Milan Escapes Late Onsted Rally in District Opener

The Milan Big Reds squandered an 18-point lead with four minutes left in the fourth, but managed to get the ball into the capable hands of CJ Turnage for a game winning layup with less than five seconds left. 

The final half-court heave by Onsted fell well short as the Big Reds defeated the Wildcats 51-50 in the opening round of the district tournament Monday night.

Both teams came out streaky to start the game. Milan opened up with a 7-0 run, but Onsted answered with a short 6-2 run of their own.  The Big Reds finished the quarter up 14-11.

The second quarter was a give and take affair until Andre Duffin finished the half with a 7-0 run of his own, including three layups and one with an "and-one" free throw that he converted. Duffin finished the half with 17 points, as many as the whole Onsted team. Milan went into the break up 25-17.

“Andre Duffin played one of the best first halfs a kid ever could play. He literally carried us when no one else could buy a bucket,” said head coach Josh Tropea.

After halftime, both teams were a bit sloppier handling the ball. Turnovers led to fast breaks both ways, and Onsted outscored Milan in the third 11-10, but still trailed 35-28 after Duffin hit a three point shot as time expired.

Midway through the fourth quarter, it looked like Milan had things wrapped up.  They had an 18-point lead and Turnage was proving to be difficult to handle in the paint in the second half. Onsted battled back, chipping away and hitting key three-point shots. The Wildcats took a 50-49 lead with 11 seconds left in the fourth, but Turnage slipped behind the Wildcat defense and made the layup to put Milan ahead for good. 

“In December January and February, you would still hear me screaming, but it is March and half the teams in the state ended their season tonight, but we get to play on Wednesday. We will have several discussions about how the fourth quarter went tomorrow, but tonight we are going to smile and say we survived and advanced,” said Tropea.

Duffin led the Big Reds offense with 22 points and Turnage added 17. They play Tecumseh on Wednesday in the semi-finals at 7:30 p.m. at Onsted.