Quick start for Seals key in victory over Milton

Jan. 4—MILTON — The last time Selinsgrove played in this area, the Seals picked up a nine-point win over Mifflinburg back on Dec. 22. Selinsgrove coach Justin Keiser was particularly pleased with the Seals' play early in that game.

On Wednesday, Keiser saw what his Seals could do with a four-quarter performance.

Selinsgrove never trailed in its Heartland Athletic Conference-Division I opener, building an early 19-point lead and rolling to a 70-26 win over Milton in The Jungle.

"It's nice when you can work on some things (in a game)," Keiser said. "I thought our press played well. Our defense really created some offense. On top of that, we executed in the halfcourt.

"When we do things, we are a tough team to handle."

It's Selinsgrove's second-straight win after suffering two losses in three games, but it was also in a stretch of five games over the final three weeks of 2023. Now the Seals (6-2 overall, 1-0 HAC-I) play nine league games in January with two nonleague contests (Williamsport and Berwick), before the final league game on Feb. 2.

"Even our losses (to Wilkes-Barre and Mechanicsburg), we didn't feel like we went backwards by any means," Keiser said. "But it's nice to take care of business and get to 6-2."

Maybe the most pleasing part for Keiser was the fact the Seals built their early lead without much scoring contribution from senior standout Ries Naugle. It was 9-2 Selinsgrove before Naugle scored. The pivotal spurt was started by a Jace Diehl 3-pointer, and capped by a Camden Smith 3-pointer as Selinsgrove opened a 21-2 lead after one quarter.

"It makes Ries even tougher to defend when you have four, five, six other guys around him that can score or shoot," Keiser said. "The defense can't key in soley on (Ries). Those guys have done a great job of stepping up. Ries is a such an unselfish basketball player that if teams (later in the season) want to load on him, he'll find those other guys to score."

Naugle might have set the Selinsgrove school record for dunks in a game Wednesday. He stuffed three on breakways against the Black Panthers and another on a nice alley-oop feed from Bastian off an inbound play in the second half.

Rylin Scott stopped a six-minute scoreless drought for Milton, knocking down a bucket and 3-pointer early in the second quarter to give Black Panthers some life. Freshman Xaivier Jackson converted a three-point play for Selinsgrove to start another big spurt — this one 14-1 — that pushed the lead to 37-8 with a little more than two minutes left in the first half.

Naugle led three Seals in double figures with 16 points, while Gavin Bastian chipped in 15, and Jackson finished with 10. Jace Diehl had seven points and four steals in the win. Cam Smith had five rebounds and four assists off the bench for Selinsgrove.

Nijel Hunter had seven points, while Scott and Luke Goodwin each finished with five points for Milton, which drops to 2-6, 0-1.

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SELINSGROVE 70, MILTON 26

Selinsgrove (6-2) 70

Xaivier Jackson 4 2-3 10; Luke Piecuch 2 0-1 4; Ries Naugle 7 2-2 16; Jace Diehl 2 2-2 7; Gavin Bastian 6 1-1 15; Camden Smith 1 1-2 4; Noah Walter 2 2-3 7; Mason Richter 0 0-2 0; Mac DeFazio 2 0-0 5; Jack Piecuch 1 0-0 2. Totals 27 10-16 70.

3-point goals: Bastian 2, Diehl, Smith, Walter, DeFazio.

Did not score: Griffin Parker, Chase Carter, Jake Beddall.

Milton (2-6) 26

Peyton Rearick 1 1-3 3; Chase Knarr 0 1-2 1; Rylin Scott 2 0-0 5; Nijel Hunter 3 0-5 7; Luke Goodwin 2 0-0 5; Yadiel Molina 1 0-0 3; Yuriel Medina 1 0-0 2. Totals 10 2-10 26.

3-point goals: Scott, Hunter Goodwin, Molina.

Did not score: Lucas Radke, Izayah Minium, Jake Harris, Alex Krall, Elias Walters, Michael Bickhart.

Score by quarters

Selinsgrove;21;16;19;14 — 70

Milton;2;10;9;5 — 26