Burlington ramps up energy to whitewash Waterford

Demons start stretch run with pivotal conference win

By Mike Ramczyk

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WATERFORD – The final score reads Burlington 65, Waterford 58, but the actual game told a different story Thursday night at Waterford Union High School.

The Demons, losers of seven of their previous eight, came out firing in the first half, built a big lead and cruised to a Southern Lakes Conference victory.

It helped that the Wolverines were ice cold outside and inside in the first 18 minutes, but point guard Nick Klug set the tone by pushing the ball up court and finding open teammates like Ty Wiemer, Aaron Mutter and Brock Halbach inside. Klug paced the Demon attack with 22 points.

Burlington built a 37-22 halftime lead and increased it to 43-25 in the second half. Waterford got to within five points late in the game, but the Demons won the game from the charity stripe, hitting 27 of 32, 11 coming from Klug.

It was one of the most complete games of the season for Burlington, which improved to 6-8 overall and 5-4 in the SLC.

“It feels really good,” Mutter said. “We always bring a different energy when we play Waterford. It’s more of a rivalry than any other team we play.”

Burlington snapped a three-game losing streak and had lost seven of eight games. Mutter and Wiemer said it was a relaxing week of practice, and there was a semester change at school, which can be stressful. It allowed the guys to get back to having fun on the court.

“Coaches had us well-prepared,” Wiemer said. “The last few weeks, we haven’t been having fun. We had fun tonight.”

Klug was all over the court, as he often created fast breaks and finished with a coast-to-coast layup or found a big man down low. He finished with seven rebounds and five assists to go with his 22 points.

Wiemer, Mutter and Halbach controlled the paint and limited Waterford’s interior scoring. The trio combined for 29 points and 25 rebounds and held Waterford’s post players, Austin Kaul and Ryan Jungbauer, to five points.

“Guys were in a rut, with close games and not being able to hold leads,” said Burlington coach Steve Berezowitz. “We got back to basics a little bit. It does help when you have a semester change. We have really good students on this team. We got a fresh start.”

“Nick filled the stat sheet tonight, with rebounds and assists and steals. We won at the line tonight.”

Waterford first-year coach Paul Czarapata said his team’s inability to finish inside was an issue.

“We missed some close shots and we really didn’t rebound,” he said. “We didn’t defend the post. In the second half, we played some motion offense and were looking for a matchup. We felt Dyln Ross could get their guard on his heels. We came out and played some hard-nosed basketball in the second half.”

With eight minutes to play, Waterford’s Chris Saltzmann hit a 3-pointer and added a layup to cut the lead to 50-45. Also, Ross began penetrating the Demon defense and hitting short jumpers.

But whenever Waterford got close, Nick Klug and Mitch Klug knocked down free throws to maintain a comfortable margin. Burlington was shooting the double bonus with six minutes to play.

Wiemer cut hard to the hoop, and Halbach found him for a layup to make it 58-48 with a few minutes left, but Waterford wasn’t done.

Will Busch drained a three, and a tenacious Waterford full-court press forced a jump ball. But Burlington was awarded possession, and Mitch Klug hit two more free throws.

Saltzmann answered by driving coast-to-coast, but his layup was altered by Halbach and rimmed off the mark. The Demons hit a few more foul shots to ice the victory.

Saltzmann led the Wolverines with 15 points, and Ross added 13.

Mitch Klug had eight points with six of seven free throws.

Burlington plays three games next week, including two on the road. Will this win spark a run for the Demons?

“Once you get to February, you know what you’re doing,” Berezowitz said. “Now it’s trying to do it better and playing well. We have a lot of games in February to try and figure that out.”

Burlington, like Waterford, sits at 5-4 in the SLC, three games behind red-hot Westosha Central, which won its sixth straight game Thursday night.

“We’re going to continue to work on our post defense,” Czarapata said. “I need to find that offensive formation that’s going to get us going. We’ll need to switch to the look that’ll get us into that formation a little quicker.”

Sport Editor Mike Ramczyk interviews Aaron Mutter and Ty Wiemer following Burlington’s win over Waterford: