The Milton High School varsity basketball team is continuing to experience growing pains during a rebuilding season following their recent 65-49 loss to Crestview High School on Tuesday night. While the Panthers remain winless at 0-9, Head Coach Hank Hullet said reshaping the young team is part of the “big picture.”
“We have a young team, a freshmen, four sophomores, three juniors and one senior who plays, and he is hurt right now” Hullet said. “We are looking to get better so we can win games in February.”
With a record of 10-1, the Bulldogs took the lead early and maintained it throughout the game. However, Hullet did see some positives in the matchup.
“There were times we looked good and there were times where we didn’t look so good,” Hullet said. “With a young team, it is difficult to keep them locked in and focused the entire time…we are working at it and getting better. We just have to put longer stretches together.”
Some of the highlights for the Panthers came from the play of Andre Smith and Marquise Mcroy, according to Hullet.
“There were some bright spots. We’ve just got to find a way to put those bright spots together for a whole game,” he said.
Hullet plans to have his team focus on improving their defensive intensity as the season progresses.
“There is no way we can give up to the 60’s and win games. We have to get better defensively,” Hullet said. “Some of that with a young team is knowing what to do and some that again is being engaged the whole time and completing the task until the final buzzer.”
Next week, Milton will be participating in a basketball tournament in Baldwin County, Alabama.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Basketball: Milton remains winless following loss to Bulldogs