Second half rally extends Milan season
MILAN SCHOOLS
The Milan Indians place themselves one step closer to a championship game on the Class A Sectional 60 bracket. Milan faces Trinity Lutheran in the Friday semifinals at 6 p.m.
It certainly was not the first half that Milan imagined on its home floor but an impressive second half showing made up for the first 16 minutes as the Indians charged back for a 53-44 victory over Crothersville in the opening round of the Class A Sectional 60 Boys Basketball Tournament.
Milan is now on a four-game win streak for the second time this season. The Indians now also own opening round wins over Crothersville in back-to-back seasons.
Crothersville (8-16) entered the postseason as a heavy underdog and with nothing to lose, the Tigers decided to try and play spoiler early. By the end of the first half, Crothersville’s roster succeeded in having Milan absolutely flustered on both ends of the floor and what transpired was a 26-13 lead for the visitors at halftime. But kudos to the Indians. They withstood the unexpected assault and recovered nicely.
Very quickly in the third quarter, the black and gold found themselves down just by two possessions and by the end of the frame, a 22-4 run put Milan out in front by five points. The Indians closed out the evening with an 18-14 edge in the fourth quarter which inched out the margin and allowed for head coach Matt Pickerill and company to advance to the semifinals.
A 40-18 second half was the result of a collective Milan effort and the statistics for the night reflected that. Senior Gabe Riehle put up a team-high 14 points and classmate Ethan Clark added 13 points with nine points coming in the final two quarters. Micah Norman and Grant Langferman combined for 18 points with 16 of those points also coming in that span.
Carter Jones led Crothersville with 18 points but was limited to just seven points in the second half. No other Tiger scored more than seven points.
Milan (13-10) faces Trinity Lutheran (14-10) in the 6 p.m. semifinal on Friday night. The Cougars throttled Shawe Memorial 74-36 in Tuesday’s opening round and already owns a 73-61 victory over the Indians from a regular season game in January.
CLASS A
SECTIONAL 60 OPENING ROUND
at Milan
MILAN 53,
CROTHERSVILLE 44
CV – 5. 21. 4. 14. – 44
M – 4. 9. 22. 18. – 53
CROTHERSVILLE (8-16) – Carter Jones 18, Tymir Cromwell 7, Ty Hilton 6, Koby Davis 5, Kayleb Lauderbaugh 5, Baetty Mantia 2, Magnus Smith 1, Jude Howard 0.
MILAN (13-10) – Gabe Riehle 14, Ethan Clark 13, Micah Norman 9, Grant Langferman 9, Ben Knowlton 6, Tommy Poole 1, Josh Pettit 1, Nicholas Voss 0, Brison Hornberger 0, Caydin Davidson 0, Liam Johnson 0.
3-Point Goals – CV 4 (Jones 2, Davis 1, Lauderbaugh 1), M 2 (Norman 1, Knowlton 1). Total Fouls – CV 9, M 8. Free Throws – CV 8-14, M 11-21. Fouled Out – None.
