MILFORD — Trailing rival Lake Forest by five late in the first quarter, the Milford boys’ basketball team was looking for a spark.

Senior Dame Coleman, however, went ahead and skipped that part and instead came off the bench into the game on fire.

Coleman netted the quarter’s final five points to even the score at 9-9 and stayed hot throughout the contest, as the Buccaneers (10-5 overall, 9-0 South) defeated the Spartans 69-43 Friday night.

The victory moved Milford to within one conference win of repeating as Henlopen South champion and earning an automatic state tournament berth.

Lake (8-7, 5-4) saw a five-game winning streak snapped with the loss.

“Coach (Bob Spath) told me we looked dead out there, I’m a senior, go out there and show the other team why they’re not playing with us,” said Coleman, who finished with a game-high 18 points.

Coleman’s first points came by way of an NBA three-pointer from the right side of the key and the senior followed it with a spinning move through the paint that he finished with an acrobatic layup after Milford’s defense got the ball back.

From there it was all Milford, with the Bucs outscoring Lake Forest by 14 in the second quarter to take control of the game.  Junior Tymire Riddick scored all five of his points in the second quarter to lead Milford, which went into halftime with a 28-14 advantage.

Junior Henry Nesmith (17 points) found his shooting stroke in the third, scoring nine points in the period while Milford continued to pull away from the Spartans. The Buccaneers’ lead reached 29 in the fourth quarter before Milford began pulling its starters with six minutes to play.

Senior Dom Griffith led Lake Forest with 11 points and junior Cam Lewis had 10, two of which came from a thunderous two-handed jam early in the first quarter that briefly ignited a large Spartans crowd.

Milford is scheduled to play again tonight at nonconference St. Mark’s while Lake Forest will look to start a new winning streak Tuesday at home versus Woodbridge.

Wrestling

Caesar Rodney 42, Dover 27: The Riders used pins by Mikel Abdullah (160), Dante Walker (182), Mike Clavier (195), Mike Primo (106) and Tommy Gallucci (152) to earn the win over their Henlopen North rivals.

Anthony Fisher (132) and Nick Lee (138) recorded pinfalls for the Senators.

Women’s basketball

Delaware 66, Towson 62: Delaware fought back from an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter Friday evening to pick up a victory over the Tigers at Towson’s SECU Arena.

Towson held the momentum to start the final stanza before the Blue Hens rallied to outscore the Tigers, 14-2, in the remaining minutes of the contest.

Sophomore Makeda Nicholas tallied six straight points to bring the Hens within reach before redshirt sophomore Sadé Chatman and junior Erika Brown gave Delaware the lead for good with two minutes on the clock.

Senior Courtni Green led Delaware (11-10, 6-4 CAA) with 16 points while Brown notched 15 to go along with a team-best four assists.

Nicholas added her fourth career double double with 10 points and 11 rebounds in addition to tying a career-high with four blocked shots while junior Hannah Jardine collected 10 points of her own.