MILTON — Milton boys basketball has been itching to tip the ball off for the 2025-26 season.
So much so that the Wildcats have been calling coach Billy Donovan on Sunday nights throughout the offseason to open the gym.
Those Sunday nights in the gym showed on Friday, as the Wildcats jumped all over the Raiders and never looked back, cruising to a comfortable 53-40 win.
“I thought we played at times really physical and really hard,” Donovan said. “Paul (Seaver) does a great job with his team. They play really physical, which is an issue for us.”
Milton is returning its entire varsity team from last season that appeared in the Division II tournament, and also boasts a roster composed entirely of upperclassmen. In other words, time is running out for this current group of Wildcats, and they’re using that to their advantage.
“It really kind of gave us a goal, as we were all returning from last year, and we were first-round exits, that’s done,” senior guard Cole Fletcher said. “Basically, the goal of this season is to go as far as possible.”
Cole Fletcher (16 points), along with his twin brother, senior guard Bryce Fletcher (11 points), set the pace for the Wildcats all night as they quickly jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first half. The backcourt duo combined for three triples in the opening quarter.
“They’re awesome, and they complement each other really well,” Donovan said.
With Cole holding down the starting guard position and Bryce coming off the bench, it gives the Wildcats a constant offensive presence on the court. But it’s not just the Fletcher twins who are pitching in. Junior guard Dylan Raffle (12 points) also helped to extend the lead to double figures on multiple occasions.
This also isn’t Milton’s final form either. The Wildcats are expecting to get back two big pieces of their lineup in junior forward Valentine Ohanmu and senior guard Ronan Sammon.
“They’re a very close-knit group of young men, they have high expectations, and they’re happy for each other,” Donovan said.
Coming out of the halftime break with a comfortable 11-point lead, Milton did allow Wellesley to get back into the game with a quick 10-4 run. Garrett Briggs (eight points) and Noubara Mad-toingue (seven points) both connected on triples to cut the lead to just five.
The benefit of returning your entire varsity roster?
They’ve all been in a situation just like they found themselves in on Friday night. The Wildcats displayed their veteran poise to stomp out the Raiders’ comeback attempt. The Fletcher twins came up big to stop the run as both knocked down threes to balloon the lead back up to double figures.
“We just want to remind ourselves who we are,” Cole said. “We believe that we’re the better team. We’ve prepared for this all week, and we just want to go and show it.”
Wellesley didn’t score again for the rest of the quarter, and while the fourth was a bit of an offensive slog at both ends, Milton’s eight points in the fourth were enough to close it out.
“We definitely have to practice better going forward if we compete in our league,” Donovan said. We were 5-for-14 in the second half from the foul line, 2-for-8 in the fourth quarter. Like that’s not going to get it done on a consistent basis. So it’s nice to win by double digits. Nice to open with a win, but it’s also nice as a coach, going to go back to these guys and them knowing we have things to work on.”
Next up for Milton is another Bay State matchup against Walpole on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., while Wellesley will travel home to take on Newton North on the same date and time.
