Milton (Ga.) routs Bishop Gorman (Nev.) to reach Beach Ball Classic final

Shabazz Muhammad, the consensus No. 1 senior in the country on one of the top-ranked teams in the country, said after his Friday night’s Beach Ball Classic semifinal that he was embarrassed.

The embarrassment likely came long before that moment.

Milton (Ga.) jumped on Bishop Gorman (Nev.) from the opening tip and never trailed, building a 23-point lead in the first half and coasting to a surprisingly lopsided 77-56 victory for a berth in Saturday’s championship game.

“There was no sense of urgency at all,” said Muhammad, who scored 32 points in the loss. “Guys looked scared out there. We didn’t take ownership, and that loss was really embarrassing. We lost to a team that’s good but not 20 points better than us.”

Bishop Gorman is ranked 17th in the most recent ESPN Powerade boys basketball rankings. Milton is not in the top 50.

“We play the best teams in the country year-in and year-out, so . . . you’re not really that fazed by the No. 1 guy in the country,” Milton coach David Boyd said.

An Evan Nolte 3-pointer opened the scoring, and Milton never looked back. Seven 3-pointers in the first half – five by Nolte and two by Jalyn Patterson – helped Milton open up a 21-point lead with two minutes remaining in the first half, and a Nolte steal and dunk with 1:42 remaining gave the Eagles a 40-17 lead.

At that point Milton was shooting a scintillating 70 percent from the field on 14 of 20 shooting, in addition to playing harassing defense. The Eagles shot 62.2 percent from the field for the game, 64.3 percent from 3-point range and 75 percent from the free throw line.

“We shot it well,” Boyd said. “We hadn’t been shooting it that well all year, no question about it, and we may not shoot it as well [Saturday]. That helped. That makes everything work a lot better when you shot it that well.”

Muhammad, a 6-6 guard, tried to will his team to a comeback in the second half, opening the second stanza with a thunderous dunk in the first few seconds and going on to score 23 of the Gorman’s first 28 points after halftime.

The Gaels (6-3) would pull no closer than 14 points in the second half, however, the final time with more than 11 minutes remaining on a Muhammad bucket.

“I thought Shabazz played real well,” Boyd said. “Our plan was to make him earn tough 2s and try not to let the other guys hurt us. I thought mixing in the 1-3-1 [zone] helped us when we got in foul trouble.”

Muhammad scored 26 more points than any of his teammates, and hit 13 of 21 shots. “I just think guys weren’t ready to play,” Muhammad said. “I always try to give it my all. Some guys were giving it their all and some guys were going through the motions. You have to give it your all when you’re on the floor, and some of them take it for granted.”

Milton is 8-4, but that record includes three forfeit losses due to an eligibility issue with Georgia commitment Charles Mann that has been resolved.

Nolte, a Virginia commitment, paced Milton for the third consecutive game with 20 points, and his fellow Division I-bound seniors contributed strong games.

Mann hit all five of his shots from the field and 8 of 9 free throws for 18 points and added six assists, and Auburn commitment Shaq Johnson had four dunks among his 18 points.

“We had to play better each game because of the competition, and we did that today,” Nolte said. “Charles and Shaq haven’t been playing up to their potential, we think, the first two games and they came on and made it possible for us to win this game.

“It’s just really good to all be on the same page and come together and put all the pieces together right now. We played really well this game but we want to try to build on that for the championship game and be humble and try to bring a trophy back to Georgia.”

•  MILTON (77) – Shaquille Johnson 18, Charles Mann 18, Evan Nolte 20, Jalyn Patterson 10, Tevin Glass 6, Scott Kelly 2, AJ Bush 2, Mo Lewis 2.

•  BISHOP GORMAN (56) – Rashad Muhammad 6, Rosco Allen 2, Noah Robotham 3, Shabazz Muhammad 32, Mishima Gray 2, Gio Guzman 2, Trey Kennedy 2, Ronnie Stanley 5, Stephen Zimmerman 2.

•  Halftime: Milton 41-21. 3-point goals: Milton 9 (Johnson 1, Nolte 6, Patterson 2); Bishop Gorman 2 (R. Muhammad 2). Team fouls: Milton 15, Bishop Gorman 15. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None.

•  Records: Milton 8-4, Bishop Gorman 6-3