Ballad of the Buzzer Beater

Basketball is unquestionably my favorite high school sport to cover for a variety of reasons -- brevity in length, for one thing, but also the chance for unparalleled drama. There is nothing quite as exciting as the moments late in a tied game, with the possibility for a momentum shift at any second.

I haven't seen as many buzzer beaters as I would like in my limited time covering high school athletics, beginning in 2004. But I have seen a couple pretty good ones lately. Earlier this year, I thought I would try to chronicle all of Greater Milwaukee's buzzer-beaters in a somewhat-weekly "Top of the Key" roundup, and that turned out to be too much of a hassle.

Instead, a brief description of the five most memorable buzzer-beaters that I have witnessed in my brief history of high school sports coverage shall suffice.

The crazy eight. It was the wildest eight-second stretch I’ve ever seen. In 2005-06, the Greendale boys were hosting New Berlin West. The Vikings appeared to have the game won after hitting a shot to go up 2 points with eight seconds left, and Panthers leading scorer Kyle Johnsen was whistled for a technical foul thereafter.

West’s Josh Fabian missed both technical free throws, though, despite his team going 9-for-9 from the line to that point in the game. With the Vikings retaining possession and 3 seconds to play, they inbounded to Fabian – who missed two more free throws.

The game still appeared over when Greendale’s Juston Calvert rebounded the second miss and heaved a desperation half-courter that fell well short. But instead of the game ending, Calvert was whistled for traveling, meaning West needed to inbound near midcourt to work off the final second.

Before that could happen, West top scorer Jason Averkamp was whistled for an off-the-ball foul – his fifth of the game. That turned the ball over to Greendale, which inbounded from the same spot. Johnsen took a pass in the corner, and he buried a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer, giving the Panthers a 52-50 victory. How can a team give up the go-ahead score, commit a technical foul and deliver an ill-fated half-court heave in the final 8 seconds of the game … and still win?

The desperation winner. Before he was a guard for Marquette University, Dwight Buycks led a Bay View team looking for the state tournament in 2005-06. In the sectional final at a sparsely-populated South Milwaukee High School, the Redcats allowed Milwaukee South to overcome a sizeable deficit and take the lead late in the game.

The Cardinals appeared to have the game in hand, but Buycks released a bomb from the far-end free throw line that banked in and created a massive uproar, with Bay View taking the 64-62 victory.  It’s by far the most improbable buzzer-beating shot I’ve seen, and it vaulted Bay View into the sectional final against Milwaukee King (where the Redcats lost).

I always thought it was a shame so few people came to see City Conference basketball, as they missed opportunities like that one. I had a tough call that night -- I still regret not being able to see the Muskego boys against Brookfield Central at the same time. Muskego's Brad Starken fired in 30 points, including a 30-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to force the first of two overtimes. Central wound up prevailing.

Olewinski makes it a double. He couldn’t convert on a shot to win the game in the first overtime, but Pewaukee senior Mike Olewinski turned the feat at the end of the second extra session, burying a rhythm jumper to give his team a 55-53 win over fellow unbeaten league foe New Berlin West earlier this season.

The story here has been the continued success of the Pirates, who opened the season 8-0 despite graduating all five starters from the previous year. Last year's team lost an overtime heartbreaker in the sectional final.

Barr exam. Two seasons earlier, Alex Barr hit a jumper at the buzzer in New Berlin West’s gym to give Pewaukee a 39-37 win in a defensive battle. Hey, the game doesn’t have to be pretty – it just has to end well to be memorable. Apparently, every time I watch the New Berlin West boys team play, drama follows.

Recent memory. When Ben Mills hit a shot with 15 seconds to play in overtime this week, that wasn’t technically a buzzer-beater, but it did give Arrowhead a 67-66 lead in one of the more memorable games in recent memory.

Menomonee Falls missed two chances to re-take the lead at the OT buzzer, and it was a dynamite victory for a Warhawks team ranked No. 1 in the state by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. Falls, led by premier sophomore JP Tokoto, led by as many as 9 points in the fourth quarter before AHS stormed back, forced overtime and won the game on Mills’ putback in the Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook Shootout.

The battle was held at the Al McGuire Center, which has been the home to several last-second heroics in its short history.

Add your own buzzer-beating memories in the comments.

Pictured: Kettle Moraine teammates mob Dan Kelm after he hits a game-winning shot against Arrowhead last year.