(Milan, IN) — Micah Norman made history Tuesday night. He just didn’t get the win that was supposed to go with it.
The Milan senior became the Indians’ all-time leading scorer in front of his home crowd, but a six-foot lean-in off the glass by Waldron sophomore Eli Stewart with two seconds remaining in overtime sent the Mohawks past the Indians, 64-62, at The Teepee (Milan High School’s Gymnasium).
Stewart — the son of Waldron head coach Jeb Stewart — banked in the go-ahead bucket after Norman had just tied the game at 62 on a drive to the basket with 14 seconds left in the extra period. A desperation heave from near half-court by Gabe Riehle at the buzzer fell short, and the Mohawks left Milan with their fourth consecutive victory.
Norman finished with a game-high 32 points and Riehle added 25, but collectively, those two were the only Indians to score through the first three quarters. The team’s remaining points came from Josh Pettit (3), and one apiece from Grant Langferman and Tommy Poole, who both fouled out before the final buzzer.
“Any given night we can have a different guy go for twenty,” Waldron coach Jeb Stewart had said before the game. “It just seems like everyone’s kind of bought in here all of a sudden.”
Stewart’s prediction proved accurate. Eli Stewart paced the Mohawks with 19 points, and Ethan Moody — the team’s leading scorer coming into the night — contributed 18. Caige Sheaffer added nine, Noah Mitchell six, Luke Myers and Matthew Campbell five apiece, and Hunter Dodson two. Campbell was particularly effective off the glass in the game’s final minutes, pulling down crucial offensive rebounds in overtime.
Waldron improves to 13-7 on the season. Milan, which had won four straight before back-to-back losses to South Dearborn and Waldron, falls to 9-9.
Norman writes his name in Milan lore
The record came in the final seconds of the first half — and in cinematic fashion.
Norman converted a layup off the right glass at the buzzer, the product of a steal and a three-quarter court pass, to cut Waldron’s halftime lead to four points at 26-22. It was basket No. 1,546 of his career, eclipsing the previous school record of 1,545 held by Ryan Hixson, a 2000 Milan graduate. Hixson was on hand for the game and presented Norman with the ball during a brief ceremony at halftime.
Norman, a 6-foot-2 senior who leads the Ohio River Valley Conference in scoring at 22.9 points per game, had needed just 13 points to break the record entering Tuesday’s game.
Milan coach Matt Pickerel spoke to WRBI’s Bryce Kendrick about his star player before the game: “He’s been very fortunate to have played all four years and never had an injury to hold him out for a very long period of time. Just a very consistent ballplayer — puts in the work all the time, never complains, just shows up and does what’s asked of him.”
A game that kept swinging
Waldron led after the first quarter, 11-9, with Moody knocking down a pair of three-pointers to erase a six-point Milan deficit. The Mohawks stretched their advantage to eight in the second quarter, 24-16, before the Indians fought back to within four at halftime. Waldron then pushed the lead to ten on three separate occasions in the third quarter, leading 42-32 at the break between periods.
Milan’s full-court defensive pressure in the fourth quarter began to take its toll on Waldron, and the Indians slowly chipped away. With 2:22 remaining, Norman drained a three-pointer — his team’s first from beyond the arc in the second half — to give Milan its first lead since early in the game, 51-50. Waldron responded, and with 90 seconds left, a put-back by Campbell off an offensive rebound put the Mohawks back in front, 52-51.
After Norman tied it with a free throw, his second of the trip rimmed out, and the two teams played out the clock at 52-52 before heading to overtime.
In the extra period, both teams exchanged leads and neither team could pull away. A Waldron miss from the line with under a minute remaining kept the door open for Milan, and Norman answered with his late layup to tie it at 62. Seconds later, Eli Stewart, moving off the right side of the lane, leaned into a six-footer off the glass with the clock nearly expired.
Free throws — again — a factor
For the second straight game, Milan’s free throw shooting presented a problem. The Indians were 13-of-26 from the line on the night, though they shot considerably better in the second half (11-of-18) after going just 2-of-8 in the first half. Waldron made 9-of-28 free throw attempts for the game — a 32 percent mark — but their misses down the stretch repeatedly gave Milan life.
“We’ve done a really good job of picking up the ball and stopping the other team’s transition,” Waldron’s coach Jeb Stewart said of his team’s recent run. “We’ve been playing really well together.”
With the record in hand, what’s next?
Norman entered the night needing 13 points to surpass Hixson. He passed the mark in the final seconds of the first half and kept pouring it in — he had 18 through three quarters before closing with 32, his best performance of the season.
The loss is a disappointment for a Milan program that will host Class 1A Sectional 60 at the end of the month, a bracket that includes third-ranked Hauser, the Mid-Hoosier Conference champion who entered the postseason at 20-0. Despite the loss, Norman’s place in school history is secure — and the Indians will have one more regular season game, at home against Jackson Dale on Saturday, to find some late momentum before the tournament draw Sunday.
Waldron, meanwhile, will lean on its own postseason aspirations. The Mohawks’ four-game winning streak, built on balance and the now-notorious late-game heroics that sparked this run — including a buzzer-beating three to force overtime against South Decatur earlier this month — has them feeling good at the right time of year.
“It’s a long, hard season, it’s a grind,” coach Jeb Stewart said before the game. “That [South Decatur] win we really needed.”
With Tuesday’s overtime escape, Waldron added one more to remember.
Waldron 64, Milan 62 (OT)