Wins, Mark Taylor tribute highlight busy week
By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
The Burlington boys basketball team has its groove back.
With Tuesday’s 69-63 overtime victory at Westosha Central, the Demons not only exacted revenge on the Falcons from an earlier loss but also won their fourth consecutive game.
Burlington improved to 7-6 overall and 5-2 in the Southern Lakes Conference, only a half-game behind Union Grove.
After a Frank Hozeska coast-to-coast layup made it 54-49 Burlington with three minutes left in regulation, Central simply wouldn’t die.
Marshall Gilbert and Ron Hall made key buckets, and Jordan Easthon’s free throws with 7 seconds left tied things up at 57-57.
Burlington turned the ball over on its final possession, and it went into overtime.
The Demons controlled the extra period, though, as a triple by Ben Geiger and a swooping left-handed hook shot by James Tully gave Burlington a 65-60 lead at the 1-minute mark.
Gilbert, who finished with 19 points, banked in a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 66-63 with 28 seconds left, but Nate Klug’s two free throws sealed the deal.
Hozeska led all scorers with 20 points, 14 of which came in the first half. Geiger added 16, including four triples. Klug scored 11, Tully had 10 and Luke Dahl had nine.
Burlington returns home to face rival Waterford (6-6, 5-2) Friday.
Burlington 66, Verona 65
Playing in a game one night after an exhausting conference win, Geiger stepped up big time.
The senior guard canned seven 3-pointers, and his clutch free throws down the stretch secured the nonconference victory.
Hozeska added 15 points and Klug had 12.
Verona is 7-7 and plays in one of the better conferences in the state, the Big Eight.
Burlington 75, Wilmot 71
It was like something from the wild, wild West.
An old-fashioned shootout Friday night between the Burlington and Wilmot boys basketball teams featured 146 combined points, back-and-forth frenetic play and one of the best individual performances in conference history.
The Panthers may have had the most lethal weapon in guard Brandon Schattner, who went off for 45 points. But the Demons countered with the largest arsenal, and in the end they blew Wilmot away.
Burlington scored the last four points of the game in the final minute to pull out a 75-71 victory and inch closer toward the top of the Southern Lakes Conference standings, a place they’ve known well as three-time defending conference champs.
Hozeska’s key steal and blocked shot late in the game helped Burlington pull off the upset. (Dwight Beuthling/Standard Press)
The final quarter played just like the entire game. Schattner found the bottom of the net on just about every Wilmot possession, and Hozeska and Geiger countered for Burlington with penetration to the hoop and lethal outside shooting.
Geiger, who led the Demons with 20 points, hit two free throws to give Burlington its first lead of the fourth quarter at 65-63 with three minutes to play. The lead kept changing hands for the next two minutes, until a big defensive stop got the crowd on its feet.
Hozeska intercepted an errant pass around half-court, slashed to the rim and scored to give the Demons a 71-68 lead with a minute to play.
But Schattner, who made a habit of hitting clutch shots all night, struck again. He calmly dribbled up the court, stopped, popped and swished a 3-pointer, his fifth of the game, to lock it back up at 71-71 with 35 seconds to go.
Then, a harrassing triple team forced the ball from Hozeska’s hands, and the Panthers called timeout with 25.2 seconds on the clock. Nate Hensel, Wilmot’s other offensive threat, got into the lane for a wide-open floater, but it clanked off the back rim. Burlington’s Luke Dahl corralled the rebound and quickly passed it down the court to Geiger.
Geiger, who had been taking the ball to the hoop all night, drew a quick double team. With less than 15 seconds to play, he jumped and dished nicely to a cutting Nathaniel Sibley all alone. Sibley swooped in and laid the ball off the glass, and it spun around the rim and dropped in for the go-ahead bucket to make it 73-71.
On the ensuing possession, Schattner tried another top-of-the-key triple, but Hozeska blocked the attempt, and Geiger got the loose ball and was fouled. Geiger’s two foul shots sealed the victory.
Hozeska finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds and did it all on the floor. His defense and play-making opened things up for Burlington on both ends of the court.
“It was a big win,” Hozeska said. “We’ve been playing really well lately. In the end, I felt like we were going to win it. Coach wanted the ball in my hands so I could take it to the hole. We ended up getting a stop, and Sibley’s bucket was a good look. We never quit, and we know this was a big game. We’re a pretty good team, and we showed it tonight.”
Nate Klug added 16 points, Tully scored seven and Mitch Klug tallied six.
Geiger was a force down the stretch, as he often finished with an acrobatic layup or canned an outside shot. He’s emerging as the team’s go-to scorer.
“Tonight we started out hitting shots but we slowed down,” Geiger said. “Then we looked to take it to the hoop. The younger guys are starting to get more into it. They started the season playing a little scared. Now, they’re more comfortable. We aren’t playing scared. We’re back to where we want to be.”
The Demons came out on fire, taking a 27-18 lead after one quarter. But Wilmot stormed back with a 24-11 second quarter and clung to a 59-56 lead after three quarters.
#TaylorStrong
A capacity crowd showed up to watch some basketball but also to honor the late Mark Taylor.
Taylor, a former Burlington resident, passed away Dec. 9 after a battle with cancer. He was 51.
Active in coaching youth basketball, Taylor was a loving husband and father of three sons and a daughter, all of whom played or play for the Demons.
Burlington students Sophie Grandi and Nate Klug gave a heart-warming speech honoring Taylor early in the night, and Robyn Robers and Ellen Stang added another speech for Taylor before the boys game. The Burlington girls lost, 58-40, in the first game of the night. Stang had 15 points and 16 rebounds.
Robers fought back tears as she remembered her friend Mark, a man people affectionately called “Papa T.” Robers is friends with Taylor’s daughter Teagan, and in a Standard Press article back in December, Robers said Mark treated all visitors to his Burlington home like family. She said she was always treated like one of Mark’s children.
In her speech, Robers said that any donation was welcome, either large or small.
Well, the packed house got the message. Thanks to a “miracle minute,” where BHS students combed the stands with buckets for exactly one minute during each game, more than $4,000 was raised for the Taylor family.
Burlington senior Ashley Derks took to Twitter to thank Wilmot fans for their contributions.
“S/O to Wilmot for buying #TaylorStrong wristbands and putting them on their water bottles and for being so supportive last night,” she said.
So, in only 120 seconds, $3,700 was raised, as the other $400 came from a raffle.
Mark Taylor’s impact on the community will last forever, and last night students and fans showed their appreciation in a big way.
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