game cold from the field and Milan particularly struggling in their half-court offense, leading to a 10-7 Jefferson lead at the end of the first quarter.
A Hynds basket with 4:57 to play in the second pushed Milan ahead 12-11, but the lead would change hands four more times during the period with the Bears pulling ahead by one on a late free throw heading into the break.
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