A red sea of fanatical Milford Basketball fans, famously known as the “6th Man”, flooded the gym floor to celebrate the 41-33 win over Lakeland High School with the team.
The crowd roared with excitement as Senior Cody Miller sank his last two free throws with ease for the win.
On Friday, Feb. 4, Milford Boys Varsity Basketball secured the win over Lakeland for the first time in three years.
The players and fans met in an emotional frenzy on the court after the game despite the line of Milford High School administrators attempting to block this inter-action.
“It is always special to win big games for all of the people that come out to watch us, especially against Lakeland.” Senior Captain Matthew Mrozinski, said. “I really enjoyed the excitement from the crowd and our team as the time winded down.”
Lakeland was outplayed by Milford both offensively and defensively, as Milford showed ex-tensive effort in the fight to take the win.
The 6th Man also helped ensure the advantage of playing at home for the Mavericks, as they are known for being extra enthusiastic in order to uplift the team and disrupt their rivals’ focus.
Milford dictated the tempo throughout the game, all the while playing out-standing defense and shooting 75% from the free-throw line as a team.
The Eagles failed to stop Junior Captain Sam Lewis in the second half when he earned all 18 of his points to lead the team.
Lewis’s favorite moment of the game was coming out to dominate this half, “My teammates and I started playing with a ton of confidence and there was a spark in us.”
As the lead scorer of the game, Lewis receives adamant support from the 6th Man. The group displayed prominently “In Sam, We Trust” with Lewis’s face featured on a dollar bill. Lewis proved himself trust-worthy at the free-throw line on Friday night, going 8 of 10 from the line.
Senior Captain Matthew Mrozinski, along with out-standing leadership, added 8 points and while embodying a strong and positive leader in the high-pressure game, “I try to create the belief that we are going to win amongst the team,” he said. “If we all believe in what we are doing, we have a much better chance to win.”
The team was beaming with joy as the final buzzer sounded, after all their work over the sea-son with what Junior Luke Jaklic described as “practicing hard and watching a lot of film on the team.”
Head coach David Gilbert was confident in the team that night saying the team is, “full of great leadership that is shown every day at practice.”
This rivalry game that follows the Hall Of Fame induction ceremony famously draws in a much larger crowd than usual into the Fieldhouse each year, promising that the community will see and know the outcome.
“It’s great that the people get to see all the hard work this team has put in on a night like this,” said Coach Gilbert about the packed house.
Despite the intense rivalry between the teams they were able to come together for the greater purpose of supporting Oxford High School before the game. Both teams repped “Oxford Strong” t-shirts and worked to raise money for the school to help them through the tragedy they experienced in December.
After the big victory, the Mavs went on to finish the regular season at 14-6, one of the best records in the last two decades at Milford High School.
Matthew Mrozinski rushes to the basket to score over Lakeland (Photos courtesy of Jerry Rea).
The team celebrates as they are up over the Eagles, 41-33 as the final buzzer sounded.
“I try to create the belief that we are going to win amongst the team.”
– Matthew Mrozinski