By Mike Ramczyk
And Dana Ehrmann
Sports Correspondent
Burlington started strong and held on for a 73-68 victory over Southern Lakes Conference foe Lake Geneva Badger Tuesday night in Burlington.
Nick Klug pumped in four 3-pointers and 22 points, Luke Geiger added 13 and nine rebounds and Liam Safar scored 12 and grabbed six rebounds for the Demons (8-6, 6-2 SLC).
Burlington sits one game behind SLC-leading Westosha Central, which beat Union Grove Tuesday.
Grant Tully added eight points for Burlington, which hit 18-of-25 free throws and held Badger to three free throw attempts.
Mason DuMez and Austin Flower each scored 20 for Badger.
Elkhorn knocks Demons out of first place
The up-and-coming Elkhorn boys basketball team clamped down on host Burlington Jan. 20.
Geiger was held to four points, 14 below his average, and the Demons fell, 58-48.
At 5-2, Burlington is now a game a game behind first-place Westosha Central, which beat rival Wilmot.
“I thought Elkhorn played extremely well,” Burlington coach Steve Berezowitz said. “They were allowed to play physically both on and off the ball, which I think played into their game plan to slow our guards down.”
“When this happens, we have to be better in our offensive flow to remain consistent. In addition, when you turn the ball over as much as we did, we just simply missed out on too many possessions.”
Burlington only connected on one 3-pointer, a staple in its offense, and got double-digit scoring from one player.
While leading scorer Nick Klug had a game-high 24 points, Elkhorn got 23 points from Ross Ingersoll and 18 from Alex Easterday.
The Demons were down, 31-20, at the half, and played better in the second half but couldn’t catch up.
“We learned some things about ourselves and our approach, which will help us as we move forward,”
Berezowitz said. “As we move forward, we know we have to get more consistent scoring from others.”
On Monday, the Demons finally practiced with a full squad. Berezowitz said the team is closer to fully healthy.
Catholic Central boys 49, Shoreland Lutheran 38
Catholic Central improved to 5-9 overall and picked up its first Metro Classic Conference victory (1-7) over last-place Shoreland Lutheran Friday night.
Frank Koehnke hit 8-of-16 shots, and senior Aaron Rueber added eight points and three assists.
Chad Zirbel led the Toppers with six rebounds.
John Pum and Bryce Hocking each added triples.
The Toppers shot 40 percent from the floor but connected on 12-of-19 free throws (63 percent).
Kenosha St. Joe’s 54, Catholic Central 40
The Toppers dropped to 5-10 Tuesday night with a 54-40 home loss to Kenosha St. Joe’s.
Frank Koehnke scored 18 points, but no other Topper was in double figures.
Catholic Central fell behind, 29-12, at halftime.
Burlington girls 63, Elkhorn 31
The Lady Demons jumped to 8-7 overall and 5-3 in the Southern Lakes Conference with a dominant victory Friday night.
Megan Wallace led the team with 15 points, and Jessa Burling added 12 points, 10 rebounds, seven steals, three assists and three blocks.
Jackie Garwood chipped in eight points.
“We played good team defense tonight,” said Burlington coach Mary Parker. “We were able to rotate, and help early to keep them out of the paint. Offensively, we were able to get a lot of girls involved, and have a very balanced attack. Plus, our transition game also allowed us to get some open looks in the paint.”
Lady Toppers drop two
A rough first half was too much to overcome for the Lady Toppers in their conference game against Shoreland Lutheran on Saturday, Jan. 21.
They trailed 34-17 at the half and lost, 60-45.
“Transition baskets were the difference in the Shoreland game. They got up and down the court faster than we did,” said head coach Jerod Boyd.
Still, senior Bridget Bittmann dropped 19 points on the Lady Pacers, shooting 50% from the three-point line. She also added four steals.
Sophomore Elizabeth Klein ended the night with 12 points and two steals.
Catholic Central’s 48-41 loss at home to Brookfield Academy on Thursday, Jan. 19 was against “a Brookfield team that, on paper, we should have beaten,” said Coach Boyd.
That is even with a breakout game from junior Mikelle Miles, who contributed 13 points, five rebounds and a block.
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