Warren’s Jourdain Milot added 36 points of insult to Stevenson’s growing list of injuries as the Blue Devils fought off a valiant effort by the Patriots before pulling out an 85-81 victory.
With John Fetter (sprained ankle) and Scott Winston (flu) missing from the Stevenson lineup, Patriot coach Ken Johnson tried establishing a low post offense against Warren, who is missing leading scorer and rebounder Mike Brandow.
Stevenson forward Craig Lyerly (career-high 25 points) took advantage of Johnson’s strategy to key a 10-2 first quarter run for the Patriots (4-13, 1-8).
What Johnson wasn’t ready for was the assault his team was about to come under from Milot.
While Stevenson was getting 10 first-quarter points from Lyerly, Milot was keeping his team in the game, scoring all but one of the Blue Devil’s 17 first-quarter points.
“It seemed like every game someone else is forced to step it up and tonight it was my turn,” Milot said. “They seemed to be concentrating on the low post and I tried to take advantage of things from the outside when there wasn’t anything open down low.”
While Milot was working the perimeter, Stevenson was also working its way into its usual foul trouble which didn’t make things any easier on them.
A 20-17 lead at the end of the first quarter evaporated rather quickly for Stevenson as the rest of the Blue Devils started helping Milot, who had 26 points by halftime. Two quick three’s by Warren’s Joel Walker helped swing the momentum at the beginning of the second quarter which led to Warren taking a seven-point halftime lead.
“By far, this was Walker’s best game of the season,” said Warren coach Chuck Ramsey. “He did a great job in the first half guarding (Evan) Linderman (11 points, 2 of 11 from the field) and his hard work in practice is really starting to show during the games. He worked for his opportunity and it looks as if he is willing to continue working to keep it.”
Despite Milot’s brilliance, it was Walker who sparked a 7-0 run to start the second half. With his second three-pointer in two minutes, it gave the Blue Devils a lead they would not relinquish until late in the fourth.
But as Johnson explained away his team’s sixth straight loss, there was really no defensive scheme that would have helped against a team like Warren.
“We had McMahon and Ogilvie with two fouls at the start of the second quarter, turn the ball over twice and (Walker) cans two big three-pointers,” Johnson said. “It just really hurt us but I was proud of these kids for hanging around and almost winning a game they really had no business almost winning. They continue to show a lot of character in the face of adversity.”
After the Patriots found themselves down by as many as 18 points,
they chiseled their way back in, shutting Milot down for just two
third-quarter points. Lyerly’s layup with 3:50 to go in the game
finally tied the game 77-77.
Then Patriot forward Justin Gilbert picked up the loose ball that
Johnson had been scrambling for and put in a lay up to give Stevenson their first lead since early in the second quarter. But then Johnson was called for an offensive foul on a layup attempt that would have put Stevenson ahead by four with two minutes to go.
