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Sports

UPDATED: Blue Dukes' OT Victory Worth Second Look

Players, student savor thrilling victory over Wisconsin Lutheran in sectional finals

For basketball fans who weren’t at the Whitefish Bay-Wisconsin Lutheran game Saturday afternoon, it would be a good idea to catch the replay on local cable television. See the game at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday on Time Warner Sports 32.

The Blue Dukes' 51-50 victory over the Vikings is an . The victory vaulted the Blue Dukes (18-8) into the state tournament for the first time since 1998. They will face Seymour (23-3) in the semifinals at approximately 3:15 p.m. Friday. .

The dramatic finish ended what was indeed a roller-coaster ride for Whitefish Bay. There was the high of holding a 29-13 halftime lead. Then there was the extreme low of seeing all that hard work slip away in the second half. But the jump shot by Ron Patten with 25 seconds left, followed by a defensive stop in the waning seconds, gave the Blue Dukes the thrill of their lives.

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“It was a tough game,” Whitefish Bay senior Ron Patten said Monday. “When they made that run in the second half, it got me scared. It was a very competitive game. We just had to pull it out.”

As far as senior Cal Ehrke is concerned, the team had prepared for their big moment for the last year.

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“We’ve played a tough non-conference schedule,” Ehrke said moments after the victory at Marquette’s Al McGuire Center.  “We’ve been able to overcome adversity, not quite of this magnitude, but we’ve done it before. We’ve practice so hard. We know how it felt last season.”

Last season’s loss in the sectional final to Catholic Memorial was the major motivating factor for this season’s Blue Dukes.

And they seemed to have everything in control in the first half Saturday.  But led by senior guard Terry Nash, the Vikings nearly pulled off the miracle comeback. Time after time in the second half, Nash, who finished with 20 points, took the ball to the hole.

 “He needed to step up for his team and he did that,” Patten said.

After falling behind by one point in the final minute of overtime, Wisconsin Lutheran wanted Nash to get the last shot, but he was unable to find an opening.

“We didn’t want him to get the ball,” Patten said. “We tried to deny him the ball, but when he did get the ball, coach told us to help out. What we wanted to do was to make him pass the ball and make them beat us with a three.”

That strategy worked perfectly.

Two days later, there the buzz could be felt at Whitefish Bay High School.  The players took some time to savor the victory. But now it’s time to look ahead.

“It was pretty exciting around school today,” Patten said. “But we have to get ready for the next game. We had a pretty intense practice today.”

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