Chargers battle to OT but incur first loss at Wisco

Posted: Jan. 29, 2013

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Roberta Pratt

Brady Ellingson elevates for a shot against West Allis Central.

Roberta Pratt

Brady Ellingson elevates for a shot against West Allis Central.

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Brett Buehler made a play that could have been remembered for years to come based on the trajectory of the Hamilton basketball season. Instead, it became a footnote in an evenly-matched, but nonetheless disappointing 51-48 loss to Wisconsin Lutheran on Jan. 23, an overtime setback that represented Hamilton's first loss of the year.

After Brady Ellingson was fouled attempting a 3-pointer with 19.1 seconds to go in the extra session, the junior scoring leader made two of three to pull his team within 49-48. On the ensuing inbound, Buehler flew in to pick off the pass and called timeout, setting up one last gasp for the Chargers.

But Hamilton fumbled the ball out of bounds with 4 seconds to go, and Wisconsin Lutheran (12-3) held on.

"We battled until the end," Hamilton coach Andy Cerroni said. "We battled and had guys who made plays. We just didn't have enough other guys score and get to the rim."

Deiondre Cunningham made two free throws - part of an incredible 15 of 17 performance from the charity stripe. The Chargers attempted a full-court play designed to engineer a shot, but the Vikings broke up a pass and prevented that from happening.

"It's a good test for us," Cerroni said. "Unfortunately, you like to win them all, but there's a lot to be said for finding out what kind of character our team has, and we'll find out. I have faith in these kids that they'll come back. It's not like we laid an egg, we're just on the road and didn't bring that extra energy. You've got to have that edge on the road when you don'tnecessarily have that fan following and that type of thing. We'll bounce back."

Hamilton fell to 14-1.

The overtime featured plenty of back-and-forth scoring after the teams knotted at 41 through regulation, but the fourth quarter produced a long stretch without a basket. Tony Gumina's basket with 4:12 to go wound up being the final points of regulation, and Wisco didn't have a field goal for the final 7:49 of the quarter.

The Chargers held for a final shot, with Ellingson's driving layup rimming off, and a rebound follow also off the mark to necessitate overtime.

Hamilton committed 20 turnovers, but only 8 of those came in the final two quarters and four-minute OT.

Milestone for Ellingson

Ellingson still finished with 24 points and in the process surpassed the 1,000 point total in his career. He left the game with 1,003 and now has 1,041 after a 38-point performance against West Allis Central on Friday.

He's now third all-time in school history, surpassing Terry Youngbauer (1,004). Kameron Cerroni (1,376) and Brett Meinecke (1,153) hold the top two spots on the list.

"Brady certainly has earned everything has gotten up to this point," Andy Cerroni said. "He is an incredible basketball player who continues to improve. He is someone who makes players around him better. He has an outstanding basketball IQ and with his IQ and talent, he is tough to stop.

"We have many great players that have played in the Hamilton program: Terry Youngbauer, Dave Thorpe, the Keller brothers, and in my stint here, Steve Hicklin, Matt Miller, Kameron Cerroni …Brady is carving out a spot as one of the great ones that have played at Hamilton."

The 38 points against Central was a career high, eclipsing the 33 he recorded in last year's stunning regional win over Arrowhead.