Demons push SLC leader to limit
By Mike Ramczyk
For 30 minutes Tuesday night at Burlington High School, the Demons went toe to toe with Southern Lakes Conference king Westosha Central, the No. 6-ranked Division 2 team in the state.
Dylan Runkel’s free throws cut the Falcons lead to 43-39 with 6 minutes left, and the game seemed destined for a thrilling finish.
Then something strange happened.
The Falcons went into stall mode.
Playing keep-away for much of the game’s final moments, Westosha survived a scare and held on to win, 48-39, to remain undefeated in the SLC (4-0) and 8-1 on the season.
Burlington dropped its second consecutive SLC game and now sits at 7-4 overall and 4-2 in conference.
Westosha point guard Jake Mueller simply sat at the top of the key with about five minutes left, occasionally passing to Joey Michelau.
Central held the ball for more than three minutes, and the clock dipped below the 2-minute mark when Joey Berezowitz finally stole the ball and darted down court.
However, his layup was off, and Central was back in stall mode, up 43-39, on the next possession.
The Demons stayed aggressive, as Dane Kornely got the steal this time and passed to Berezowitz, who didn’t get the foul call and missed another shot from close range.
Central’s star guard, Jaeden Zackery, who led all scorers with 19 points, then scored the first points from either team in more than four minutes with a layup, and the Falcons were up, 45-39.
Trey Krause got off a long 3-pointer on the next possession, but it was off the mark and Westosha held on for the victory.
Berezowitz hit five 3-pointers to lead the Demons with 15 points.
Burlington held Westosha well under its season average of 70 points.
Adam Simmons added 12 for the Falcons.
Runkel scored 10 for the Demons.
Zackery leads the SLC with 21.1 points per game.
Burlington lost its first SLC game in another close battle, 67-64, at Wilmot last Friday night.
The Panthers led, 32-30, at halftime.
Burlington sophomore Ethan Safar led the way with a season-high 19 points, Berezowitz added 14 with three triples and Runkel added 12.
Mason Morovitz led Wilmot with 18 points, and Landon Glass added 10.
The Panthers connected on 9 3-pointers.
Burlington hosts Waukesha North Tuesday, Jan. 15.
Demons split in Kenosha
Burlington fell to Division 1 Kenosha Tremper, 78-62, but beat Division 3 Kenosha St. Joe’s, 63-54, in a holiday tournament at Carthage College on Lake Michigan.
Against Tremper, the Demons trailed by as many as 30 in the second half, struggling against a trapping defense and fast break offense.
Trey Krause and Runkel each scored 16 points to lead Burlington.
Krause hit four triples.
The Demons bounced back Dec. 28 to knock off a solid St. Joe’s squad.
Berezowitz scored 21 points to lead the Demons, converting 9-of-11 from the free throw line.
Safar scored 11, and Trent Turzenski added 10.
Westosha Central girls 51, Burlington 44
The Lady Demons dropped to 0-13 with a Southern Lakes Conference loss in Paddock Lake Jan. 4, but first-year head coach Kyle Foulke said his team is close to pulling out its first win.
“We played awesome,” Foulke said. “Everything we have working on in practice, we improved on tonight.”
“We had good scoring balance. The only difference in a win and loss is we couldn’t buy a bucket. We had good looks all second half, they just didn’t fall.”
“I am extremely proud of the girls for their fight all night long.”
Cora Anderson led the girls with 15 points, and Caitlyn Matson added 13.
Central head coach Mindy Stewart had high praise for Burlington.
“Burlington has a lot of fight in them, and they made us dig in and look at our game plan,” Stewart said. “They caused us to turn the ball over, but once we got some steals off the press it helped us get back up in the game.”
Tuesday night scoreboard
Boys basketball
Westosha Central 48, Burlington 39
Leading scorers – WC: Zackery, 19. BUR: Joey Berezowitz, 15. Records – BUR 7-4, WC 8-1.
Girls basketball
Jefferson 53, Burlington 32
Leading scorer – BUR: Cora Anderson, Caitlyn Matson, 7. Record – BUR 0-14.
-
-
-
-
-