Ledyard — A crowd of Ledyard High School fans applauded its boys' basketball players as they slowly emerged from a somber locker room Friday night after taking a haymaker to the throat.

Hillhouse coach Renard Sutton, who leads a program that's won a CIAC-best 22 state titles, praised the opposing Colonels.

Ledyard appreciated the sentiments, but they were of little consolation as the Colonels are still trying to break through to the rarefied air of the state's best programs.

The Colonels had the ball to end both regulation and overtime of their CIAC Class LL quarterfinal. They couldn't convert either time.

Hillhouse won 60-59 before a turn-away crowd of more than 1,000 crammed into a Standish Gym hot enough to qualify as the devil's ideal tropical vacation.

"It's a great compliment from a coach at a prestigious (program) of Hillhouse," Ledyard coach Dave Cornish said, "but we've got to try to win one of these things (a big tournament game). I want the win."

"(We've) been to the (state) quarterfinals and the semifinals ever since I've been here. Another 21-win season. But we've got to get over that hump at some point."

Senior DeAnte Bruton scored a game-high 27 with three steals for the fourth-seeded Colonels (21-5).

"He was fabulous," Cornish said. "He was in foul trouble a little bit. He had to sit for a little bit, but he was fabulous tonight. He brought us all the way back."

Senior Phyllip Thomas added 12 points and eight rebounds for Ledyard.

"I think we should've won that game," Cornish said. "It would feel better if we would've won, and we had a shot. We had a shot."

The Colonels had two shots to win. Bruton scored the final seven in regulation to tie the game at 56 with 15.8 seconds left. He and sophomore Isiah McNair then stole the ball with 6.8 left in regulation.

Bruton's shot was blocked by Troy Walters Jr. to end regulation.

Academics senior John Lewis missed two free throws with his team clinging to a 60-59 lead with 8.4 left in overtime. Thomas got the rebound and the Colonels called a timeout to set up a play.

McNair missed an open 3-pointer at the top of the arc to end the game.

"We knew they were going to double team DeAnte and deny him the basketball," Cornish said, "so we had what we call, 'flat.' Phyl comes up and sets a high screen and roll, and we wanted Mario (Graham) to take it (the shot) because he's our next best offensive option. We didn't get the particular shot that we wanted. … McNair had a good look. He had a good look. I envisioned it going well. It just hit the back of the rim."

Bruton said: "I was praying it was good, but we came down one (basket) short. We can't hang our heads. We left everything on the floor."

Aaron White had a team-high 16 points with seven rebounds before fouling out for No. 5 Hillhouse (21-4), which advanced to play top-seeded Fairfield Prep, a Southern Connecticut Conference rival.

Prep savaged No. 8 Fairfield Ludlowe 70-48 in its semifinal. It has beaten the Academics six straight times dating back to last season.

"Listen, man, this squad is going to be around for a long time," Sutton said of Ledyard. "I can see the building of the program. … You got to take your hats off to them and give them all the respect."

Cornish said of his team: "These guys are resilient and I love everyone of them. ... I told them it's going to sting for a while, but I'm proud of them. I'm proud of them that they didn't give up. We were down (56-49 with 1:12 remaining). ... and we came back, fought back.

"It's just tough."

n.griffen@theday.com

Twitter: @MetalNED