Milford rallies past 24th-seeded Howard

Milford’s Brion Murray, shown here against Polytech last season, scored 11 points in the Buccaneers’ DIAA tournament win over Howard on Wednesday night.

MILFORD– It’s never a good idea to underestimate anyone in the DIAA Boys Basketball Tournament.

Ninth-seeded Milford wasn’t expecting a rough time at home against Howard, the tournament’s 24th and final seed, on Wednesday night. But the Wildcats led through most of the second and third quarters before the Buccaneers unleashed a big rally and pulled away for a 65-54 victory.

Milford coach Bob Spath told his team Howard was better than they thought. They didn’t listen and trailed 28-20 at halftime, so the coach let them have it in the locker room.

“He said, ‘We played a horrible half, and we’re only down eight,’” the Buccaneers’ Brion Murray said. “And then he said, ‘Are you going to let the No. 24 seed kick you out? All the summertime work you put in, are you going to let them take that from you?’ We just couldn’t take that.”

Henlopen South champ Milford (15-7) won a tournament game for the first time since 2011 and advanced to play at No. 8 St. Elizabeth at 7 p.m. Friday. The Buccaneers better be ready, because Spath said, “They do a lot of what Howard does, but a whole lot better.”

Howard (10-11) was the better team early. LaMar Woody (20 points, eight rebounds) hit two 3-pointers as the Wildcats built a halftime lead. Then Woody drove for a layup, scored off an offensive rebound and made a free throw to keep Howard ahead 40-34 with 1:54 left in the third quarter.

That’s when Milford got it going. The Bucs closed the quarter on an 8-0 run, including Marcus Correa’s tip-in and a fast-break score by Son Martinez. Then Henry Nesmith opened the fourth quarter with a 10-footer and transition layup to give the Bucs a 46-40 lead with 7:02 to play.

Milford camped out at the free-throw line over the final 4:14, hitting 12 of 20 to keep the Wildcats at bay. Murray reached double figures without a field goal, as he made 11 of 16 foul shots.

“We won it tonight from the free-throw line, and from kind of scrapping around a little bit and taking care of the ball,” Spath said.

Nesmith led the Bucs with 21 points, and Martinez scored 13. In addition to Woody, Howard got 11 points from Na’Quan Watson and seven points and seven rebounds from Shawn Bowman.

Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ.