Grafton boys even the score with Port

Alex Huibregtse and Bryson Clague didn’t let an early lead go to waste for the Grafton High School boys’ basketball team in the regular season finale against Port Washington at home last Thursday.

With the Pirates forced to foul in trying to claw back into the game, the Grafton pair were cool enough to ice it at the free-throw line.

In the final 2 minutes and 10 seconds, Huibregtse went 8-for-8 at the line and Clague went 4-for-4 as the Black Hawks won, 70-56.

“We work on situation stuff in practice all the time. It was nothing new to us,” Huibregtse said.

For Clague, “being clutch is part of the game.”

The game evened the season series after the Pirates beat the Hawks Jan. 11, 64-54,  to celebrate the opening of their new gym.

Huibregtse was held to 10 points in that game. Last Thursday, he scored 31 and made all 12 of his free throws.

Clague added 16 points and went 6-for-7 at the line. The team went 18-for-23 on free throws.

For Port, Nolan Mueller scored 20 with a 9-for-11 effort at the line. Evan Lilly scored 17 and Adam Baierl had 12 and went 8-for-10 on free throws. The team went 20-for-27 at the line.

When a back-and-forth game became tied at 12-12, with 10 minutes left in the first half, the Hawks went on a 12-2 run to take control.

They held a 37-25 halftime lead, but the Pirates closed the gap to 53-49 on a Jake Lippe bucket inside and a Lilly three-pointer with 5:33 to play.

The Hawks then dug deep. They drew a charging foul on Baierl — his fourth of the game — and Clague followed with a drive to the basket and foul. He made the free throw to push the lead back to 56-49.

Huibregtse hit a jumper with 3:25 left to make it 58-49, and the Pirates never got closer than eight the rest of the way.

“Too many droughts,” Port coach Brian Hebein said.

With the Hawks’ defense focused on stopping Baierl, “We’ve got to have other guys step up and knocking some shots down.”

Early in the second half, the Hawks extended their lead to 45-27 and were up 53-36 before the Pirates slowly started to close the gap.

“We threw a little pressure at them and got a couple of shots to fall. Unfortunately, it’s just too little, too late,” Hebein said.

J.P. Benzschawel, the Hawks’ inside force at 6-feet 7 inches and 270 pounds, was taken out after picking up his second foul less than two minutes into the game.

He came back in the second half with a vengeance, scoring six points inside in less than three minutes to spark the Hawks. He finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.

“I was feeling it, I guess. Worked hard, did my job,” he said.

Aside from a stretch of turnovers, Grafton coach Damon James was pleased with his team’s composure when the game got close.

“No worry, no panic. Just get back to what we were doing — playing sharp, playing disciplined,” he said. “Our guys fought tremendously hard.”

Make or miss, the Pirates’ defense got back quickly to slow the Hawks’ transition game. Huibregtse ended up sometimes creating for himself.

“They had prepared for that. They did a good job with that. We found other ways to score,” James said.

The Hawks finished the regular season 14-8 and got a No. 4 seed in the Division 2 playoffs. On Friday, they host the winner of No. 5-seeded Milwaukee Madison and No. 12-seeded Kewaskum. That winner will likely play at No. 1 seed Nicolet — one of the top-ranked teams in the country — on Saturday.

Port finished 12-10 and got a No. 7 seed. They were to host rival and No. 10 seed Cedarburg on Tuesday with the winner playing at No. 2-seeded West Bend East on Friday. Port swept Cedarburg this season and was swept by East in North Shore Conference play, including a 68-55 loss at home on Feb. 18.