Hamilton boys pass Falls on last lap, earn first-round rivalry game, 67-62

Whatever it was that flipped the home team's switch Jan. 5 in the Sussex Hamilton gym against archrival Menomonee Falls, it happened around the time of Indians star J.P. Tokoto picking up his third foul at the 3:41 mark of the third quarter.

Falls was enjoying its largest lead of the game at that point at 41-37, but after Tokoto sat down, the Chargers outscored the Indians 11-2 the rest of the period to take control. The run continued well into the fourth quarter even after Tokoto had returned as the Chargers earned a 67-62 Greater Metro Conference victory before a large and noisy crowd.

Hamilton coach Andy Cerroni thought the exact moment came a few seconds after Tokoto's foul.

Timeout sets up rally

He pointed to a timeout that he took after a 3-pointer by his sophomore forward Brady Ellingson gave the Chargers the lead for good at 44-41.

"We knew it would be a game of runs," Cerroni said. "They would have theirs and we would have ours. Our kids stepped it up after that point. I didn't like our energy coming into the third quarter (which the Chargers started with a 32-30 lead). We got that three, and I called that timeout to challenge them a little bit, because I thought we had been sleepwalking ever since the quarter started.

"We broke out of it then."

Indeed the Chargers did, as they improved to 2-3 in GMC play and 5-6 overall while the Indians fell to 1-4 and 4-5, respectively.

Others need to pick up slack

Falls' coach Dan Leffel, whose team had a three-game winning streak snapped with the loss, knew exactly what happened in the quarter, too.

"The thing we have to learn from this," he said, "is that if J.P. is going to have to sit with foul trouble like he did, the bench has to pick up the slack. We didn't have his scoring option (at the end of the third quarter) but what our biggest problem was tonight, was that we had serious trouble locating shooters. We allowed people to get open way too often.

"That made it really difficult on ourselves."

Yes, it did, because the Indians had to withstand a torrid nine-for-nine start from the field by the Chargers that helped put them ahead 21-15 at the end of the first quarter.

But the Indians caught a huge break at the end of the stanza, when Ellingson, who had hit three, 3-pointers in the quarter, had to go to the bench with two fouls.

He would not play the rest of the first half.

"But what has helped us all year, is that we have a little depth," Cerroni said.

He got that help in the form of sophomore guard Austin Kendziorski, who scored all seven of his points in the second, as Falls tied the score twice before Hamilton's senior guard Brandon Hagenow (11 points) hit two free throws with 29 seconds left to put the Chargers ahead at 32-30.

The Indians pushed ahead with a 7-2 run early in the third quarter as Tokoto hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Falls a 37-34 advantage with 5:44 left in the session. It was the Indians first lead since guard C.J. Malone hit a 3-pointer to open the game.

Later in the session, Kevin Meyers (10 points) and Tokoto (game-high 26 points), got back-to-back buckets to give Falls a 41-37 advantage with 3:49 remaining, but just eight seconds later, Tokoto picked up his third foul and the tide started to turn.

The Chargers' Tony Gumina (16 points) hit two free throws after Tokoto's foul to close the gap and after a Falls' turnover, Ellingson (team-high 20 points) cashed in a close-in bucket to tie the score at the 3:23 mark.

Just after that, Ellingson would hit his 3-pointer and the Chargers would be off to the races.

"The question was whether we could weather the storm that we knew was coming," Leffel said. "We had won four of five games going into this and in all those games, we were able to do that, but we didn't do it tonight.

"You do that, and you wind up on the other side of the sticks like we did here."

It was 48-44 Hamilton at the end of the third quarter and the Chargers opened the final period with an 8-0 run to make it 56-44 with 4:35 remaining.

It was the end of a 19-3 run that would leave Hamilton in control the rest of the night. The Chargers then spread the floor and looked for the best shot.

Hamilton would finish the game as hot as it started it, hitting seven-of-eight attempts from the field in the fourth.

"We weren't trying to pull the ball out, but we were trying to make them defend us," Cerroni said. "We knew they needed the ball back."

Going into full-scale pressure mode, the best the Indians could do was a put-back by Devon Nauer at the buzzer which gave the game its final score.

Leffel looked at the bigger picture of the intense atmosphere, the large and loud student sections and the generally sportsmanlike play that went on.

Rivalry heats up

"I'm so excited for this rivalry," he said. "I thought the teams handled themselves very well tonight. I know in the past, this series could get a little hot-headed, but it came out well tonight and that's a real credit to coach Cerroni and his staff. They do an excellent job over here."

Malone, who broke the school record for 3-pointers in a Tuesday night win over Plymouth, helped out Tokoto and Meyers with 14 points, which included four threes.

For Cerroni's sake, it was fan appreciation night, and he was just glad his team was able to put on a good show.

"We want the fans to be able to come here and have a good time," he said. "It's a great rivalry, but we have to remind the kids that it's only one of 20 or so games we have on the schedule.

"But we'll enjoy this one. It was a great night."

Game notes

J.P. Tokoto, with his 26 points, went into last Saturday's game at the Brandon Jennings' Classic just 49 points away from Brad Christianson's career scoring mark at Falls of 1,427 points. Falls hosts West Allis Central at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 13 and Tokoto, baring unforeseen circumstances, has a chance at the record that night. He was seen after the Hamilton game, graciously signing autographs and posing for pictures with some young fans.

Falls' senior shooting guard C.J. Malone broke the career mark for 3-pointers made in the Jan. 3 win at Plymouth. Malone, who currently has 92 3-pointers (not including the Jennings' contest), had 22 threes his sophomore year, 50 his junior season and after the Hamilton game, 20 for this season. Jeff Bennett, who played from 1998-2000, had the old record with 85 trifectas.

Among the interested attendees at the game was the point guard of the top-ranked and undefeated Germantown boys basketball team, Josh Mongan. His mother, Candis Mongan, is principal at Hamilton High School.

REMATCH: The teams meet again at Falls on Feb. 10.