Mavs, pre-season underdogs, notch first KLAA West title

An article by Michael Shelton    No Comments

The Huron Valley Milford Mavericks are the “Champions of the West” — the Kensington Lakes Activities Association (KLAA) West Division, that is.

The Mavs clinched their first KLAA West Division title with a 48-31 victory at Pinckney on Friday, Feb. 10 in what was a signature win for Milford (14-1 overall) to finish its West schedule with a 9-1 record.

“It feels great. We had clinched a piece of the title against Brighton on Tuesday (Feb. 7) and we said, ‘Let’s not share it (with Grand Blanc) tonight,’” Milford Head Coach Chip Lutz said. “We weren’t the favorite coming into the season. We thought we could be competitive if we play as a unit and we play well together.”

The Mavericks led 10-8 at the end of the first quarter, but turned up the heat by going on a 22-7 run over the second and third quarters to build up a lead that would eventually swell to over 20 points.

“We thought we could score and our defense was adjusted,” Lutz said. “We cut the baseline.”

Junior forward Jacob Lee brought his A-game against the Pirates. He finished with a game-high 18 points despite missing the previous two days of practice with the flu.

Lee scored 7 straight points in the second quarter to put the Mavs ahead 22-10. Another 7 of his 18 points also came in the fourth.

“I hope he’s sick every week because he played great tonight,” Lutz joked after the game.

Steven Sloboda also had 9 points for Milford, while Alex Larson chipped in with 6.

Brandon Wallace was fouled in the second quarter and had to come out of the game briefly to have a bloody nose attended to, but he would later return to action.

Connor Stephens, Peter Berry and Tyler Wagner each had 6 points for Pinckney (8-7, 5-5 in the KLAA West).

The Mavs finished a full game ahead of Grand Blanc (8-2) in the West standings.

Milford began the week with a 50-31 victory at home over Brighton on Feb. 7.

The Mavs led 22-16 at halftime before going on a 16-3 run in the third quarter to take control of the game.

Josh Corey had 13 points for Milford while Wallace followed with 12.

Steven Sloboda also scored 10 points while Chris Orr had 9.

Treston Jones led Brighton with 13 points.

Milford was scheduled to host KLAA North Division champion Waterford Mott yesterday, Tuesday, Feb. 14 after press time in a KLAA crossover game.

The Mavs will then host Walled Lake Western in a first-round KLAA Lakes Conference Tournament game on Friday, Feb. 17, with the winner facing either Walled Lake Central or Howell in the tournament semi-finals on Tuesday, Feb. 21.