Milton Boys Cruise Into Quarterfinals
By Ben Kaufmann
County Courier
MILTON – A fiery start was enough for No. 4 Milton to pick up a 62-44 win over No. 13 Mt. Abraham in Wednesday’s Division II boys’ playdown game and advance to a Saturday semifinal against frequent playoff foe Fair Haven.
Kyle Brown’s 23 points, 10 from Colin Mathis and nine from Dan Moshovetis led the Yellow Jackets (6-1), who will now host No. 5 Fair Haven (7-2) at 2:00. The Slaters toppled Milton in the 2018 championship game and beat the Yellow Jackets again in last year’s quarterfinals.
“They’ve always been a strong program,” Moshovetis said of Fair Haven. “We’ve got a history of competing with them, especially in the postseason. Last year we didn’t exactly get what we wanted.”
From the moment Mathis tipped the jump-ball to Brandon Dallas Jr. for the first of his eight points on Wednesday, Milton was in control. Mathis followed his initial assist with a steal and setup of a Moshovetis lay-up and Dallas Jr. pulled off an acrobatic and-one play. A coast-to-coast lay-up by Brown and an and-one play from Mathis helped Milton to a 12-0 lead with less than three minutes gone and the hosts held a 22-10 lead after a quarter.
“We’re gelling and clicking with everything right now,” said Milton assistant coach and father of Dan, Mike Moshovetis. “We stress at the beginning of every game that we want energy. Energy, energy energy.”
Wednesday’s start was a nice contrast to Milton’s previous game against the Eagles (3-7). A March meeting between the two ended with a 10-point Milton win but left a lot to be desired from a Yellow Jacket team with its sights set on a first-ever program championship.
“We had a game when we played these guys where we beat them but we played sloppy,” said the elder Moshovetis. “One of those games where you walk out happy that you got the win but going to practice the next day thinking you’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Mt. Abraham bounced back in the second quarter, cutting Milton’s lead to 31-25 at halftime. Wednesday was never likely to be a cakewalk as the Eagles provided a tougher matchup than Milton would have liked in a No. 4 vs. No. 13 contest. The two programs typically face off twice in a season in the Lake League and are familiar foes.
“We knew they liked to play inside a lot, they’ve got a couple of decent bigs and they’ve got a couple of good shooters,” said Brown. “We just executed our game plan well in the first and third and fourth. We lost a little bit in the second quarter but we got it back.”
Milton indeed got it back as the third quarter went on and put the game away for good with an 11-0 run to open the fourth quarter, grabbing a 55-34 lead with just under six minutes to go.
When Milton is playing its best basketball, contributions come from all over. Although Brown, as usual, led the Yellow Jackets in points, other players were able to take the reins when needed in the kind of rounded effort Fair Haven will demand. Beyond the spurts of brilliance from Dallas Jr., Mathis and Moshovetis, Braeden Caragher hit a fourth-quarter three for the biggest of his five points. Adam Bilodeau chipped in four points and Kayden Burke added three. Caden Button pulled down five rebounds, Mike McNeil had three assists and two rebounds and Manolis Anemikos finished with two rebounds and two assists.
“It’s a lot of weight off my shoulders with a lot of guys around me who have really matured and progressed in their games to more of a scoring role,” Brown said. “ It’s been a big help this year to see some of the point totals going up and we’re winning by more.”
Brown provided one of the lighter moments of the evening just before Milton pulled its starters in the fourth quarter. The senior guard is known for his shooting but does offer incredible athleticism. Loose on a breakaway with the game locked up, Brown tried to match some of the authoritative dunks Mathis has produced this year. Brown got ahold of the rim, and the ball went in for his last two points, though the play couldn’t exactly be called a slam dunk. The big question before the focus moves to Fair Haven: Can Kyle Brown dunk?
“Yes, I can, I promise you,” Brown said. “Second or third quarter when my legs are fresh, that’s definitely going down.”
Can Kyle Brown dunk?
“On a good day,” Dan Moshovetis said with a smile.
Milton’s chance to finally slay the Fair Haven dragon tips off at 2:00 PM on Saturday.
