SETTING THE SCENE: With its 10th consecutive winning season already guaranteed, the Milford High School boys basketball team will look to close the regular season on a high note this week with a pair of games. Entering the week 12-8 overall and 7-5 in Eastern Cincinnati Conference play, the Eagles will kick off this week on the road at Turpin on Wednesday night. Friday night will be Senior Night for the Eagles’ nine man senior class prior to tip off against Glen Este. Both games will tip at 7:30 p.m.
TOURNEY TALK: The Eagles have been awarded the 12th seed in the OHSAA Cincinnati Sectional Tournament and will open play against Middletown on Friday, Feb. 19. The game, which will tip off at 6:00 p.m. at Lakota West High School, pits the No. 12 Eagles against No. 15 Middletown in a rematch of last season’s sectional finals. The winner will advance to square off against Eastern Cincinnati Conference member Anderson (No. 11 seed). Click here to view Milford’s sectional bracket.
A LOOK BACK: Feb. 1 at Loveland: Milford shot a sizzling 80 percent in the second half, pulling away from Loveland for a 60-48 Eastern Cincinnati Conference boys basketball victory on Feb. 1. Senior Jack Engelman led the charge scoring 12 of his career-high 20 points after the half to help the Eagles to their sixth straight victory over their inter-township rival. Click here to read the full recap.
Feb. 2 at Shroder: Following a sluggish first half, the Eagles turned in a huge second half to overcome a 14-point halftime deficit en route to a 64-58 win at Shroder on Feb. 2. The Eagles scored 27 points in the fourth quarter to charge to their 12thwin of the year. Brad Hall had a monster 20-point, 13-rebound performance to lead the victors. Click here to read the full recap.
Feb. 5 vs. Walnut Hills: Walnut Hills opened the second half on a 12-0 run, overcoming a halftime deficit and taking a lead it wouldn’t relinquish, handing Milford a 38-31 setback in Eastern Cincinnati Conference boys basketball action on Feb. 5. Defense proved to be the order of the night as both teams were held to season lows in points scored. Click here to read the full recap.
THE UPCOMING DOCKET: A look at Milford’s schedule for the upcoming week:
- Wednesday, Feb. 10 at Turpin, 7:30 p.m.
- Live Stats: None
- 2015-16 Record: 7-13, 3-9 ECC (RV Division I area coaches’ weekly poll)
- Top Scorer: Senior Brandon Holaday (16.3 ppg)
- Last Meeting: 2015-16; Milford 74, Turpin 54
- Capsule look at the Spartans: It’s been a tough year for Turpin who has dropped four of its last five and nine of last 11, with a drubbing by the Eagles included in the struggles. Holaday does rank second in the ECC in scoring and scored 18 in the season’s first match-up.
- Friday, Feb. 12 vs. Glen Este, 7:30 p.m.
- Live Stats: milfordeagleslivestats.com/xlive.htm
- 2015-16 Record: 3-17, 1-11 ECC (NR Division I area coaches’ weekly poll)
- Top Scorer: Junior Brad Gardner (10.3 ppg each)
- Last Meeting: 2015-16; Milford 43, Glen Este 39
- Capsule look at the Trojans: Glen Este has dropped seven in a row and eight of nine since the first Eagles-Trojans meeting this season. The Trojans did put a scare into the Eagles in the initial meeting, leading by eight at halftime before a second half Milford comeback.
THANK YOU SENIORS: Senior Night is scheduled in conjunction with the Eagles’ Feb. 12 home finale against Anderson. That evening, the 2016 Senior Class consisting of Jake Chialastri, Brendan Dugan, Jack Engelman, Keenan Farrell, Ben Greenwell, Brad Hall, Dakota Lefker, Alex Shiplett and Mitchell Wenzler will be honored for their contributions to Milford Basketball.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS: A look at Milford’s statistical leaders through 17 games:
Points per game: Brad Hall (12.9), Jack Engelman (8.1), Keenan Farrell/Mitchell Wenzler (6.7)
Assists per game: Keenan Farrell (2.8), Mitchell Wenzler (1.7), Jack Engelman/Brad Hall (1.3)
Rebounds per game: Brad Hall (6.5), Jack Engelman (5.4), Matt Kirk (2.5)
Steals: Keenan Farrell (22), Brad Hall (21), Mitchell Wenzler (14)
Blocks: Jack Engelman (14), Brad Hall (8), Brendan Dugan (6)
Field goal percentage: Jack Engelman (.483), Brad Hall (.474), Wes Reid (.455)
Three-point percentage: Brad Hall (.431), Matt Kirk (.370), Mitchell Wenzler (.281)
Free throw percentage: Matt Kirk (.804), Brad Hall (.773), Wes Reid (.769)
INSIDE THE ECC: The battle for the ECC crown has come down to Walnut Hills and Kings with the former owning a one-game lead with two to play. The teams are set to square off on Tuesday night in a conference showdown. Milford currently shares third with Anderson heading into the season’s final week. The schedule of ECC conference games this week includes: Tuesday-Kings at Walnut Hills, Milford at Turpin, Loveland at Anderson and Glen Este at Withrow; Friday-Loveland at Walnut Hills, Turpin at Kings, Glen Este at Milford and Withrow at Anderson.
The schedule for ECC teams in the tournament includes: No. 8 Walnut Hills vs. winner of No. 10 Lakota West-No. 22 Turpin (Feb. 24, 7:30 p.m. at Hamilton), No. 9 Kings vs. No. 18 Little Miami (Feb. 20, 8:00 p.m. at Fairfield), No. 11 Anderson vs. winner of No. 12 Milford-No. 15 Middletown (Feb. 23, 6:00 p.m. at Lakota West), No. 12 Milford vs. No. 15 Middletown (Feb. 19, 6:00 p.m. at Lakota West, No. 17 Loveland vs. No. 20 Amelia (Feb. 18, 6:00 p.m. at Hamilton), No. 22 Turpin vs. No. 10 Lakota West (Feb. 20, 7:30 p.m. at Hamilton), No. 23 Withrow vs. No. 21 St. Xavier (Feb. 19, 7:30 p.m. at Lakota West), No. 30 Glen Este vs. winner of No. 5 Elder vs. No. 27 Edgewood (Feb. 24, 6:00 p.m. at Lakota West).
POLL WATCH: The Eagles are once again just outside of the top-10 in the weekly Cincinnati Enquirer area Division I coaches’ poll, released on Feb. 8. Mason is the new No. 1 this week with five of the eight first place votes cast. LaSalle, Moeller, Elder (one vote) and Wilmington (two votes) round out the top-five. The ECC is represented by Kings in eighth, Walnut Hills in ninth and Anderson and Turpin joining Milford in the others receiving vote category. The coaches’ poll is released every Monday at Noon at preps.cincinnati.com/coachespolls.
KING OF KINGS: Senior Mitchell Wenzler would likely enjoy seeing Kings on the Milford schedule more often based on his success against the Knights this year. In addition to his career night of 24 points and seven rebounds on the hardwood on Dec. 15, Wenzler also had a night to remember on the soccer pitch against Kings this year as well. During the Eagles’ 5-0 win over the Knights on Sept. 17, Wenzler was a hat trick hero for Milford, netting his first career three-goal game.
LIVE STATS AVAILABLE: The Milford High School Department of Athletics is pleased to announce the offering of free live stats webcasts for all home basketball contests during the 2015-16 season. In addition to all of the boys and girls home games, the live stats webcasts will also be available for select road games throughout the season. Be sure to check the basketball weekly reports and MHS Twitter accounts for availability of road game live stats. By visitingmilfordeagleslivestats.com/xlive.htm, fans that are unable to attend home games can follow along in real-time with stats and the running score and time remaining following each play. Links to the live stats page will also be available on the varsity boys and varsity girls basketball pages on milfordathletics.org as well as through the basketball weekly preview articles.
Milford Eagles Season/Career Highs
Jake Chialastri
Points—Season: 3 at Anderson; Career: 3 twice
Rebounds—Season: 1 vs. Turpin; Career: 1 eight times
Assists—Season: N/A; Career: 1 twice (2014-15)
Brendan Dugan
Points—Season: 15 vs. Turpin; Career: 15 vs. Turpin (2015-16)
Rebounds—Season: 5 at CHCA; Career: 5 at CHCA (2015-16)
Assists—Season: 2 three points; Career: 2 three times (2015-16)
Jack Engelman
Points—Season: 20 at Loveland; Career: 20 at Loveland (2015-16)
Rebounds—Season: 11 at Sycamore; Career: 11 at Sycamore (2015-16)
Assists—Season: 5 at Shroder; Career: 5 at Shroder
Double-doubles—Season: 1; Career: 1
Keenan Farrell
Points—Season: 19 at Kings; Career: 19 at Kings (2015-16)
Rebounds—Season: 5 three times; Career: 5 three times (2015-16)
Assists—Season: 6 twice; Career: 6 twice (2015-16)
Nathan Gallimore
Points—Season: 5 vs. Withrow; Career: 5 vs. Withrow (2015-16)
Rebounds—Season: 2 at Shroder; Career: 2 at Shroder (2015-16)
Assists—Season: 1 twice; Career: 1 twice (2015-16)
Ben Greenwell
Points—Season: 10 at Sycamore; Career: 16 vs. Withrow (2014-15)
Rebounds—Season: 6 twice; Career: 7 vs. Stivers (2013-14)
Assists—Season: 3 twice; Career: 3 seven times
Brad Hall
Points—Season: 22 vs. Colerain; Career: 22 vs. Colerain (2015-16)
Rebounds—Season: 14 vs. Withrow; Career: 14 vs. Withrow (2015-16)
Assists—Season: 4 vs. Turpin; Career: 4 three times
Double-doubles—Season: 3; Career: 5
Matt Kirk
Points—Season: 15 at Kings; Career: 15 at Kings (2015-16)
Rebounds—Season: 6 twice; Career: 6 twice (2015-16)
Assists—Season: 2 twice; Career: 2 twice (2015-16)
Dakota Lefker
Points—Season: 10 twice; Career: 10 twice (2015-16)
Rebounds—Season: 5 twice; Career: 5 twice (2015-16)
Assists—Season: 4 vs. Taft; Career: 4 vs. Taft (2015-16)
Wes Reid
Points—Season: 13 twice; Career: 13 twice (2015-16)
Rebounds—Season: 5 vs. Withrow; Career: 5 vs. Withrow (2015-16)
Assists—Season: 3 three times; Career: 3 three times (2015-16)
Jacob Riesenberg
Points—Season: 2 twice; Career: 2 twice (2015-16)
Rebounds—Season: 1 twice; Career: 1 twice (2015-16)
Assists—Season: N/A; Career: N/A
Alex Shiplett
Points—Season: 3 twice; Career: 6 vs. Batavia (2014-15)
Rebounds—Season: 6 vs. Turpin; Career: 6 vs. Turpin (2015-16)
Assists—Season: 1 at Glen Este; Career: 2 vs. Withrow (2014-15)
Mitchell Wenzler
Points—Season: 24 vs. Kings; Career: 24 vs. Kings (2015-16)
Rebounds—Season: 7 vs. Kings; Career: 7 vs. Kings (2015-16)
Assists—Season: 5 at Loveland; Career: 5 at Loveland (2015-16)