Cougars Lose Hard-Fought Game to Hanover Park

It was a back and forth game between Hanover Park and Chatham on Tuesday at Chatham High School.

Chatham held a one point lead after one quarter, but Hanover Park went into halftime with a one point lead. The teams traded baskets the entire game, so it was only fitting that a layup by Chatham senior Chris Conroy with 37 seconds left in the fourth quarter tied the game at 49 and eventually sent the contest into overtime.

But the extra session wasn't kind to the Cougars. Chatham managed one point in overtime and fell, 55-50, to the Hornets.

"I thought we just didn't make shots," Chatham Head Coach Todd Ervin said. "We had a lot of good, open shots that we missed."

Sophomore Jonathan Berntsen drew a foul while shooting a three-point shot as time expired in the third quarter and made all three free throws, which made the score 39-37 going into the fourth. Hanover Park maintained a lead throughout most of the quarter, but Conroy hit a series of layups to keep the Cougars in the game.

The Hornets attempted to hold the ball so they could milk the clock toward the end of the game but turned the ball over to Chatham with 1:12 left. Conroy missed a layup, but after Hanover Park got the ball back, junior Andrew Mitola missed the front end of a one-and-one. Conroy made his layup to tie the game, and Hanover Park did not score in its final possession of regulation.

But Hanover Park senior Mike Geisser, who scored a team-leading 20 points in the game, carried the team on his back in overtime. Geisser made a layup to open the scoring in the extra period, and after Conroy made one of two free throws with 1:17 left to make the score 51-50, Chatham was unable to score again. Conroy and junior Brian Ballard missed layups in the final minute of overtime, and Conroy, who led the team with 21 points, fouled out after the misses.

"We didn't make our layups," Berntsen said. "We didn't make our free throws."

Geisser then calmly made four free-throws in the game's final minute to complete the Hanover Park victory, sandwiched around a missed layup by Chatham junior Brendan Damodaran with about 12 seconds left.

"I think we got some crucial stops," said Hanover Park Head Coach Todd Hartman.

The Cougars, who dropped to 10-6, will face Pequannock Township High School on the road on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Hartman, whose team's only defeat this season was a double overtime loss to undefeated Madison, said he and Ervin have been coaching against one another for about seven years. Each are familiar with the other's game plan.

"It's just up to the kids to execute," he said.

His team did so on Tuesday.