Milton sinks 11 threes in 65-52 victory over Bucktail
By Bees O’Brien
MILTON- Halfway through the 2023-24 season head coach Travis Fantaskey has seen all of the media hype surrounding his Bucktail squad. The Bucks entered their contest with 4A Milton as one of the favorites as the District IV 1A playoffs draw near. Fantaskey also knows that his team has a lot of issues they’ll need to clean up over the next month.
Those issues were apparent time after time on Monday against the Black Panthers.
Rushing through their offense, turnovers, missed layups and an inability to defend Milton from beyond the arc would result in a 65-52 loss to Milton.
Luke Goodwin’s 22 points would lead Milton, as a total of four Black Panthers would hit double figures against the Bucks. In total Milton would connect on 11 three-point baskets, usually coming when the Bucks began to make runs.
Bucktail pulled within 2 points multiple times in a span throughout the second and third quarters, but every time Goodwin and company would respond. Chase Knarr’s 4 made three-point baskets led Milton from long range. Yadiel Molina connected on three bombs and Rylin Scott and Goodwin each added two threes.
Braylon Fantaski and Gary Whipp accounted for the only two three-point baskets from the Bucks. Fantaski finished with 13 points, while Whipp added 7 points coming off of the bench.
Brody Pentz collected his ninth double-double on the season with an 18-point night that included 15 rebounds.
Bucktail, now 6-5 is a perfect 5-0 against 1A teams and have a solid 2A win over Montgomery under their belts. Things will get a lot tougher for Bucktail on Wednesday when they meet the 2A favorites in District IV in Northwest (10-2) on the road. The Rangers already have a pair of wins against Muncy to their credit and a win over the Bucks at home would clinch a playoff spot for the Rangers.
