Seahawks Stun Warhawks in Overtime, 65-61

Desperation met destiny in South Lakes' wacky 65-61 overtime comeback victory against Madison.

In the final two seconds of regulation and trailing 55-54, South Lakes' D.J. Christian had the feeling that his potential game-winning deep shot from the top of the key wouldn't go in.

So Christian did what any savvy player would do. As the ball bounced off the rim, the junior guard glided through the lane for an opportunity to tip back his miss with hope that there would still be time left on the clock. In doing so, he was fouled by a Madison player.

With varying judgment on if there was any time remaining and after an official's meeting, it was ruled that Christian was fouled just before the clock fully hit zero.

Madison Coach Chris Kuhblank was shocked that the officials called a foul at the buzzer on the last sequence.

"I can't believe they made that call," Kuhblank said.

Standing alone on the foul-line with the scoreboard reading 0:00, Christian had an opportunity to win the game for his team with two successful free throws.

He missed the first, but made the second to send the game to overtime.

"I was nervous. I'm not going to lie. I was nervous," said Christian, who was in the exact same situation earlier in the season in the Seahawks' 56-54 win over Yorktown. "I knew that it probably wasn't going to fall in so I just went and tried to get a rebound and put back and get fouled."

The only reason why South Lakes (2-2) even had an opportunity to take the game to overtime was due in large part to Madison's (0-4) inability to convert from the free throw line in the final minutes.

The Warhawks led 55-52 with less than a minute to go, but missed three straight front ends of one-and-one free throw situations.

"We lost the game because of missed free throws," Kuhblank said, adding that his team must find a way to win in order to learn how to win.

South Lakes took advantage of overtime early, which started with a Joe Daye jump shot to give the Seahawks a 57-55 lead. Later in overtime, with 48.2 seconds remaining, Madison's Ian Doyle converted two free throws to shrink the Seahawks' lead to 61-59.

South Lakes' Darius Smith scored a basket off a pro-step drive through the lane to give the Seahawks a four-point lead with 34 seconds left. Mitchell Dempster put the game on ice after making a free throw to give the Seahawks a multiple possession lead and closed the game at 65-61.

"Our defense in overtime was great," South Lakes Coach Andrew Duggan said.

Duggan, who earned his first victory in the Liberty District, said that he was flabbergasted with the outcome.

"The old coaches' adage; 'the harder you work, the luckier you get,'" Duggan said. "We got a little lucky tonight because of the effort we put in, especially the five guys who almost played for over 30 minutes."

Though Madison had eight different players that scored in the first half, South Lakes led 29-27 at halftime. 

Madison also outscored the Seahawks 18-9 in the third quarter. The Warhawks played strong and rallied to a 45-35 lead with 1:40 left in the quarter following two quick back-to-back layups by Daniel McNerney (9 points) and Nate Favero. Favero was the Warhawks' leading scorer with 15 points.

The Seahawks came back from that 10-point deficit with an 11-0 run that was jump-started by D.J. Christian's (17 points) coast-to-coast slam dunk.  Mitchell Dempster (6 points) followed that up with a 3-pointer, which helped South Lakes garner more momentum entering the fourth quarter.

Madison will try to get its first win Friday at 7:30 p.m. against Oakton.

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