Hilton watched their five point, fourth quarter lead evaporate and lost to Charlotte in their final regular season contest, which dropped them to the 10th seed and sent them on the road for the first round of the Section V boys basketball playoffs.
Charlotte built an eight-point first quarter lead, but the Cadets rebounded to take the halftime lead by outscoring the Lakesiders 16-5 in the second quarter with five of those by Rickey Cocilova, five from Tyler Farrell and four by Mike Ross.
The third quarter featured five lead changes and one tie game with the Cadets struggling offensively scoring just 12 points.
They regained the lead in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter as Farrell twice drove to the net for lay-ups – one off a steal – and Ricky Lipani hit a free throw to put the Cadets up by five.
But a Charlotte 6-0 run gave them the lead for good with 5:10 remaining.
Down by six points with one minute left, the Cadets pulled to within three on a trey by Lipani with 12.5 seconds left, but despite the Lakesiders struggling at the free throw line and Lipani hitting two free throws with five seconds remaining, the Cadets missed on a potential game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer.
Farrell led the Cadets with 18 points, Ross had eight and Lipani six, while Reide Metzger and Cocilova each added five.
Hilton, with a 10-8 regular season record, traveled to 12-6 and seventh-seed McQuaid in the Class AA1 first round playoffs.
