NEW BOSTON — Thanks to a stellar second half, the New Boston Tiger boys basketball seniors ended their career inside Homer Pellegrinon Gymnasium with a 71-45 home victory over Miller in a Division IV sectional semifinal.

After trailing the No. 20 seed Falcons 29-28 at half, the No. 13 seeded Tigers would outscore their guests 43-16 in the final 16 minutes to advance to Friday’s sectional final.

New Boston used their pressure defense and transition opportunities to turn over Miller, which head coach Adam Cox said was apart of their game plan.

“Once we hit some shots we were able to get into our pressure. Once we did that, I thought we would be able to wear them down in the third and fourth,” Cox said. “We wanted to get up and down, and they came out and played great and had a great game plan. We came out flat in the first quarter, thought we were going to run away and win and that’s part of my job to make sure we’re more ready to play. Luckily we have a great coaching staff and great kids and we were able to make some adjustments.”

Each member of the Tigers’ starting lineup were seniors, including Myles Beasley and Devin Maynard who led NB’s starters with 14 and 11 points, respectively.

Junior Devin Allard led the Tiger reserves with 11 points off the bench.

New Boston also saw valuable minutes from each of their front court rotation of players which include seniors Mark Rivers, Dalton Jackson, and Jacob Cahall.

Jackson led all players with a game-high 15 rebounds to go with eight points, Rivers scored seven points and grabbed 10 boards, and Cahall finished with four points and four rebounds.

As a unit, the trio combined for 19 points and 30 rebounds.

Tyreke Lewis added six points on two field goals and a pair of free throws in a reserve role.

“Dalton Jackson and Myles (Beasley) played great, Devin Maynard played awesome,” Cox said. “He’s (Maynard) been everywhere on the court and playing a lot of big minutes. Mark Rivers and Jacob Cahall and Dalton, those three bigs have been playing great together lately. We take their stats and combine them — we tell them we want to get 20 points and 30 rebounds, we don’t care who’s doing it. (Devin) Allard and Tyreke Lewis came in and played great off the bench.”

With the win, the New Boston boy’s basketball program advances to their sixth-consecutive Division IV sectional final.

They’ve won four of five sectionals, including a streak of four-straight that occurred from 2018-2021.

The Tigers will travel to Bainbridge to take on No. 4 seed Paint Valley on Friday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. in hopes of returning to the district tournament with a win.

“It’s our sixth straight sectional championship that we’ve been in, won four of the last five. We’ve got a shot to go and upset Paint Valley, anything’s possible,” Cox said. “Everybody’s record is even right now — everytime you win you advance and lose you go home. We’ll have three good days of practice, hope we’re not ready to pack it in cause I’d like to have another sectional title for New Boston.”

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BOX SCORE

Miller 23 6 10 6 — 45

New Boston 12 16 20 23 — 71

Miller: Z. Colvin 0 0-0 0, J. Elson 0 0-0 0, C. Kaido 0 1-2 1, S. Ward 0 0-0 0, J. Monson 0 1-2 1, L. Doughty 6 2-4 16, C. Elson 2 0-0 5, A. Perry 4 2-2 11, T. Morgan 0 0-0 0, B. Dorsey 4 2-2 11, Z. Bice 0 0-0 0; TOTALS: 16 8-12 45; Three-point field goals: 5 (L. Doughty 2, C. Elson, A. Perry, B. Dorsey 1 apiece)

New Boston (11-12): Devin Allard 4 2-3 11, Devin Maynard 4 2-2 11, Tyreke Lewis 2 2-2 6, Myles Beasley 5 2-2 14, Colton Maynard 0 1-2 1, Josiah Bower 0 1-2 1, Luke Henson 2 0-0 5, Jacob Cahall 1 2-4 4, Mark Rivers 3 1-2 7, Hunter Easter 0 0-0 0, Jayse Taybor 1 0-1 2, Dalton Jackson 3 2-4 8, Ector Brady 0 0-0 0, Levigh Cooper 1 0-0 2; TOTALS: 26 15-22 71; Three-point field goals: 5 (Myles Beasley 2, Devin Allard, Devin Maynard, Luke Henson 1 apiece)

Reach Jacob Smith at (740) 370-0713 ext. 1930, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @JacobSmithPDT © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved