By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
WATERFORD – Don’t even think about telling the Waterford Union High School basketball faithful this was just another game.
There’s still more than a month left in the season, but the Wolverines students stormed their home court in pandemonium Friday night after Waterford edged rival Burlington, 54-52.
Chanting “I believe that we have won,” gang green formed a large circle and jumped around like it was at a Wisconsin Badgers football game. Their deafening screams echoed throughout the gym while Burlington students exited as soon as possible.
These intense, competitive, at times bitter rivals want to beat other more than any other opponent, and Waterford wasn’t going to come out flat in one of the biggest games of the year. Coming into Friday, the Wolverines lost two in a row thanks to an anemic shooting funk.
On Friday, Waterford turned two straight poor shooting performances into seven 3-pointers and a blistering 12-for-14 from the
foul line.
“Tonight, we came out ready to go,” said Waterford senior guard Ross Gunderson. “It was Burlington. We’ve been playing each
other since fifth grade, and I like them all. But on the court, it’s competitive.”
Waterford moved into a third-place tie with Burlington (5-2) in the Southern Lakes Conference standings, a half game back of both Lake Geneva Badger (5-1) and Wilmot (4-1).
Through three quarters, Waterford stymied Burlington’s high-octane, fast-paced offense with a stealth zone defense. By the end of the third quarter, the Demons tied things up at 28-28 after Waterford took a three-point lead.
With 3 seconds left in the third, Gunderson raced to the middle of the court to heave a half-court prayer. The bank was open, and the successful heave ignited the Waterford crowd and gave the Wolverines the momentum of a 31-28 lead.
Burlington’s offensive hesitancy and confusion turned into a frenzied, high-scoring pace in the final frame.
Aggressive layups and fast-break buckets from Trace Hunsucker and Collin Chart, who played much larger than his lanky 6-foot-4 frame in the paint, catapulted Waterford to leads of 39-34 and 47-42 late in the game.
A key sequence followed, as Burlington’s hawking full-court pressure forced a turnover with just under 3 minutes to play. Down 47-42, Brad Burling took the ball strong to the hoop and collided with a Waterford player. It appeared to be a block since the Wolverine player was camped almost completely under the hoop.
However, it was called a charge, and Waterford was able to tack on another free throw to lead 48-42 with 2 minutes to play.
Then, Burlington senior Frankie Hozeska decided it was time to take over much like he did to beat Mukwonago in the final seconds. The 6-foot-3 combo guard sank two foul shots before earning a three-point play the hard way to cut the Waterford lead to 50-49.
Chart answered with another tough layup after rebounding his own miss. Down 52-49, Burlington called a timeout with 32 seconds left to draw up a play.
On the ensuing possession, Hozeska drew a double team at the top of the key, so he dished it to junior guard Cal Tully, who has barely played this season. Tully was open, but his 3-pointer went off the backboard and ricocheted off the front rim and out and was corralled by Waterford.
Burlington head coach Steve Berezowitz was beside himself, pacing back and forth along the sideline in disgust. He wanted a better shot, but now Burlington was down 52-47 with 8 seconds left after two more Hunsucker free throws.
Hozeska ended up hitting two free throws and a buzzer-beating triple, but it wasn’t enough. Chart’s two free throws sealed the deal.
“We didn’t come to play,” said Hozeska, who led all scorers with 20 points. “We couldn’t make any of our shots, and we were in foul trouble for most of the time. The zone did affect us because it slowed us down and forced us to get the shots we didn’t want.”
Hozeska led all scorers with 20 p0ints, and James Tully added 10. Hunsucker led the Wolverines with 17 points.
Waterford freshman Drew Blair, who started for the first time this season, knocked down three 3-pointers for nine points.
Waterford drained 7-for-17 triples, and Burlington astonishingly only connected on 0ne of 17 3-point shots.
There’s your ball game.
“We made one more play than them, to be quite honest,” said Waterford coach Mickey Mala. “It was a great atmosphere for a high school basketball game. We were struggling (the last couple games). We needed this win big time to help pull us up. You have to hold your home court.”
Check out Thursday’s Burlington Standard Press for a full story and photos, and visit the Standard Press Sports Facebook page for more photos.
Friday night area scoreboard
Boys basketball
Badger 72, Wilmot 71
Elkhorn 62, Delavan-Darien 54
Union Grove 45, Westosha Central 39
Faith Christian 64, University Lake/Trinity 44
Muskego 75, Waukesha West 47
Big Foot 39, Palmyra-Eagle 25
East Troy 67, Whitewater 50
Mukwonago 52, Waukesha North 46
Girls basketball
Waterford 54, Burlington 43
Union Grove 60, Westosha Central 30
Elkhorn 46, Delavan-Darien 21
Wilmot 59, Badger 53
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