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Brodhead stuns Evansville boys in overtime

EVANSVILLE — Victories in the Evansville High School gymnasium have been hard to come by for the Brodhead basketball program.

Tuesday night, the surging Cardinals got one.

Micah Wallace’s three-point basket with 23 seconds left in overtime lifted Brodhead to a stunning 48-47 Rock Valley Conference crossover win over Evansville.

The win was the sixth straight for Brodhead (7-4, 4-3), and kept the Cardinals atop the Rock Valley South. The victory was also the first for a Rock Valley South team against a Rock Valley North team in 18 games this season.

Evansville (7-3, 5-1), which fell a half-game behind East Troy in the Rock Valley North, managed only six points in the fourth quarter and missed three crucial free throws in overtime.

Brodhead’s J.J. Panoske finished with a rare triple-double. The 6-foot-9 sophomore had 10 points, 15 rebounds and 11 blocks, and he also made the game-tying basket with 20 seconds left in regulation.

Cardinal coach Brian Kammerer knew the significance of the victory.

“I can’t say enough about the kids and what they accomplished tonight,” Kammerer said of his team. “It seems like different kids stepped up and made a big play at different times tonight, and that has been the key during this winning streak.

“We’re starting to play with more and more confidence each game, and against a team as good as Evansville, that’s very important.”

There were only three points scored the final 4:44 of regulation. Jacob Cole, who scored 10 points before fouling out, cut Evansville’s lead to 37-35 with a free throw at 4:44. Neither team scored until Panoske made a 10-foot jumper from just inside the foul line to tie the game with 20 seconds left.

Evansville’s Brian Lunde got an off-balance three off at the buzzer that came up short to set up overtime.

Brodhead scored the first four points of the overtime, but the Blue Devils responded with an 8-2 run to take a 45-43 lead. Dylan Erickson capped the run with two free throws with 1:03 left in overtime.

Wallace had a chance to tie the game with 51 seconds left, but he missed two free throws. The senior made up for it with a three-point from the top of the key to give the Cardinals the lead for good at 46-45 with 23 seconds left.

Steven Priske made two free throws with 13 seconds left to push the lead to three, but Casey Moseley trimmed it to one with six seconds left with a floater in the lane. Priske missed two free throws with three seconds left, but Evansville could not grab a rebound off the second miss, and time expired.

“Brodhead played good defense, and we were, I think, 6-for-24 shooting in the first half,” Evansville coach Chris Wagner said. “That put us in a little bit of a hole, but then we came out and played the kind of basketball in the third quarter that we’re capable of.

“We had chances to put the game away, but we just didn’t finish.

“And we don’t have too long to feel sorry for ourselves with Edgerton coming up on Friday night.”

Ryan Miller paced the Cardinals with 18 points, while Andrew Keister and Moseley led the Blue Devils with 12 and 11, respectively.

BRODHEAD 48, EVANSVILLE 47 (OT)

Brodhead (48)—Miller, 8-2-18; Panoske, 4-2-10; Cole, 3-3-10; Wallace, 1-0-3; Jacobson, 1-1-3; Priske, 0-2-2; McKee, 1-0-2. Totals: 18-10-48.

Evansville (47)—Deininger, 2-0-5; Keister, 5-0-12; Nieman, 2-0-4; Erickson, 3-2-9; Moseley, 4-1-11; Lunde, 3-0-6. Totals: 19-3-47.

Brodhead 7 11 10 9 11—48

Evansville 6 7 18 6 10—47

Three-point goals—Brodhead 2 (Cole, Wallace), Evansville 6 (Keister 2, Moseley 2, Deininger, Erickson). Free throws missed—Brodhead 9, Evansville 5. Total fouls—Brodhead 16, Evansville 14. Fouled out—Cole.