After years of frustration, Union boys on the upswing

By MIKE KILROY Eagle Staff Writer

January 27, 2005 Last Updated: January 27, 2005 12:53 PM High School

RIMERSBURG - As throngs of fans spilled onto the Union High School basketball court, yelling, screaming, jumping with exhilaration, Adam Milanovich tried not to get caught up in it.

Not when there is more work to be done for the Golden Knights.

"Not yet," Milanovich said. "We still have some dangerous teams ahead of us."

Teams such as Rocky Grove, Clarion-Limestone and Redbank Valley are on the menu, teams that are looking up at Union in the standings instead of looking down on them.

And for years, a lot of teams were looking down on the Golden Knights.

But not this year. Union, 7-17 last season in Year 1 of the Karen Davis Plan, is 15-4 this year in Davis' second year as coach and is one of three teams in the tweaked Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference with only one conference loss each.

It has been a remarkable turnaround for a program that has languished in mediocrity this decade.

To Milanovich, though, Wednesday's 67-64 win over Karns City didn't mean the program had arrived.

"Not if we go lose to C-L or Redbank," Milanovich said. "Only when we're KSAC champs and the season is safely over will I think that."

Milanovich knows what losing feels like. He started as a sophomore in 2002, when the Golden Knights were 8-16. The year before that, Union also was 8-16. It hit rock bottom in 2000 with a 3-21 record.

Davis took over last season after a one-year layoff from coaching. She spent 10 years guiding the Union girls basketball program to more than 200 wins.

Davis, one of only two women coaching a boys varsity program in Western Pennsylvania, brought discipline and an attitude adjustment to the team.

"She's a stickler for fundamentals," Milanovich said. "She's a drill sergeant in practice. It shows up in the fourth quarter when the other team is tired and can't make long jump shots and we can."

Davis said she could accept losing for one year, but not two.

After the win against Karns City, family and friends engulfed Davis, congratulating her.

"I think this is a coming out party for Union High School athletics," Davis said.

The Union boys basketball team is winning in the same manner Davis employed to create success with the girls program: with fast-paced play, aggressiveness and teamwork.

"One of our strengths is we are very unselfish," Milanovich said. "It doesn't bother us who is scoring more, as long as someone is putting the ball in the hole."

That shows up in the statistics.

The Golden Knights have three players averaging more than 14 points per game.

Kyle Hilliard leads the way with 20.6 points per contest followed by Milanovich (15.6) and Cody Mortimer (14.1).

Against Karns City, the Golden Knights added another scorer to the mix in sophomore Gary Cooper, who netted 27 points in the win. Coming into the game, he had scored only 36 all season.

"Who are you going to stop?" Hilliard asked.

Last year, as Union was still struggling to find its way, Hilliard saw the potential of something great this season.

"We expected this as a team," Hilliard said. "We kind of expected to win."

Winning two close games in the span of three days, including Monday's 68-66 overtime victory against Moniteau, hasn't hurt that perception, either.

"That's the big difference," Hilliard said. "Last year in the same situation, we would have lost. Nine times out of 10, we would have lost."

But not this season.

Davis always has believed the athletes at Union could be successful. Now she has them believing in it.

"That is the hardest thing, learning how to win," Milanovich said.

When Davis took over the girls program, it already was an established winner. Turning around the boys program has given Davis a different sense of accomplishment.

"My son (Devin) said I'm God," Davis said. "He said, 'Mom, you're God.' I don't know about that.

"They just needed to believe in themselves and in me. I think they believe I know what I'm doing."