Hollis Brookline boys basketball outlasts Milford to clinch top seed in D2 tournament

HOLLIS - The Hollis Brookline High School boys basketball team knew that it would be in for a fight in Thursday night's regular-season finale against Milford.

Fortunately for the Cavaliers, they still had a whole lot left to fight to get.

Needing a win to clinch the top seed in Division II, and a first-round bye, HB got off to a fast start, withstood a few haymakers from the Spartans, and held on for a 53-48 win over Milford. The Cavs will now have a week off before they return to the court for the D2 quarterfinals on March 9.

"Our seniors came through," HB coach Cole Etten said. "We got the stops down the stretch and that was important for us. It was a true testament to our hard work. We never quit. There were times we were down and we kept going at it."

Matt Dowling led the Cavs (16-2) with 13 points while Jonathan Brackett added 12 points and Matt Simco was also in double figures with 11.

"I knew it was going to be a battle because they always play us tough," Simco said. "We kept our composure and finished down the stretch. Everything that was going, it’s senior night, we had all the fans. We know they can shoot 3s and they hit a couple."

The Spartans hit six 3-pointers as a team, getting two each from Zach King (six points) and Jake Greska (nine), while Jamie Pare had 16 points and Gavin Urda added nine.

But Milford went scoreless for almost five minutes to end the game, as the Spartans struggled against HB's defense as their legs started to go.

"At the end, we must have got a little tired because we were getting caught on the back more," Milford coach Dan Murray said. "It’s hard to battle like that all game and not get worn down."

HB jumped out a 14-4 lead with a minute to go in the first quarter, but Milford (10-8) responded with a 20-5 run to take its largest lead of the game, 24-19.

"They started bringing two or three guys when we touched the ball," Simco said of what led to Milford's run. "They weren’t doing that the first couple of minutes. When that happens, we just need to work to find the open man and settle into (the offense) before we get going."

The Cavs fought back, ending the half on a 12-6 run to take a 31-30 lead into the break, but King hit back-to-back 3-pointers to open the second half to give the Spartans a 36-31 lead but HB again came back to tie it up at 36.

Milford twice got the lead back to three points before the end of the quarter, but with under two minutes to play, Scott VanCoughnett hit a 3 to tie the game at 43, and that's where it stood going to the fourth.

VanCoughnett hit another jumper to open the final quarter and Simco made one of two free throws to give the Cavs a 46-43 lead, but Milford answered. A basket by Pare and a 3-pointer from Greska put the Spartans ahead 48-46 with 4:58 to play, but Milford wouldn't score again the rest of the way.

"In the end, I don’t know if it was us wearing them down with our bigs, but defensively, they did a lot of one-on-one stuff and we clamped down," Simco said. "Defensively is where it happened."