Milford Basketball Wins at Sussex Tech

By Kevin Eickman

Milford basketball was victorious over Sussex Tech last week

Milford traveled down to Sussex Tech last Thursday for a much anticipated Henlopen Conference match-up. While Tech would get off to a quick start, draining three constitutive three-pointers to start the contest, it would be Milford who would ultimately find their footing on their way to a comfortable 70-52 victory.

After falling behind early in the first quarter, Milford began to slowly work their way back into the game. This was mainly through play of senior Daimir Collins and freshman Michael Mullen who would record a game high 26 points. Collins, a captain on the team and point guard, was not overly concerned after Milford fell into the early hole.

“We were a little slow getting our rhythm, but once we got it together we felt very comfortable and felt we would come back,” Collins said.

Indeed they did, erasing a nine point first quarter deficit to trail only 17-15 as the quarter came to a close.

It was the second quarter however, where Milford would flex their dominance. It would come courtesy of a relentless defense that pressed and trapped Tech into submission. Milford would allow just five points in the stanza, while scoring 15 to take 30-22 lead into halftime.

“Basketball is a team game, so while some of us may have gotten more points than others, all of our points were because of the defense we played as a unit.” Collins stated.

In the third quarter, Tech would outscore Milford by two points and looked poised to make a run as the fourth quarter got underway. Each time Tech would close the gap however, Mullen would drop another drive to the basket. Not only would he get crucial baskets, Mullen would draw fouls, putting Tech under penalties early in the quarter. Mullen would record 12 in the third quarter, with seven of them coming from the free-throw line

“We got our transition game going really well in the fourth and we made it a point to drive to the basket,” Mullen said. “Even though I missed a few free-throws tonight, the rest of the team was there to pick me up.”

Perhaps one of the more interesting timeouts came with Milford up by ten and just under four minutes remaining. It would be there that coach Lamarr Shorts would make sure the team understood exactly what he wanted. He wanted them to remain aggressive, but smart.

“I didn’t want us to take the foot off the gas, but I wanted the guy’s to know what I expected out of the half-court offense,” Shorts said. “I wanted to make sure that if we took a shot, it was when we were driving to the basket. It can be very tempting to take a wide open jumper, but if you miss, it can easily turn into a lost possession. I made it clear that if Tech was going to get back into the game it was going to be because they earned it, not that we gave it to them.”

The game would be the second road victory of the week for Milford, as they had traveled to Polytech on Tuesday, emerging with a 52-47 win. Now sitting at 2-1, Shorts is hoping that his team can continue to improve.

“It’s very early in the year but there are some very good signs so far. We are going to have some tough games, but the entire team is so positive and learns so quickly, I am very excited for the rest for the season.”