Appearances in four North Coast Section title games. Victories in three of those four section title games, three Mission Valley Athletic League titles, two CIF NorCal titles, and two state title game appearances. These simple facts only scratch the surface of one of the greatest high school basketball careers in NCS history, accomplished by Moreau Catholic’s Damari Milstead, who will now head to Grand Canyon University to continue his playing career at the NCAA Division I level.

Milstead, who finished his career as the Mariners’ all-time leading scorer with over 2,300 points scored in his four years of varsity basketball, led Moreau Catholic back from a struggling start this season to capture the MVAL co-title, then go a post-season run which included a NCS Division 2 championship and a CIF NorCal title, with a thrilling overtime win against St. Francis-Mountain View.

Moreau won 21 straight games after playing a nationally elite schedule to start the season. Milstead averaged nearly 26 points this season, including 43 points in the NorCal final victory against St. Francis. That was just one point shy of his season-high 44 points, which came during an overtime loss to eventual CCS Open Division champion Archbishop Mitty. His top performances also included a 32-point, nine-rebound effort against Tamalpais in the NCS Division 2 championship game.

“You won’t be able to find a better resume out there among players who played in this section,” said Moreau Catholic coach Frank Knight. “He has done everything he can do here. Now it’s time to take it to the next level.”

One of the final challenges remaining this year for Milstead was to take a team that had graduated all the previous star power which had surrounded him, players such as current Grand Canyon standout Oscar Frayer and San Jose State’s Terrell Brown. While he did gain the ability to play alongside freshman phenom Kyree Walker, even that brought new challenges, as did the influx of 11 other new varsity players.

“Looking back, one of the last things Damari needed to do was learn how to lead a young team,” Knight said. “He developed that this season, and completed what we set out for him to do. He took this team under his wing, and we are happy to see him move on.”

Now, the 2017 NCS Prep2Prep Player of the Year will move on to the Division I level, where he will be back alongside Frayer, looking to lead the Lopes to a WAC title and a berth in the NCAA tournament. Grand Canyon was not able to play in this year’s conference tournament or NCAA tournament during its transition period from Division II.

Records can be misleading, especially early in the season. That was certainly the case at Moreau Catholic, where the Mariners opened the season 2-6 and 4-9, but did so after taking on top-10 nationally-ranked programs such as Basha-Chandler (AZ) and Morgan Park-Chicago. The tough schedule to open the season was a testament to the approach of coach Frank Knight, who guided a young but talented team back from that start to win 21 games, claim a share of the Mission Valley title, and continue its run deep into the post-season.

“We constantly referred to those early games,” Knight said. “Nobody was as good as those early teams we played. They were good, but we had seen better. That was the best part of our early schedule.”

Still, the Mariners reached a point in the season where Knight had to step in, and make a push to get better leadership, and to bring along the 12 new players to the varsity level, which included 11 players from last year’s junior varsity team along with freshman Kyree Walker.

“The Freedom game was a low point for us,” said senior point guard Damari Milstead. “We had a team meeting right after that, and Coach (Knight) laid down a personal challenge to me, along with the whole team. We just got focused on how we could make this team the best in the North Coast Section and in the state.”

The game Milstead referred to was the final loss before the winning streak, a streak which included a win over CIF Division 1 NorCal champion James Logan to share the league title, and runs to both the NCS Division 2 crown and the CIF Division 2 NorCal title, before falling to Esperanza in the CIF championship game.

The scary part for the rest of the section and the state is that this was a young team, one which graduates only two key pieces from this year’s roster.

“We return almost everyone next season, other than Damari Milstead and Booda (Ison),” Knight said. “The bar has already been set high for next year’s returners.”

For his ability to challenge his team, guide them through rough patches, and oversee a maturing group both league, section, and regional titles, Frank Knight is the 2017 Prep2Prep NCS Coach of the Year.

Other coaches considered for this award include: St. Patrick-St. Vincent’s Derek Walker, De La Salle’s Justin Argenal, Dublin’s Tom Costello, and James Logan’s Melvin Easley.

Damari Milstead

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