A grand victory

With the score deadlocked at 74-74 and 1.1 seconds left, Alex Huibregtse fielded a long pass from Jacob Aleknavicius, turned and got a good look at a buzzer beater just inside half court.

The ball bounced off the rim, sending Grafton’s game with Nicolet into overtime.

That was Huibregtse’s final miss of the night.

The senior star scored 10 of the Black Hawks’ 15 points in overtime, which included going 8-for-8 at the free throw line as the Black Hawks pulled out an 89-83 win over the defending state champs.

“That’s something I live for. I love those situations. I’m really confident in my ability to knock them down,” Huibregtse said.

He finished with a game-high 37 points on the night and in the process eclipsed 1,000 points for his career.

“I’m happy for him. I’m happy for his family. That’s just awesome,” coach Damon James said.

“I think it’s just a testament to all my hard work. Hard work pays off,” Huibregtse said. “I couldn’t do it without my teammates. Shout out to them too.”

While Huibregtse shot 5-for-11 on three-pointers, 10-for-10 on free throws and 6-for-9 on two-pointers, two of his tall teammates carried the day inside.

Brock Heffner scored 23 points on 8-for-12 shooting and J.P. Benzschawel scored 15 on 7-for-9 shooting and had 10 rebounds.

“Me and Brock, we’re going at it. We’ve got Alex dishing the ball. He’s a great facilitator,” Benzschawel said as sweat poured down his face.

Heffner drove the lane and made a slam dunk with barely seven minutes left but was called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim. It was his fourth foul, causing him to slow his aggressive defense to stay in the game.

“I was just talking to my teammates saying I need help over here. My teammates had my back and we executed pretty well,” he said.

Tyler Tsui added 12 points. He made two of three three-pointers and went 4-for-4 on free throws in the final 25 seconds of overtime.

“It’s a big feeling but you’ve just got to get through the pressure,” he said.

The Hawks were 19-for-22 on free throws.

“That was a testament to just being focused, strength and conditioning. You’ve got to be in condition to make those type of free throws. The guys did a great job of that,” James said.

The Knights took a 21-11 lead nine minutes into the game, but the Hawks battled back to a 36-35 edge by halftime. In the second half, it was nip and tuck the whole way. Fans squealed after each basket as if they knew the importance of each point.

Kobe Johnson scored 36 for the Knights. James Graham had 23.

The Hawks on Jan. 7 lost, 57-56, at Slinger. Tsui missed a long shot at the buzzer to win. Huibregtse had 22 points and Heffner had 16. For Slinger, Logan Homberg had 18 points.

Grafton, 5-3 in the North Shore Conference and 8-3 overall, plays at West Bend West (0-7 NSC) on Friday.