Waterford — It happens when you hear that enticing sizzle ... and then the steak tastes like an old shoe. In sports, too. Hype is tethered to the big game ... and then the game disappoints, producing an absorbing "eh" from everyone watching.

Which is what made Monday night at the "X," otherwise known as the Francis X. Sweeney Fieldhouse at Waterford High, the anti "eh." Put it this way: Even the most crabby curmudgeon would have left the "X" nodding in approval.

Are there better high school basketball teams around here than Waterford and East Lyme? Yes. Yet what became Waterford 86, East Lyme 80 produced some of the best theater in this corner of the world in quite some time.

Start here: The dramatis personae were spectacular. Waterford whiz kid Mikey Buscetto: 29 points, 14 assists and, shall we say, some testicular fortitude that should have college coaches taking notes. East Lyme's Dev Ostrowski: 33 points, including a left-handed dunk that nearly blew the roof off the building.

Then here: The atmosphere. Wild. More than 1,200 fans, standing room only, punctuated with student sections in full throat. To repeat the old Bill Parcells line: It's for these moments that you "lift all them weights and why you do all that (stuff.)"

There hasn't been a more entertaining minute of basketball maybe ever around here than the moments surrounding Ostrowski's dunk. He threw down with 5:46 remaining in regulation, left-handed on the dead run, closing Waterford's lead to three.

The East Lyme students, who playfully taunted Buscetto much of the night, had other things to do now. Like going bonzo. East Lyme coach Jeff Bernardi looked right at them and was waving his arms frantically, wonderfully caught in the moment.

Buscetto, meanwhile, responded to the dunk with a drive to the basket and two free throws, a steal and a layup and then an assist. It was as if the "X" became Broadway. Buscetto and Ostrowski singing their own version of "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better," from "Annie Get Your Gun."

And so the Lancers responded to the dunk with a six-point run. East Lyme — berserk seconds earlier — was forced to call timeout. The "X" was wild again, only on the other side. It got wilder. Suddenly, Mike Buscetto — Mikey's dad — as if on a safety blitz, appears in front of Lancer Nation to fire up the troops. The kids responded. The guy they normally see running the show at Filomena's became the maestro for a few moments, creating a rattle and hum not heard around here in a long time.

Now for the best news: If you missed the game, you can watch the replay on demand on theday.com. We've been doing "GameDay" here all the way back to the days of Kris Dunn. This may have been the most entertaining game of all.

Here's hoping that next season, with Ostrowski and Buscetto returning, the poohbahs at both schools make sure East Lyme and Waterford play twice. The games will have everything except empty seats.

It's pretty clear that basketball has become The Cool Thing To Do in both schools. Bernardi has rescued the East Lyme program. Bill Bassett has continued what Greg Gwudz built at Waterford. East Lyme and Waterford might have more successful sports historically speaking, but few of them have ever produced Monday night's crowd, interest and drama.

Happily, the "X" will be home to the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament again this season. There's potential for a Waterford-East Lyme rematch. And other tempting games with Ledyard, NFA and New London. I'm not sure anything can ever supplant Conway Gym at New London as the region's Madison Square Garden, but the "X" is becoming a show unto itself.

Nobody seems to ever walk out of there with an "eh." That's for sure.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro