Spartans win tourney tune-up

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Photo by Jodie Andruskevich^^Milford's Mike Mitchell brings the ball up court as Lebanon's Jayson Martin defends on the play in Tuesday's battle in Milford.

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Photo by Jodie Andruskevich^^Milford's Dan Desmarais and Jamie Holder box in Lebanon's Jayson Martin to force a turnover in Tuesday night's match up in Milford.

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Photo by Jodie Andruskevich^^Lebanon's Jayson Martin battles with Milford's Jamie Holder as he drives the ball up court in the waning minutes of Tuesday evening's game in Milford.

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Photo by Jodie Andruskevich^^Milford's Mike Mitchell brings the ball up court as Lebanon's Jayson Martin defends on the play in Tuesday's battle in Milford.

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MILFORD – In terms of following the game plan, the Lebanon High School boys basketball team was doing just about everything right in Tuesday night’s pre-tournament showdown with top-ranked Milford.

The tempo was to their choosing, the Raiders preferring a half-court game to the up tempo, full-court pandemonium Milford prefers. Midway through the third quarter of an exceptionally low-scoring game, Lebanon led 20-19.

But a Milford team known for its offensive explosiveness used defense to spark a 14-4 run to close the third quarter. Then in a wild fourth-quarter in which both teams headed up, the Spartans got the big plays they needed at the end to pull out a 52-48 decision and wrap up a 17-1 regular-season.

The Raiders, who will take a 13-4 record into their regular-season finale Thursday night at Monadnock Regional in Swanzey, managed to hold Milford’s “Big Three’’ of Mike O’Loughlin, Mike Mitchell and Jamie Holder to a combined 27 points.

But Kyle Nelson, Milford’s 6-foot-4 junior center, is making a good argument to expand the billing to the “Big Four.’’

He led the Spartans with 17 points last night, doing solid work inside and stepping out to hit a big 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter. He was also a factor at the defensive end with four blocks.

“Kyle won the game for us tonight, simple as that’’ said Holder, who was held to just two points. “He’s easy to dish off to, he has three-point range and he rebounds and blocks shots.’’

Lebanon coach Keith Matte, whose team beat Milford 53-50 two months ago at the Keene Christmas Tournament, said it’s difficult to figure out who to stop when you play Milford.

“You have to pick you poison, because they have so many weapons,’’ Matte said. “He (Nelson) lines up on the weak side block and they are so good off the dribble, if you help at all they find him.’’

Mitchell, who would hit a game-clinching free throw with six seconds left, penetrated and found Nelson on an alley-oop pass with 20 seconds left, just after Lebanon had closed to within two with a pair of James Kane free throws.

“I don’t think people think we have an inside game,’’ Nelson said. “We’re trying to change that.’’

The guard-orientated Spartans also got solid play inside from another junior, Dan Desmarais, and will get a little deeper next week when 6-3 junior Scott McCallum comes back from a hand injury which has sidelined him for most of the season.

Milford coach Dan Murray knows he had enough offense to win a championship. The focus, of late, has been at the defensive end.

“At our last practice we spent three quarters of the time on defense,’’ Murray said.

“I think you saw some of that tonight. Our defense got us going in the third quarter.’’

If Milford wins its playoff opener next Tuesday, they will host a quarterfinal game a week from Friday. The big question is where they will put all the fans. Plans are already underway to televise the game live in the cafeteria.

“They are definitely tough to beat at home,’’ Matte said. “It’s a great atmosphere, but a tough place to play.’’

When Matte congratulated Murray after the game, he said he hoped to see him again in Durham.

“And I hope I don’t have to pay to get in,’’ Matte said.