The wins have been elusive this season for the Hatchet boys, but the final loss may be the most painful.

Tomahawk battled Wittenberg to a 38-38 tie through regulation last Tuesday, then was saddled with a 49-44 defeat after overtime.

“We were really proud of the kids tonight, they really played hard with great effort and enthusiasm,” THS coach Tim Albert said. “They left everything they had on the floor tonight.

“Wittenberg took advantage of the turnovers we had in the overtime. They also hit their free throws to seal the win.”

The lead see-sawed throughout the night. Tomahawk trailed by four late in the third quarter before Andy Firkus drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut it to 29-28.

The Chargers surged ahead to 33-28 in the fourth, but the Hatchets used a 10-4 run to hold a 38-37 edge with less than 1-1/2 minutes to go. A Wittenberg free throw tied it up and THS worked for a final shot, which came up short.

“We did everything we wanted with possession of the ball and the game tied, we just didn’t get the shot to fall,” Albert said.

The Chargers scored the first six points of overtime. Tomahawk never got closer than 45-41 the rest of the way.

The Hatchets had grabbed an 11-8 lead after a quarter, but trailed 19-17 at halftime.

Powering Tomahawk were: Firkus (18 p, 9 r); Jared Jarvensiu (11 p, 5 a); James Kinnally (5 p, 8 r); Tyler Jones (9 p); Troy Timm (8 r); and Kyle Bartz (4 r).

THS-FG: 15-44 (34%); FT: 10-16 (63%). W/B-FG: 17; FT: 13-16 (81%).

The Hatchets closed out a 4-19 season (1-11 GNC).