By John Breech / Staff

The high school basketball season is only one week old but Milton has already proven that they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with this year. Last Saturday, the state’s second ranked Eagles took down Georgia’s defending AAAA champs Miller Grove (Game story on pg. 46). Friday night Milton made another statement when they beat their second state ranked foe in seven days.

Eagle point guard Shannon Scott led all scorers with 21 points in Milton’s surprisingly easy 78-64 win over fifth ranked McEachern.

Julian Royal scored four of Milton’s first eight points as the Eagles shot out to an 8-0 lead. Thanks to a tenacious Milton defense, McEachern didn’t score their first point until the opening quarter was almost half way over. At the 4:26 mark of the first, Indian guard Trae Golden hit a jumper that put McEachern on the board while cutting the Eagle lead to 8-2. By the end of the first quarter, Milton increased the six point lead to 18-10.

McEachern would hang with the bigger and faster Eagles for most of the second quarter. Trailing only 25-19 in the second and with possession, the Indians had a chance to cut the lead to one basket. Unfortunately for McEachern, Milton’s Scott would steal the ball and send a pass upcourt to teammate Dai Jon Parker for an alley-oop pass that sent the crowd into a frenzy. The alley-oop was a big part of a 16-6 run that Milton closed the first half with. The ten-point Milton swing was like a punch to the gut for McEachern and the Indians would never recover.

Milton would stretch the lead to 25 in the third quarter when Parker slammed down his third dunk of the night. The dunk gave the Eagles a 54-29 lead and forced McEachern to call a timeout. Parker finished the night with 19 points.