The first round of the playoffs had the fieldhouse holding its breath on Friday night, March 6, as the Homestead varsity boys basketball team, seeded second, faced off against the seventh seed, Sussex-Hamilton.

Sussex-Hamilton came out strong from the beginning, securing a 6 point lead in the first quarter. “After a slow start, we were able to come back and take the lead and keep it,” Jake Lappin, senior, said.  The Highlanders were able to finish out the half with a small lead due to a strong defensive effort.

Every time “Sussex-Hamilton would hit a three, our guys responded on the upcoming possessions with timely baskets,” Cameron Marotta, senior, said. Jaylen Key, senior, provided a spectacular dunk with just minutes left on the clock, amping up the mood in the gym. As Dick Vitale would say, it was a “dips-doo dunk-a-roo.”

“We were able to make plays in the final two minutes of the game,” Marotta said. With the score tied at 47 with 3 minutes to go in the game, you could feel the pressure mounting. Hamilton seemed to tighten up under the pressure while the Highlanders remained calm and executed flawlessly. Homestead would proceed to take the win as the fourth quarter buzzer sounded, with a final score of 54-51.

Reflecting on the night, “we had a lot of contributions from many players which is critical in key games like this one,” Lappin said.

“It was a really fun game to play in because of the great environment the fans made,” Jack Popp, junior, said. Come watch the boys take on Arrowhead tonight at 7p.m. in the Homestead Field House. The winner of tonight’s game will take on either Germantown or Kettle Moraine on Thursday, March 12 at Whitefish-Bay High School in the third round of the playoffs.