By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
Before a home crowd, the Union Grove High School boys basketball team put a complete game together in a 55-30 win over Waterford Tuesday.
“It’s our biggest win this year,” head coach David Pettit said. “This is a huge step in the right direction.”
A big key to this win was getting out to a quick start.
After Waterford scored to take a 2-0 lead, Union Grove scored the final 13 points of the first quarter to take a 13-2 lead into the second.
Waterford did not score for about 10-11 minutes, and by that time, the Broncos had expanded their lead even further. At halftime, Union Grove led 29-10.
“I’d like to credit our defense for some of that,” Pettit said, adding that the Broncos did a good job on the boards holding Waterford to one shot per possession.
The Bronco boys continued to expand their lead in the second half.
Pettit played six players for all but the final 1-1/2 minutes of the game and they came through big.
Only four Broncos scored in this game, but three of them were in double figures.
Andrew Kazikowski led the way with 17 points, but Grant Beck and Jacob Fink added 16 apiece. Fink also had 11 rebounds to get a double-double.
“They did a nice job of attacking the hole,” Pettit said.
The Broncos were very efficient at the free-throw line, sinking 12 of 13.
The win gives Union Grove a 7-12 overall record, and improved their Southern Lakes Conference record to 5-6.
Vs. Burlington
After showing a lot of impatience in a 23-point loss to Racine St. Catherine’s two days before, head coach David Pettit was more pleased with his team’s play in a 52-37 loss to Burlington Jan. 31 at home.
“We moved the ball; we were patient,” Pettit said.
That led to better shots, but not to a different outcome, as the Bronco boys were able to sink only 32 percent from the floor.
In addition, Burlington’s pressure on defense led to 21 turnovers.
The Broncos fell behind 16-9 after one quarter, and still trailed by just seven at the half, 22-15.
While Burlington upped its lead to 11 – 37-26 – after three quarters, Union Grove cut the lead to eight points with about three minutes to play. The Broncos had the ball with a chance to cut the lead to six points.
“We came down and took a silly shot,” Pettit said, noting that Burlington got the rebound and a layup and then put the game away.
Andrew Kazikowski was the only Bronco in double figures with 13 points.
Burlington’s Carson Biedryzcki led both teams with 20 points.
Union Grove will play at Elkhorn in an SLC game tonight at 7 p.m.
Next week, the boys will be at Wilmot on Tuesday, Feb. 12, for a 7 p.m. SLC matchup, and then will host Lake Geneva Badger on Friday, Feb. 15, at 7:45 p.m.
The Badger game will bring an end to the regular season. Regionals begin the following week.
-
-
-
-
-