Milan Indians take it to the Shawe Hilltoppers, delivering a 76-49 victory
Gary Franklin
SPORTS EDITOR
The Milan High School gym floor was full once senior boys basketball players, team managers, cheerleaders, dance team members, pep band members, and wrestlers and managers along with parents and/or escorts were introduced during the intermission. Solid support was obvious as the tribes crowd filled their side of the gym bleachers.
GARY FRANKLIN PHOTO
Quick, quiet and instinctively explosive as pictured above, Shawe Hilltopper junior, Whit Grote (15) is lulled into feeling secure with the basketball only to have Indian senior Jon Bixler (32) strikes like a panther on its prey, stealing the ball and running the length of his home court for a score.
Varsity Quarter Scores
Milan 23 46 60 76
Ma. Shawe 21 28 34 49
Individual Scoring
Milan Indians 76
Sr 3 Logan Alloway 32
Sr 33 Logan Karsteter 11
Sr 32 Jon Bixler 10
Sr 20 Cooper Wade 9
Sr 5 Gavin Detraz 5
Jr 24 Travis Butte 5
Jr 10 Sam Layden 2
Jr 50 Sam Simpkins 2
So 12 Jon Bixler -
So 30 Kyle Meyer Inj
Shawe Hilltoppers 49
So 24 Brad Koehler 19
So 21 Kaelan Jines 13
Fr 33 Sid Thevenow 8
Jr 41 Zachary Brooks 5
So 23 Grayson Rhoten 3
So 11 Patrick Bear 1
The last home game did not include fireworks, at least in the sense of explosive objects, but had plenty of heat and excitement as the varsity boys teams battled it out on the hardwood. Hilltopper fans were able to enjoy some back-and-forth action early on, but as the night wore on, Milan ran away with a 27 point victory margin at 76-49. Fanning the flame early on for the Hilltoppers was sophomore Brad Koehler (24), explosively scoring 13 of the 21 Topper first period points. Topper scoring in the first period also included a FG and three-pointer by sophomore Kaelan Jines and a FG plus one by junior Zachary Brooks. The Indians found 10 points scored by senior Logan Alloway, along with three FGs and a FT by senior Logan Karsteter, a three-pointer by senior Cooper Wade and the delivery of a three-pointer by senior Jon Bixler for 23 and the two point tribe edge, heading into second period action. The game was knotted up at 2, 12, 15, 18 and 21 in just the first quarter of action. Did someone say a barn-burner? Well at least for eight minutes anyway.
Second Quarter Scoring
Senior tribesman Karsteter drew first blood in the second period of play with a connection on both charity stripe shots allotted him. Over the remainder of the second period, Alloway added 10 more points to his tally, Jon Bixler a FG, Wade a FG and junior Travis Butte entered off the bench to connect for five points and a Milan half time 18 point edge at 46-28 over the Toppers. Second period Topper scoring was result of a FG and FT scored by Koehler (24) and a FG each by teammates, sophomore GraysonRhoten (23 and freshman Sid Thevenow (33). By halftime, curtain call had already become the obvious for the visiting Toppers.
Third Quarter Scoring
As third period progress was made, Indian senior Gavin Detraz netted a FG and a three-pointer, while teammate Wade put down two more FG scores. Alloway finished the scoring balance with a 3-pointer and a pair of FT additions for the 60-34 tally heading to the fourth. Shawe third period scoring was result of a FG by Jines (21), a Thevenow (33) three-pointer and the connection on one of two FTs taken by Rhoten.
Fourth Quarter Scoring
Leading 60-34, after three periods of play, Alloway (3) added a three-pointer, a FG and three FTs by Jon Bixler, a pair of FT connections by junior Sam Layden and a FG score by junior Sam Simpkins. Milan's total of 76 points would be plenty enough to stay the course to victory. In contrast, Topper final period scoring was the cumulative result of a pair of FG scores by Brooks (41), a three-pointer by Thevenow (33), 4-for-4 FT connections by Koehler (24), a FG, a FT and a three-pointer by Jines (21) to a final Topper total point count at 49-76.
JV Quarter Scores
Milan 8 24 35 46
Ma. Shawe 9 14 19 24
Individual Scoring
Milan Indians 46
Jr 50 Sam Simpkins 12
Fr 4 Jordan Burton 8
Jr 13 Dean Elrod 8
So 12 Josh Bixler 5
Sr 21 Allen Laws 5
Fr 22 Blane Beck 4
Jr 10 Payton Healy 4
Shawe Hilltoppers 24
Jr 31 Kyle Wisman 13
Fr 12 Christopher Grote 5
Jr 22 Cristian Rios-Garcia 2
So 14 D. Carrillo Valentin 2
So 11 Patrick Bear 2