BRAINTREE – In many aspects, the Milton and Braintree boys’ basketball teams are evenly matched.
They were through four quarters on Monday night.
But when it came to overtime, Milton’s undeniable advantage in experience proved to be the difference, as the Wildcats outlasted the Wamps on their home floor for a 65-59 win.
“It’s nice to have as many seniors and experienced guys that I do,” Milton head coach Billy Donovan said. “The experience of the guys who have played a lot of games together and have been in a lot of tight spots showed in overtime. We didn’t panic, we didn’t rush, and we stayed under control.”
Cole Fletcher and Valentine Ohanmu shared the team lead in points for Milton. Each contributed 14 to the effort, but in very different ways.
Coming off the bench and appearing in his first game since suffering a tailbone injury before the start of the season, Ohanmu barreled his way through defenders and to the rim with reckless abandon.
Meanwhile, Fletcher made his impact felt in the clutch, sinking six of his team’s 14 combined free throws from the stripe, including three key shots in the fourth quarter and overtime.
“I just had to remind myself that I’ve prepared for these moments,” said Fletcher. “I just go through my rhythm, try to stay calm, and trust my shot.”
The Wamps held a thin one-point advantage through the game’s first two quarters, only for the Wildcats to overtake them with a 10-0 run at the start of the second half.
While Milton struggled to hit its shots, it relentlessly forced turnovers and chased down rebounds, earning extra possessions and creating second, third, and sometimes even fourth chances for itself to put points on the board.
“That was huge,” Donovan said. “We were very active on the offensive glass. That put us in a position at the end of the third and start of the fourth to kind of pull away.”
But rather than the Wildcats pulling away, it was the Wamps who chased them down.
Led by a 23-point performance from Ethan Ellie, Braintree erased what was at one point a double-digit deficit, and eventually tied the score at 53 a side with 1:56 left to play in the fourth.
Managing to do that alone is an impressive feat for any team, let alone for a young one such as the Wamps, whose starting lineup features three sophomores.
Still, they have some more lessons they need to learn, ones that Milton has already covered.
“[The players] have big goals for this year,” said Donovan. “They’ve been on the other end of it, so they know what they have to do to take care of business.”
Milton (3-1) looks ahead to the New Year for its next matchup on Jan. 2 when it hosts Archbishop Williams, while Braintree (1-3) visits Concord-Carlisle on Dec. 28.