WRENTHAM – A game-winning basket by Milford High’s Jordan Darling with seven seconds left to play Sunday dashed the hopes of the King Philip boys’ basketball team to post their first win of the season.
Darling took the pass to the left of the basket from senior Max Martin and scored in traffic to give the visiting Scarlet Hawks (2-4) a 59-58 victory over King Philip and a sweep of the home-and-home series.
In the nightcap of the boys-girls Senior Day doubleheader, stifling pressure defense led the King Philip girls, 3-3, to a 63-29 victory and a sweep of the week.
The boys’ game was close throughout, but King Philip held the edge at all three quarter breaks, 18-15, 27-23 and 43-37.
But Milford battled back in the fourth quarter, repeatedly eschewing its trademark 3-point shots for forays into the paint. A traditional three-point play by the 6-foot-4 Franklin gave Milford a two-point lead with 52 seconds left, but KP’s Will LaPlante connected on a three-point play of his own for a 58-57 Warrior lead with 44 seconds left.
An inbounding turnover under the KP basket gave Milford its last opportunity, and Franklin found his way to the basket on the bullet pass by Darling to snatch the victory out of KP’s hands.
Darling had 22 points and Franklin 11 to pace the Scarlet Hawks.
LaPlante, the outstanding sophomore guard, led King Philip with 22 points and rugged junior center Danny Clancy added 15.
In the girls’ game, repeated turnovers forced by intense pressing and double-teaming of the Milford guards created a plethora of scoring opportunities for the Warriors. King Philip led 15-4 and 26-7 at the first two quarter breaks before the Scarlet Hawks began to find ways to crack the KP press.
Still, the Warriors were able to outscore the visitors 37-22 in the second hand, cashing in on seven of their 10 3-point baskets.
Senior guard Emma Glaser led the way for KP with 13 points and senior guard Courtney Keswick tossed in 11. Eleven of the 13 Warriors were able to reach the scoring column. Senior Emma Lawrence dropped in 10 for Milford.
Both teams tackle the talented Attleboro Blue Bombardiers next week. The girls travel to Attleboro on Tuesday and the boys on Thursday, then Attleboro visits KP for a doubleheader Sunday, starting at 1 p.m. live on North TV's Plainville Channel: Comcast channel 8 and streaming on northtv.net.
