Demons play girls-boys doubleheader tonight at Delavan-Darien
By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
After a lopsided loss at Division 1 Mukwonago to start the new year, Burlington boys basketball head coach Steve Berezowitz said the team was eager to get back in the Southern Lakes schedule.
However, the Demons have gone 1-2 since returning to SLC play and have dropped five of six overall.
Despite dropping to 5-6 overall, Burlington is 4-3 in the SLC, only two games behind Westosha Central with seven conference contests to play.
Berezowitz said the SLC, which features first place Central and contenders Lake Geneva Badger, Delavan-Darien and Waterford, is still up for grabs.
“We are not out of it,” he said Tuesday. “We have seven conference games left to see if we can play a part in it.”
“We are working on being more consistent on both ends of the floor right now. Until we figure that out we will continue to have the stretches when we play well and the stretches where we struggle.”
On Jan. 15 at conference-leading Westosha Central, the Demons were tied, 30-30, at the half, but the Falcons pulled away with a 46-34 second half.
Burlington’s inconsistency combined with Central’s talented tandem of Tre Williams and Jordan Easthon was too much to overcome.
Central hit eight 3-pointers as a team, led by three apiece from Williams and Easthon.
Williams led all scorers with 27 points, and Easthon added 20 including a slam dunk to ignite the home crowd.
Burlington got 23 points from Nick Klug, who has averaged 20 points per game in his last three.
Also, Cal Tully connected on three triples and finished with 17 points.
“We had some really good moments in our game with Westosha,” Berezowitz said. “The problem was in two different stretches we went into funks on both ends of the floor. When you are having a hard time getting stops consistently, it really puts the pressure on your offense.”
The Demons travel to Delavan Friday night. It’s one of four games left against opponents tied with or ahead of Burlington in the SLC standings.
Burlington travels to rival Waterford Thursday, Jan. 28.
Burlington 79, Wilmot 66
The Demons’ first win since Dec. 18 was Jan. 12 at home.
Burlington jumped out to a 36-25 halftime lead and never looked back. The offense picked up in the second half with 43 points.
“We played our best half of basketball in the first half, which created some confidence,” Berezowitz said. “They have some very good scorers, whom I thought we made take some extremely difficult shots.”
The SLC’s leading scorer, Bobby Brenner, who averages 29.8 points per game, scored a game-high 32, but no other Panther reached double figures.
Conversely, Burlington showed solid scoring balance, with five players in double figures, led by Klug’s 19.
Brock Halbach added 18 and 11 rebounds, Aaron Mutter had 14, Mitch Klug contributed 11 and Tully tallied 10.
The Demons knocked down 16 of 20 free throws.
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