HB coach Ryan Kelley, left, and his players celebrate their 18-0 regular season after beating Milford Tuesday night in Hollis. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

HOLLIS – The gathered by the bleachers in the Hollis Brookline High School gym, with fans watching and head coach Ryan Kelley a few rows up addressing everyone.

The reason? The Cavalier boys basketball team’s 68-37 thrashing of local rival Milford allowed them to finish their Division II regular season a perfect 18-0. Kelley understandably felt that was special enough to be celebrated, and the players were presented with T-shirts that had the schedule on the back and the HB logo on the front.

“I tried to emphasize two seasons,” Kelley said, meaning get through the regular season and then start over. “We tried to keep them focused on shorter milestones, and it seemed to work.”

Kelley, conversely, had a longer milestone when when he took the job a couple of years ago. He looked at the youth he had in the program and told a friend to watch out for his third year, when players like 6-6 Alton Williams, James Arthur and Dylan Kelley would be upper classmen in their third year of varsity play.

“I told him as soon as I got it, I said ‘Year three, watch out for us year three,'” he said. “All three would start varsity, three years of a ton of minutes, and huge growth – and all three of them have shown that.”

And as a result the Cavs were able to follow Kelley’s call for shutdown defense night in, night out.

“We’ve been preaching that in all three years I’ve been here,” he said. “In all reality, we think we have the best defense in the division. If you look at scores and how fast we play, points per possession, in my opinion it’s hands down. So from that perspective we have a huge amount of confidence in our defense. We can switch it up, we can tweak, and frankly we can suffocate.”

The 6-11 Spartans, who look like they may grab the last playoff spot in Division II, found that out the hard way. They were up 13-11 after the first quarter but HB said enough and the Spartans managed just 20 points over the final 24 minutes. HB took control with a 19-5 second quarter to lead 30-18 at the half and 45-28 after three.

In fact, the Cavs beat the Spartans at their own game, winning the 3-point battle in terms of makes, 9-5. In fact,three of Milford’s treys came in the fourth quarter, long after things were decided. HB was paced by 13 each by Williams and Renzo Bergskaug, plus 12 from Dylan Kelley and 10 by James Arthur. Milford was paced by Will Emerson and Tyler Constable (11 each).

Milford’s Ben Emerson tries to drive on Hollis Brookline’s Alton Williams during Tuesday night’s Division II local clash in Hollis. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

“That was the game plan, right? Kelley said. “They have three guys that (a 3-pointer) is the first thing they look for once they get over half court. … My frustration in the first half was we let them shoot some. Give up layups before you give up those threes, and the second half was much better.”

“They played great defense,” Spartans coach Ryan Emerson said. “We didn’t get the open looks that we wanted, and that’s because they didn’t allow the penetration that we wanted to then get the ball out. Great team and great players.”

One of those great players can’t wait for the postseason to start. HB will get a first-round bye and host a Division II quarterfinal a week from Friday on March 6. That was the same round they exited the tourney a year ago.

“It’s going to be a lot of hard work,” Williams said. “We’re going to be locked in hard.”