Burlington High School, Waterford High School

Sharpshooting second half pushes Burlington past rival Waterford

Special guest Tony Romo brings excitement to venue

Brock Halbach sizes up a Waterford defender Thursday night. (Rick Benavides/SLN)

 

By Mike Ramczyk

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WATERFORD – The stars came out for the area’s biggest and perhaps best rivalry Thursday night.

Waterford Union High School welcomed 1998 Burlington High School graduate Tony Romo, the NFL superstar quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, who was on hand to support his high school basketball coach Steve Berezowitz as the Demons took on the Wolverines in Southern Lakes Conference action.

With random hollers of “Tony” and plenty of spectators and students pointing their cell phones to get a shot of Romo, Burlington junior guard Nick Klug played the starring role on the court.

After both teams played to a 22-22 halftime tie, Klug exploded for 26 second-half points as the Demons pulled away with a 62-50 victory.

It was Burlington’s first game in 10 days, and the rust showed early. Klug along with second-leading scorer Luke Geiger were held to a combined 12 points in the first half.

But the dynamic duo caught fire in the second half, thanks to Klug and Geiger’s 14.

Klug hit all four of his 3-pointers in the second half.

Waterford coach Paul Charapata acknowledged his team had no answers for Klug and Geiger in the second half.

Burlington improved to 12-7 overall and 9-2 in the SLC, good for a first place tie with Westosha Central. The teams play each other Tuesday night in Burlington.

Waterford dropped to 4-13 and 4-7.

“It feels good, a win is a win,” said Klug, who finished with 29 points. “We started slow, but we played a lot better in the second half. We were looking out for each other and we were feeling it, hitting shots.”

Geiger finished with 20 points, and Jack Miller’s free throw and Brock Halbach’s two points were the only other Demon points in the second half.

Tony Romo (third from left) sits in the Waterford bleachers along with wife Candace Thursday night. (Rick Benavides/SLN)

Berezowitz stressed after the game there is plenty of work to be done with three more conference games, including Westosha and Wilmot at home and Delavan-Darien on the road.

The Demons have won four straight and are 9-2 in 2017.

Burlington hit 16-of-21 free throws.

Matt Korman was the only Wolverine in double figures with 15 points.

Klug said the team is confident heading into the final stretch of the season.

“We have to take it one game at a time and not overthink any game, and we should be fine.”

 

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