Milliken helped D2 title game turn for Lebanon boys basketball in no time

All the momentum appeared to be swinging toward the Coe-Brown Northwood Academy boys basketball team.

The Bears had overcome a rocky first half in Saturday's Division II championship game against Lebanon to climb back within striking distance.

And as Brody Ashley stepped to the free throw line for Coe-Brown to try to complete a three-point play, and cut Lebanon's lead to one point, the Bears seemed ready to surge ahead.

With 10 seconds left in the third quarter, Ashley drove to the hoop and was fouled by Lebanon's Ryan Milliken on the made basket. To that point, neither team had missed a free throw, and a good one would have cut the Raiders' lead to 31-30.

Instead, the free throw was no good and Lebanon's Christopher Nulty grabbed the rebound and got the ball to Milliken. The Lebanon senior outraced everyone down the court, and with two seconds to go, let a 3-pointer fly.

"I knew they were making a run and if they made it going into the fourth quarter, it was going to be hard to stop it," Milliken said. "I knew with five seconds left, I had to make a big play. It just felt nice coming off my hands."

The ball swished through the hoop right before the quarter ended and Lebanon took a five-point lead, 34-29, into the final eight minutes.

If that wasn't enough, the Raiders got the ball to open the fourth, and 19 seconds into the quarter, Milliken hit another 3 to put Lebanon up eight. After a miss by Coe-Brown, Milliken was fouled and made both free throws for a 39-29 lead.

"I made that layup and at that point we were in this thing," Ashley said. "He goes down and drills one to end the third, then hits one at the beginning of the fourth, and then we're down 10. It was a really big swing. From that point on, we had to scramble to get back in it."

Milliken's personal 8-0 run took just 41 seconds, from the time Ashley scored, to when the Raiders went back up by 10 points. Momentum had completely changed and the Bears, who were already over the limit, were sending Lebanon to the free throw line on every foul.

Perhaps, if Lebanon had missed a free throw here or there, Coe-Brown could have cut into the lead more. The Bears got it down to eight points with 5:15 to play, but the Raiders were nearly perfect from the line, going 14 of 16 in the fourth quarter.

Lebanon's 59-42 win over Coe-Brown gave the program its first title since winning the Class I championship in 1998, but the Raiders have been no stranger to the University of New Hampshire's Lundholm Gym in the last five years.

This year's championship game marked the seventh game the Raiders have played there since 2013, as they reached the title game in 2016 after bowing out in the semifinals the previous three seasons.

"I think our experience being here helped us," Lebanon coach Kieth Matte said. "We didn't really get rattled. When we were missing shots, we were fine. All of our struggles helped prepare us for this moment."