MILFORD—There's not much of a better way to start the season than this: Defeating a team which went to the Final Four a year ago, by a single point on a last second basket, to win the championship of your own tournament in your longtime coach's final season.

That's the way the Milford boys basketball team began the year last weekend in the 12th annual Anton Remy Tournament, taking a 48-47 victory over Ft. Plain.

After easily dispatching Gilboa Friday night, the Wildcats faced off against powerhouse Ft. Plain Saturday in the championship. Ft. Plain won the section Three Class C title last year advancing to the state Final Four before losing.

But Milford returned four starters from last year's 18-5 squad, and the game was close throughout.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 9-2 lead but led by just one at the half.

Milford retained its lead for much of the second half, and held a five point lead with four minutes remaining before Ft. Plain went on a 9-0 run to take a four-point lead with two minutes remaining.

The Wildcats battled back, taking the lead with 18 seconds left and when tournament Most Valuable Player Pat Kelly took a charge with five seconds left, Milford clinched the victory.

"Pat just stood his ground and took that charge, there was no other way for that call to go," said Milford head coach Bill Crowley, in his 16th and final season. "It was a really good defensive game on both sides."

Kelly, a senior, scored 13 points to go along with 14 rebounds, and junior guard Ben Cotter had 11 points and Ryan Campbell eight.

"I thought Ben had a great floor game in the championship," Crowley said. "Really, all nine guys who played contributed to the win."

Hamza Sinanaj also had a solid all-around game, grabbing nine rebounds to go along with seven points. Andy Work had six points.

Sinanaj and Campbell, who had a whopping 12 assists in the first round win over Gilboa, were also named to the all-tournament team along with Cooperstown's Jeremy Holmes and Ft. Plain's Joseph Palmeri and Canaan McDuffee.

Against Ft. Plain Friday night, the Redskins jumped out to an early 9-1 lead but slowly wilted against Ft. Plain's smothering 1-3-1 halfcourt defense.

Cooperstown was within six, 26-20, at the half, but scored just six third quarter points and trailed 46-30 midway through the fourth quarter before making a late run to pull with eight.

"We're a young team, and we didn't do a good job of handling the press, but what I love about this team is they work hard to correct their mistakes," Cooperstown head coach Mike Cring said. "Before the tournament, I talked to them about playing good defense and making good passes. We did the first, not the second, but that will improve as the year goes on."

Jeremy Holmes had 18 points and Nate Smith eight for the Redskins.

Holmes again led Cooperstown on Saturday, scoring 28 points on four three-point shots, while teammate Tyler Harris added 10. Freshman Shane Connolly added nine assists.

Cring said sophomore center Billy Hribar, expected to miss at least half the season with a knee injury, is progressing and may be back sometime in December.

"That would be a big help for us," Cring said. "We're pretty deep at guard, and I have four guys right around 6'0" that will all play. I think we'll be able to press teams a lot more this year because we're fast and pretty deep."

Cooperstown hosts Mohawk Friday in the first Center State Conference game of the year. Cring said Mohawk has four starters returning, including their leading scorer from a year ago.