(10) Wilmot (7-16) at (3) Burlington (15-8), D2 regional final, 7 p.m., Saturday
By Mike Ramczyk
Nick Klug joined some elite company Friday night.
The 6-foot Burlington junior point guard became the third player in school history to reach 1,000 career points, and the third-seeded Demons rolled to a 61-44 victory over No. 6 Delavan-Darien in a WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal at Burlington High School.
Thanks to No. 10 Wilmot’s 67-57 overtime upset victory at second-seeded McFarland, Burlington will stay home Saturday night to face its Southern Lakes Conference foe for a third time this season with a trip to sectionals on the line.
Klug, who scored a game-high 18 points, reached exactly 1,000 points on a late free throw, the completion of a three-point play where a hanging Klug was upended and landed forcefully on his back after making a layup.
He is now third on the all-time Burlington scoring list, behind Eric LeDuc and leader Tony Romo, who totaled 1,080 points.
It is likely Klug will become the school’s all-time leading scorer next season as a senior, but the unselfish star who is already fielding interest from Division 1 and 2 colleges was more concerned with the win after the game.
“It feels great, no matter how we won tonight, all that matters is we’re moving on to the next round,” Klug said. “We had great ball movement getting guys to open spots, and I really think guys stepped up and hit shots.”
“It obviously feels great to reach the 1,000 point milestone. Honestly tonight, I just really wanted to win the game and didn’t think about my points. If it came it came, and if it didn’t it didn’t. I just wanted to win.”
Klug was greeted by a large contingent of family after the game, including brothers Nathan and Mitch, whom father Jeff said are competitive with Nick but are also his biggest fans.
“They’re here every game,” Klug said of his family. “My family is pushing me to do my best every game, and it’s great to have them here.”
Burlington starts strong
Things looked good for the Demons early as they took a 15-3 lead, but Delavan surged back thanks to a strong zone defense. A Seth Kirsch turnaround jumper cut it to 26-20, but Burlington’s Dale Damon corraled an offensive rebound and found Luke Geiger for his fifth first half 3-pointer to make it 29-20 at halftime.
The Comets hung around to begin the second half, and Logan Rios’ triple gave Delavan its closest deficit at 31-27 with 14 minutes left.
Burlington, ice cold to begin the final 18 minutes, leaned on Klug to answer. He hit a layup and drained a 3-pointer to cap off an 11-3 run and push the lead to 42-30.
Grant Tully added a jumper and Damon added a put-back layup, and the Demons’ ball movement picked up as 6-foot-7 center Brock Halbach began to flash the high post. Halbach’s swift interior pass to a cutting Drew Pesick for a layup made it 44-32 with eight minutes left.
The Comets wouldn’t get any closer than 14 points the rest of the way, as Halbach provided back-to-back slam dunks, the latter of which was a two-handed power stuff that posterized Delavan’s Ethan Cesarz.
The home fans erupted.
Klug’s historic free throw, which led to a stoppage in play and congratulations from both teammates and Delavan players, helped cap a 30-17 Burlington run to end the game.
Geiger finished with 17 points, and Halbach added 10.
“In the tournament, you just have to get through it,” said Burlington coach Steve Berezowitz. “We got a little bit quick with possessions in the first half. Their zone slowed us down in transition, and we didn’t get enough stops defensively in the first half.”
“In the second half, we finally got the ball in the high post and did something.”
Berezowitz said Halbach’s dunks helped give the team some late momentum. He added that Klug isn’t concerned with his personal stats.
“The great thing about it is Nick isn’t a selfish kid, he didn’t really care about the 1,000 points,” Berezowitz said. “He’s in some good company. He’s played with some good players, and it’s a testament to his teammates.”
Wilmot, a team Burlington beat twice this season, is riding the hot hand of two straight playoff upsets.
“We have to be able to fight back tomorrow night against a good opponent,” Berezowitz said. “We’ll be ready for them.”
“We need to come out with energy and start with a good flow,” Klug said. “We have to treat it like a normal game and be ourselves.”
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