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Moreau Catholic-Hayward senior Damari Milstead called it “brutal.”
Coach Frank Knight had trouble sleeping and considered a leave of absence.
The Mariners, winners of 75 games over the previous three seasons, started the 2016-17 season 4-9 and were reeling.
The simple solution was to put the burden on the 6-foot-2 point guard and let one of the most productive and successful high school players in Bay Area history figure out how to make the Mariners better.
The result: 20 consecutive wins, a third North Coast Section title in four years and a spot in the Northern California Division 2 title game Saturday against top-seeded St. Francis.
Though not particularly flashy or explosive, Milstead has put up big numbers and now can earn a second state-championship appearance and victory No. 100 as a varsity player Saturday.
A playmaker and defensive hawk first for his first three seasons, Milstead needed to pick up the scoring slack left by the graduation of three prominent players from the 2015-16 team:
Milstead was also the scoring leader last season (19.1 points per game), but with the Mariners having lost more than 43 points per game to graduation, he intially felt he needed to think, “shoot first.”
Damari needed to cut down his scoring and figure out how to lead a young team and make them all better.
“I realized Kyree and I could get any shot, but we could get much better shots with everyone else contributing,” Milstead said.
Damari Milstead started playing at the age of 5 and three years later was playing with the Soldiers, competing against older kids.
Milstead had 10 college offers — including from Cal, St. Mary’s and Washington State — but picked Grand Canyon, which under head coach Dan Majerle just finished its third season as a Division I program.
MaxPreps senior writer Mitch Stephens covers high school sports for The San Francisco Chronicle.
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Coach Frank Knight had trouble sleeping and considered a leave of absence.
The Mariners, winners of 75 games over the previous three seasons, started the 2016-17 season 4-9 and were reeling.
The simple solution was to put the burden on the 6-foot-2 point guard and let one of the most productive and successful high school players in Bay Area history figure out how to make the Mariners better.
The result: 20 consecutive wins, a third North Coast Section title in four years and a spot in the Northern California Division 2 title game Saturday against top-seeded St. Francis.
Though not particularly flashy or explosive, Milstead has put up big numbers and now can earn a second state-championship appearance and victory No. 100 as a varsity player Saturday.
A playmaker and defensive hawk first for his first three seasons, Milstead needed to pick up the scoring slack left by the graduation of three prominent players from the 2015-16 team:
Milstead was also the scoring leader last season (19.1 points per game), but with the Mariners having lost more than 43 points per game to graduation, he intially felt he needed to think, “shoot first.”
Damari needed to cut down his scoring and figure out how to lead a young team and make them all better.
“I realized Kyree and I could get any shot, but we could get much better shots with everyone else contributing,” Milstead said.
Damari Milstead started playing at the age of 5 and three years later was playing with the Soldiers, competing against older kids.
Milstead had 10 college offers — including from Cal, St. Mary’s and Washington State — but picked Grand Canyon, which under head coach Dan Majerle just finished its third season as a Division I program.
MaxPreps senior writer Mitch Stephens covers high school sports for The San Francisco Chronicle.
More...