Milton vs Brookline(at Schluntz: 12/16/2011)

Led by the solid floor generalship of Shiraz Mumtaz(16 pts, 5 assists) and an outstanding defensive effort from Zeev Gray-Mandell(6 rebs, 7 blocked shots), the Brookline Warriors opened the season beating Milton, 61-49. With a strong surge to finish the first quarter, the Warriors press seemed to push Milton into early mistakes. The quarter ended in favor of Brookline, 19-6.  The Warriors were then plagued with multiple turnovers for most of the second quarter and nursed a 26-23 lead, heading into halftime.

“Great defensive energy in the first quarter’, Coach Fiedor commented. “We let our emotions cloud our judgement a little in the second.  We will continue to work on improving our ball protection and decision making.”

Brookline finished the half with 12 turnovers, but a renewed commitment to defense appeared to begin the 3rd, as the Warriors gave up only 7 points over the next eight minutes.  It was during this time that Zeev Mandell-Gray exerted his presence with 4 spectacular rejections, one heading 6 rows into the stands.

“Zeev is a special athletic talent,” commented the coach.  ‘He has that wingspan that just sneaks up on you as a shooter.  He also gets vertical when he sees a potential block.  I think as he improves, the coaches would like to see those shot blocks be inbounds, so his teammates can have a chance to get the ball and score.”

The Warriors continued to press the action into the fourth quarter,  and it appeared to wear down the Wildcats.  With a 19 point lead half way through the fourth, Milton standout guard, Tyler Greene(20 pts, 6 treys) did his best to  try and get Milton back in it.  Hitting three consecutive 3 pointers down the stretch, to cut the final margin to 12.

The Warriors also had contributions from Anthony Jennings(11 pts), Lake Berry(8 pts), Scott Cordner(6 pts), Josh Russell-Einhorn(5 pts), Josh McDowall(4 pts),  Jonah Morganstern-Gaines(2pts, 4 rebs) and Obi Obiora(2 pts).