Milford boys cruise into quarterfinals

Thursday, March 11, 2010

MILFORD – Overconfidence? Check.

Anxiety? Check.

Luck? Yeah, there was probably some luck involved, too.

All that and more were rolled in to 32 minutes of basketball on Tuesday night, and in the end, the top-seeded Milford High School boys team walked away with a 71-55 win over No. 16 Merrimack Valley in the Class I preliminary round.

One thing is for sure, whatever it was allowed the Pride to turn a 21-point Spartans’ lead into a nine-point lead in the second half, and turn the game into something more interesting than many of the Milford fans were hoping to see.

“A lot of good stuff, but a bunch of bad stuff,” Milford coach Dan Murray said. “There were so many opportunities that we just blew. We let Merrimack Valley stay in the game.”

The Pride didn’t do itself any favors though by shooting 39 percent from the free throw line, including missing four in a row after a foul and technical foul against Milford. Merrimack Valley then failed to score on the ensuing possession, missing out on a chance to cut lead down even more.

“That’s a big momentum swing, but luckily that didn’t happen,” Milford point guard Mike Mitchell said. “Our momentum was breaking when they got the technical, but them missing the free throws helped us realize we were still up.

“A team that’s the No. 1 seed usually is a little overconfident. We know we have home-court advantage, but we’re just trying to think about playing our game and trying to get to the next round.”

Milford did that and will take on No. 9 John Stark, which defeated Hanover on the road, in the quarterfinals on Friday at 7 p.m.

Mike O’Loughlin led all scorers with 22 points, but only five of those came in the second half after Merrimack Valley switched up its defense to start the third quarter.

“We went to a box-and-one,” Merrimack Valley coach Rich Otis said. “(Jon) Lynch stepped up and said he wanted to cover him. Sometimes this game is all about heart. Mike missed some shots, too, that he wouldn’t normally miss.”

Jamie Holder added 17 points for the Spartans while Kyle Nelson had 10 and Mitchell chipped in with nine.

Justin Abbott led the Pride with 17 points and Kevin Cressy had 14 markers in the loss.

The Spartans (18-1) led 51-30 after a 3-pointer by Scott McCallum with 3:53 to go in the third quarter, but from there, the Pride started to chip. Merrimack Valley (7-12) went on an 11-2 run to cut the gap to 12 with a minute left in the quarter and that was where the lead stood heading into the final eight minutes.

Holder scored back-to-back baskets to open the fourth to put Milford up 59-43 and the Spartans seemed to be back in control.

Merrimack Valley was able to cut the lead to nine on a free throw by Lynch, but the Pride couldn’t get any closer after that.

Part of the problem was free throw shooting. The Pride were 14-of-36 for the game, including 6-of-19 in the fourth quarter. Milford was 15-of-26 from the line, but went 9-of-11 in the second half.

“That’s been our Achilles’ Heel all year long,” Otis said. “When you shoot that from the free throw line, you put yourself at a disadvantage.”