West boys battle, but fall short against Lions, 50-46

The New Berlin West boys struggled from the free throw line Tuesday night allowing New Berlin Eisenhower to win its sixth straight game in the series and earn a 50-46 decision in an exciting, hard-fought game at West.

The Vikings hit a horrific 37 percent from the free throw line (7-of-19), including a 2-for-9 stretch in the final quarter which probably cost them the ball game.

They have now lost six straight games to the Lions dating back to a 35-33 win on Feb. 8, 2008.

The Vikings had taken a 40-38 lead with 6 minutes, 33 seconds left in the game on a drive to the basket by senior guard Jordan McKeon, but Ike sophomore guard Reed Timmer tied the game on a fastbreak steal.

The Vikings then missed four straight free throw attempts, before Dan Sidesky converted two to pull within 44-42 with 2:35 left to play.

Scrappy guard Gerald Bufford III hit two free throws to increase Ike's lead to 46-42 with 1:32 to play and then Sidesky drove the lane for a bucket with 59.9 seconds left to cut the lead to 46-44.

Timmer then hit 2-of-2 free throws, but the Vikings and Lions each missed two free throws before Sidesky scored on a drive to the basket to cut the lead to 48-46 with 35.2 left in the game.

The Lions missed four free throws, but the Vikings couldn't take a advantage of it and missed the front end of a bonus with a chance to tie the game with 21.2 left to play.

The Lions also struggled from the line in the final six in a row before Bufford dropped in two shots with 5 seconds left to play to ice the win.

Timmer scored nine points and Bufford seven as the Lions led 29-26 at intermission. Sidesky led West with 10 points.

Timmer finished with 19 points, while Sidesky had 18 and Bufford finished with 11.

Ike remained unbeaten with a 5-0 record, 4-0 in conference play. West fell to 2-3, 1-3 in league action.