Milford boys basketball runs past Pelham to remain undefeated
The Milford High School boys basketball team was in need of a spark.
PELHAM – The Milford High School boys basketball team was in need of a spark.
Riding the energy of the home crowd, Pelham jumped out to an early lead Tuesday night, and the Spartans seemed on the verge of getting left in the dust.
Ryan Banuskevich had other plans.
The Milford senior hit two 3-pointers to start the Spartans on an 11-0 run, the first of four scoring swings that helped them come away with a 66-58 win over the Pythons in a meeting of undefeated Division II teams.
Banuskevich finished with 22 points, including four 3-pointers, while Jamie Pare and Shane Winnett each had 15 points to lead the Spartans (5-0). Milford overcame some shooting woes from the free throw line in the fourth quarter, and stepped up defensively when it needed to.
“Very big because we haven’t been in a lot of close games, and we have two guys from last year,” Milford coach Dan Murray said of the win. “The other four were JV players, so for them to play in a big game like this, they needed it.”
Pelham (4-1) got a game-high 25 points from Kyle Frank, who hit 5 3-pointers, three of which came in the fourth quarter. Joe Pantaleo added 16 points and freshman Drew Brown was also in double figures with 13 points, including three 3s of his own.
But it was mistakes at crucial points that coach Mike Larson felt doomed the Pythons.
“We definitely played hard, I can’t fault the effort,” he said. “We’re a young team that’s prone to making some mistakes. We gave up a couple of runs, almost one in every quarter, but we showed resolve to fight back. We were clawing and scrapping going into the fourth quarter.”
Before the game, Pelham honored long time fan Ronald Walsh with a memorial plaque on the bleachers where he would sit for home games. Athletic director Todd Kress, along with family members and former players addressed the crowd and the teams before the game. Walsh died in October.
The Pythons seemed to feed off the buzz in the gym, forcing Milford into a turnover on its first two possessions, and going up 5-0. But Banuskevich answered with back-to-back 3s and the Spartans never relinquished the lead.
“It put us right back into it,” Murray said. “One way or the other, he’s not always shooting outside, sometimes he goes to the hoop, but these guys were collapsing so much that was the option. Once he’s feeling it, he just keeps taking it.”
Milford added a 10-0 run in the second quarter, but only led by five at halftime. The lead was just two, 35-33, with 4:37 left in the third when back-to-back layups by Winnett and Banuskevich started the Spartans on a 13-4 run to close the quarter up 50-37.
Pelham got the lead down to eight points, and held Milford scoreless for almost four minutes, but the Pythons couldn’t find a way to score themselves. Instead, the Spartans went on a 10-3 run to take a 61-48 lead with 2:48 remaining.
“It’s hard because you’re expending so much energy to get back into the game, doing what you’re supposed to on the defensive end,” Larson said, “and then not being able to execute on the other end, you can tolerate one here or there, but two or three in a row is tough to recover from.”
With Pelham fouling to extend the game, Milford kept the door open for the Pythons by going 7 of 17 from the line in the fourth quarter. A couple of 3s each by Brown and Frank helped Pelham get within five points with 22.8 seconds left, but the Pythons were unable to get any closer and Winnett made 3 of 4 free throws to put it away.
