In front of what was a packed house at the Geneva Paceley Gym, the Milano Eagles and Thorndale Bulldogs battled for the top spot in 27-2A. The game, which had 11 lead changes, came down to the final minute. Hosting MHS outscored THS 8-1 to take the game 52-47, and escape as the one district team to remain undefeated following the game.
“It felt amazing, hitting those clutch free throws in the fourth quarter to pull away,” said MHS junior Jayce Todd, who led his team in scoring with 19 points.
GAME—Thorndale started off hot, with a three-pointer from Kaden Kovar and points in the paint from Dereck Cauble and Branson McCoy to take a 7-2 lead less than three minutes into the opening quarter. The Eagles fought back with two threes of their own to take the lead 8-7. The Bulldogs regained the lead at the close of the first, 16-15.
The tug-of-war continued in the second, with the Eagles taking a 23-22 lead at halftime.
In the third, multiple threes put Milano up 32-28 with less than three minutes to play in the quarter. However, the ‘Dawgs erased the deficit fast, scoring 10 points on a pair of twos and threes to go up 38-32 heading into the final quarter.
Thorndale stayed ahead for much of the fourth, but the final two minutes swung in favor of the Eagles, who held on to win.
“It was back-and-forth the entire game,” said Michael Williams, THS head basketball coach. “It’s one of those deals where one team is going to run out of time at the end.”
“We could’ve played two games and it would’ve been back-and-forth the entire time,” he said. “Milano just hit some timely shots.”
For Eagle coach Lee Essman, the win was an indicator that his group is playing as a unit.
“You play a team like that with their tradition, and even when they’re down, they’re good.” Essman said.
“It’s a testament to these guys and the stuff we’ve been through this year. We’re finally starting to click. There’s stuff we still have to work on, but this is huge for us. This win should give us a lot of confidence.”
Other than Todd, the leading scorers for Milano were Weston Avrett with 12, Bryson Richards with 10 and Layne Telg, who finished the evening with 8 points.
Moving forward, Essman says his team doesn’t look too far down their district schedule.
“I told them the other day it’s all about ‘next’,” Essman said. “What’s next? We don’t want to look two or three games down the road. Because when you get into the playoffs, it’s all about what’s next.”
THIS WEEK—B ot h Milano and Thorndale played on Tuesday after press time with the Eagles remaining undefeated with a 54-52 win over Hearne and the Bulldogs blasting Holland 61-36.
MHS heads to Holland Friday while THS has the night off .
GIRLS—Prior to the boys’ game, the Lady Dogs took down the Lady Eagles 51-31.
THIS WEEK—L i k e the Bulldogs and Eagles, MHS and THS battled on Tuesday night, with the Lady Dogs beating Holland 41-29 and Milano falling to Hearne 54-14. THS has Friday off and Milano plays in Holland.
If the Lady Eagles beat Holland and win in Thrall next week, they can clinch the fourth and final playoff spot in District 27-2A. THS is tied for first with Hearne.
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