What happened?
Leading by eight points with 5:41 to play in a 6D North Region boys tournament semifinal game, things started going wrong for the Madison Warhawks. The team eventually suffered a season-ending loss in overtime, 61-58, to the host Washington-Liberty Generals.
A trio of missed foul shots, a couple of turnovers and a missed layup down the stretch all added up to hurt Madison (19-6) in the high-school basketball game. At the same time, the Generals were hitting some big shots, like four clutch three-pointers.
Madison led for most of the contest. The Warhawks took a 5-0 lead, were up 27-18 at halftime and 42-35 at the end of three quarters. That lead swelled to 46-38 with 5:41 to play.
Washington-Liberty tied the game on a three-pointer to force overtime at 54-54.
In overtime, Madison’s last lead was 58-57 with 59 seconds to play on a foul shot by Aidan Faulkner (five points, four rebounds). The Generals took the lead for good at 60-58 on a three-pointer with 31 seconds to play. From there, the Warhawks missed a layup and two three-pointers in the final seconds.
Andrew Gorkowski made five three-pointers and led Madison in scoring with 21 points. Senior point guard Bo Kuhblank scored 10 and had multiple assists, Will Giery scored nine and made two threes and Jack Kaminski had seven points and a handful of rebounds.
“I thought we played well and did things we wanted to do, but we had some turnovers and we didn’t shoot three-pointers as well as we needed to,” Madison coach Kevin Roller said.
Madison was 1-1 in the tourney, hosting and defeating the Wakefield Warriors, 59-56, in the first round. The game was close until the Warhawks surged ahead midway through the third quarter, outscoring the Warriors 18-8 in the period. The Warhawks led 33-31 at halftime, and were up 51-40 after three periods.
“We came out strong and had a good third quarter to get a bigger lead, then kept that until the end,” Roller said.
Kaminski scored 15 points with eight rebounds. Kuhblank and Colin Sullender scored 12 each, Gorkowski added 11 points, Giery eight and Joseph Chalabi seven. Sullender made four first-half three-pointers.
NOTE: Madison finished second in the region the past two seasons and three of the last four.
* The Marshall Statesmen (18-6) finished 1-1 in the 6D North Region boys tournament.
The Statesmen downed Westfield, 64-50, in a home first-round game with Adien Hrnjez scoring 15, grabbing seven rebounds and blocking five shots. Matt Lenert scored 16 for Marshall with five rebounds and three assists, Gowtam Kommi scored 13 and had nine rebounds and two blocks, and Jason Penn added multiple points.
In the next round, Marshall lost to host South Lakes, 51-45, in the semifinals. The Statesmen led 45-42 with 2:26 to play, but did not score again. Lenert scored 11 points, Hrnjez and Kommi scored 10 each, and Connor Scinto nine.
The game was close throughout, with Marshall ahead 26-24 at halftime.
NOTE: Marshall won just four games last season, enjoying a big turnaround this winter.