BINGHAMTON-It was fitting that on the third day of the third month, it was the three-point shot that did in the Milford boys basketball team during their Section Four Class D final against Downsville Saturday at the Broome County Arena.

The loss ended Milford's season at 20-3, while Downsville moves on to play in a state semifinal Saturday at Oneonta State.

The top-seeded Wildcats held a 14-12 advantage midway through the second quarter when Downsville went on a 20-0 run, spurred by six three-point shots, to take a 32-14 lead midway through the third quarter. The scoring run not only effectively ended Milford's hopes of a second Class D title in three years, it also marked the beginning of the end of the coaching career of 16-year head coach Bill Crowley.

When it was over, Downsville had a 51-40 victory, with 30 of their 51 points coming via the three-point shot.

"It was just unbelievable," Crowley said after the game. "A lot of those shots came from four or five feet behind the arc. It was the best shooting exhibition I've ever seen."

Milford, which usually plays a man-to-man defense, opted to play a zone defense Saturday both to stop Downsville big man Kevin Reed and to help Milford big man Patrick Kelly, who suffered a thigh injury in a 49-37 semifinal victory over Schenevus Wednesday night.

"Going back over it, I'd still start out in a zone," Crowley said Monday. "There's really nothing you can do when a team is shooting like that."

After Reed, who scored 33 points in a semifinal victory over Hunter-Tannersville Wednesday, scored his first points of the night midway through the third quarter to give Downsville its biggest lead at 39-18, Milford switched to a man-to-man defense and scored the next eight points to pull within 39-26.

But Downsville's Derrick Peaster hit his fifth and final three-point shot of the game to stretch the lead back to 16. The Wildcats continued to battle, pulling within 10 on a couple of occasions, but could come no closer.

"I thought we did an incredible job with both defenses," Crowley said. "Reed only had eight points in the game."

Asked if he thought about it being his last game as the clock ran out, Crowley responded, "Never, I thought we still had a chance to win the game with less than two miuntes remaining."

Kelly, playing in his final game, scored a team-high 19 points, including all nine of Milford's points in the third quarter, while junior guard Ryan Campbell had 10 points. Campbell and fellow guard Ben Cotter will both return next year, along with bench players Joe Ward and Willie Laible. "Ryan and Ben will be three-year starters and the great thing about them is they both play great defense," Crowley said. "The J.V. team has some size, I think the team will be fine next year."