The knockout punch came at the beginning of the third quarter, a stage of the game where the Milford Mavericks have struggled all season.
This time Milford coach Dave Gilbert challenged his team to choke out its first-round district foe Fenton with energy and defense. His team obeyed, slayed and walked out of Fenton High School with a 54-32 victory over the overmatched Tigers
By the time this third quarter blitzkrieg ended Milford had outscored Fenton 13-2 in under four minutes and found itself in command, 31-14, with 12 minutes to protect the lead.
This onslaught came with noise. Lots of noise. Bench players jumped up and down in delight after every basket and every steal and every fast break. They yelled and stomped and encouraged their teammates on the floor.
“There is nothing better than playing like that,” guard Noah Pike said. “The defensive energy was great. Flying around out there. Our defensive rotation was great. That is our favorite offense to run.”
Milford is not a dazzling offensive team. It must set up its offense on the defensive end. When it humming the Mavericks believe they can compete with any team in the state. When its not, Gilbert becomes very concerned. He admits his team can be somewhat puzzling.
In their last 11 wins the Mavericks have given up an average of 36.1 points per game. In their last 11 losses that number swells to 48.3 points.
Milford (12-11) struggled early against Fenton (5-18) with turnovers and led just 21-12 at the half. Fenton also struggled with turnovers and played without injured lead guard Jakyi Brown-Abston who usually controls the pace and limits mistakes.
The Tigers turned the ball over 22 times.
Dorian Wright led Milford with 15 points and six rebounds while Aaden Franz added 12 points.
“Sometimes we are a mystery,” Gilbert said. “The way we play defense we can beat anybody. It is paying attention to those details. When they do you saw what they can do in the third quarter.”