MILFORD – Rich Otis would do a lot of things to help the Merrimack Valley boys basketball team he coaches get a win.
Milford's Jamie Holder goes up for a dunk during Tuesday's Class I playoff game. For more photos, see the Photo Album.
But the one thing Otis can’t do for the Pride went a long way to costing them a playoff game Tuesday night.
No. 16 Merrimack Valley gave top-seeded Milford more of a game than a lot of people expected. But ultimately, poor free throw shooting by the Pride and superior talent for the Spartans ruled out as Milford won, 71-55, in the Class I preliminary round.
The Spartans move on to the quarterfinals, where they will host No. 9 John Stark – which won at No. 8 Hanover – on Friday at 7 p.m.
“I can do a lot of things for them, but I can’t shoot the basketball for them,” said Otis after his team shot 39 percent from the free throw line. “That’s been our Achilles’ Heel all year long. When you shoot that from the free throw line, you put yourself at a disadvantage.”
Although Merrimack Valley was able to turn a 21-point deficit into a nine-point Milford lead in the second half, the Spartans remained in control of the game from start to finish.
Mike O’Loughlin led the Spartans with 22 points, but only five of those came after halftime as Merrimack Valley made a switch on defense to attempt slow the Milford junior down.
“We went to a box-and-one,” Merrimack Valley coach Rich Otis said. “(Jon) Lynch stepped up and said he wanted to cover him. Lynch might tell you Mike is a better player, but sometimes this game is all about heart. Mike missed some shots, too, that he wouldn’t normally miss.”
Jamie Holder added 17 points for Milford (18-1) while Kyle Nelson had 10 points and Mike Mitchell chipped in with nine.
Merrimack Valley (7-12) got 17 points from Justin Abbott and Kevin Cressy had 14 markers in the loss.
Had the Pride not shot 14-of-36 from the free throw line, including 6-of-19 in the fourth quarter, things might have been even more interesting.
“A lot of good stuff, but a bunch of bad stuff,” Milford coach Dan Murray said. “The first half was pretty good. The defense was good, but the half court offense … There were so many opportunities that we just blew. We let Merrimack Valley stay in the game.”
That nearly came back to bite the Spartans in the second half.
Milford's Mike O'Loughlin finishes off a dunk during Tuesday's game.
After a 3-pointer by Scott McCallum game Milford a 51-30 lead with 3:53 to go in the third quarter, Merrimack Valley went on an 11-2 run to cut the gap to 12 points with a minute left in the quarter. The Milford lead remained at 12 heading into the final quarter and Holder scored back-to-back baskets to open the fourth, putting the Spartans up 59-43.
But with Milford up, 59-47, Kevin Cyr picked up his third foul and Merrimack Valley scored off it to make it a 10-point game. After the Spartans turned the ball over, Cyr picked up his fourth foul, but Abbott missed the front end of the one-and-one.
Cressy grabbed the rebound, but was fouled by Cyr, his fifth of the game and third in less than a minute. Frustration boiled over as he went to the bench and Cyr drew a technical, giving the Pride four free throws and the possession.
But Cressy missed his two free throws, and Alex Temple missed both free throws on the technical, and the Pride failed to score on the possession.
Instead of potentially cutting the Milford lead to three or four, Merrimack Valley was still down by 10.
“It was huge not to come away with anything,” Otis said. “That one stretch, it came down to that one span that would have made it an interesting game.”
Murray agreed.
“It’s a different game,” he said. “When it gets to two or four points, it’s anybody’s game.”
For the players, the Pride’s missed free throws were a bit of a wake-up call.
“Our momentum was breaking when they got the technical, but them missing the free throws helped us realize we were still up,” Mitchell said.
Lynch added a free throw to cut the lead to nine points, 59-50, but Merrimack Valley would get no closer the rest of the way.
Milford broke a scoreless stretch of three-plus minutes on a dunk by O’Loughlin and the Spartans outscored the Pride, 12-5, in the final 3:48 of the game.
“We didn’t really execute, but they threw something different at us,” Mitchell said of the second half. “We didn’t really adjust to it well at first.”
Milford's Mike O'Loughlin, left, and Mike Mitchell defend against Merrimack Valley's James Fournier.
The junior point guard also thought his team might have struggled at times with overconfidence, and that playing a competitive game against a low seed will help in the long run.
“If you beat a team by 40, you’re already looking ahead to the next game,” he said. “You don’t want to go out for your next game and think you’re just going to do the same thing.
“A team that’s the No. 1 seed usually is a little overconfident. We tried not to think that they’re the 16th seed and they’re coming into our gym. We know we have home-court advantage, but we’re just trying to think about playing our game and trying to get to the next round.”
