Blowout Win Puts Milton Boys in Final Four

Milton won its 18th straight game to advance to the state semifinals

The only real drama that emerged from Milton’s state quarterfinal matchup with Mill Creek came in the form of a bloody forehead and a subsequent one-sided shouting match between the head coaches. Once that minor din subsided, Milton’s overpowering 69-34 win was as ho-hum as most of the rest of their in-state games have been this season. Milton got 13 points and nine rebounds from Jordan Lloyd and extended their winning streak to 18 games. It’s a streak in which their average margin of victory has been 30 points, a fact that is a minor cause for concern for head coach David Boyd in case his team is faced with a challenge in the last two games of the year. “The last close game that we had was probably Oak Hill (on Jan. 15),” Boyd said. “So …

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Norcross Girls Oust Milton from State Tournament

Eagles fall one game short of repeat trip to final four

Milton’s dreams of a second straight trip to the final four disappeared in a fourth quarter flurry of athleticism and overall domination by Norcross. What was a six-point Norcross advantage quickly ballooned to 19 points at the start of the fourth quarter, and that was that, as Norcross won 67-50. Milton got a first-hand glimpse at the hype surrounding Norcross guard Diamond DeShields. DeShields led all scorers with 22 points and was pivotal in a 13-0 Norcross run to start the fourth quarter. “Credit to them. They’ve got some phenomenal athletes,” said Milton head coach Craig Bennett. “The DeShields girl can take the game over at any point in time and she did. You do the best you can do on her, but you can’t do much for long.” Milton …

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Milton Girls Advance With Win Over Etowah

Nikki Dixon sat out most of the first half with foul trouble, but still led the Eagles in scoring

Despite the way the game played out, it was not the strategy of Milton head coach Craig Bennett to have arguably his two best players on the bench in foul trouble for the majority of the first half. “That kind of surprised us a little bit, but we felt like we were holding our own without (them),” Bennett said. “We finished the second quarter with three of (our starters) on the bench, and we knew at halftime if we could come back with those three we could hopefully get a little bit of an advantage.” After getting two fouls in the game’s first minute and sitting out the rest of the half, Milton’s leading scorer Nikki Dixon returned with a vengeance to lead her team to a 39-36 win over Etowah in the second round of the state tournament …

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Top-Ranked Milton Thumps No. 2 Wheeler

Forward Evan Nolte's big fourth quarter helped the Eagles pull away for the win.

If they hadn’t already done so, the Milton Eagles firmly donned themselves with team-to-beat status thanks to Saturday’s solid and at times dominant 77-59 win over second-ranked Wheeler. The Eagles came in ranked No. 1 in the state’s highest classification, and Saturday’s performance provided no fodder for anyone who doubts that lofty position. The play of Milton guards Shannon Scott and Dai Jon Parker was particularly disruptive on the defensive end all night, but when center Julian Royal fouled out with just over six minutes left in the game, the Eagles got a boost from the only junior in their starting lineup. Evan Nolte scored 13 of his game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter, and his overall play sparked a 15-3 run that turned a 6-…