Miles Pauldin, Mr. Clutch, the complete team player, signed a letter of intent to play basketball for Averett University, Danville, Virginia. Pauldin did not put up big offensive numbers, however, believe he could have scored more points. He averaged about 5.0 points per game scoring 125 points, but he made significant contributions on defense, rebounding, diving for loose balls, looking for the open man, hustling, provided quiet leadership and was intensely competitive.
At 6’5″ 210 pounds he was certainly a force inside the paint and a powerful competitor under the boards. Coach Preston Davis said it simply, Miles is the ultimate teammate, he is all about winning. Pauldin played football as a sophomore at the tight end position, was on the swim team, and competed in basketball in his athletic career at Independence.
Miles is a student-athlete, he plans to major in computer science in college, and also wants to join the Navy Reserve while in school. After graduation, he plans to start a career in computer science, attend Navy Officer’s Candidate School, and join Navy intelligence serving his country.
Raja Milton, the Patriots point guard had a solid senior season and was named to the Southwestern 4A All-Conference team. Milton averaged 10 points per game, 2.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists, while scoring 290 points on the season in 29 games played.
He is another team player, looking to dish the basketball to the open man to take a shot. He played strong defense in the back-court as well for the Patriots throughout the clubs campaign. He has been in the basketball program at Independence all 4 years of his high school career under the sharp eye of Coach Davis.
He has signed a letter of intent to Louisburg College, Louisburg, North Carolina to play basketball this coming autumn. He has good size, quickness, athletic with a nose for the ball which should work to his advantage at the next level.
Milton is a two sport athlete and is a solid baseball player for the Patriots playing primarily center filed and right field. He has a batting average of .345, and 20 hits this season.
Coach Davis is very proud of this team’s accomplishments, they went 22-7 overall, the team won the regular season and tournament title as Southwestern 4A Conference Champions. Also, going deep into the Western Regional State Playoffs just one win from going to the regional finals. This is the first team he has coached who has all five starters moving on to play collegiate basketball.
Both Pauldin and Milton were members of the 2017-18 State Championship team. Milton was a starter, and Pauldin was the sixth man as a junior coming off the bench to earn his reputation as Mr. Clutch. Congratulations to two fine young men on their achievement.
