Sports Check Blog

Klug’s career night boosts Burlington over Lake Geneva Badger

Nick Klug (22) scored 33 points, including three triples and a perfect 10-of-10 free throws in Friday night's victory. (Mike Ramczyk/Standard Press)
Nick Klug (22) scored 33 points, including three triples and a perfect 10-of-10 free throws in Friday night’s victory. (Mike Ramczyk/Standard Press)

 

BURLINGTON – When asked about his career-high 33 points after the Burlington boys basketball team’s 66-49 victory over Lake Geneva Badger Friday night, sophomore point guard Nick Klug didn’t hesitate to use the words “my team.”

In fact, those two selfless, humbling words were in the first sentence he uttered during an impromptu video about 30 minutes after the Demons moved into a second-place tie in the Southern Lakes Conference.

Admittedly, it was amateur hour as my cell phone’s video abilities suddenly ended our interview.

Klug graciously granted me about five minutes (it seemed like 500) to fix my wonderful technology, and the interview was back on, fresh from the beginning.

SPORT CHECK LOGO webIn the second take, after reiterating how thoroughly Klug dominated the Badger defense, Klug wouldn’t take my bait.

“I thought we played well as a team and really stopped Badger’s shooting,” Klug said with a calm demeanor, hands clutched to his backpack in the Burlington High School gym.

Burlington avenged an overtime loss at Lake Geneva Badger by smothering Badger’s star player, Jake Berhorst. While Burlington coach Steve Berezowitz said Berhorst “single-handedly” beat the Demons in the first game with 33 points, Burlington switched up some of its defense on screens to prevent Berhorst’s perimeter sharp-shooting.

The move paid off, as the Southern Lakes Conference’s second-leading scorer was held to nine points, 13 below his season average of 22. Four of the nine points came at the foul line, and Berhorst only connected on one 3-pointer.

Burlington led, 36-26, at the half, and Badger didn’t get any closer than eight points in the second half.

That’s because Klug drove the lane at will, forcing double teams and fouls. He lived at the charity stripe, going 10-for-10, and Klug was in the zone from beyond the arc early in the second half.

He hit two straight three’s, and when he went for the hat trick, he was fouled and sank all three foul shots.

Ty Wiemer added 13 points, Cal Tully had eight and Mitch Klug tallied seven.

“I was feeling it,” Klug said. “I’ve been staying after practice working on my three-point shot with teammates. I’m just trying to build on that and gain confidence.”

Klug’s performance combined with a total team effort on defense held Badger to five triples, and Berezowitz said it was the most complete game Burlington has played this season.

Klug tries to dribble past Jake Berhorst, who is considering four different schools to play college basketball next year. (Mike Ramczyk/Standard Press)
Klug tries to dribble past Jake Berhorst, who is considering four different schools to play college basketball next year. (Mike Ramczyk/Standard Press)

“They’re tough,” Berezowitz said of Badger. “Tonight, we played really well defensively. Holding a team like that to 49 points is a big step for us. We’ve struggled against teams that have one player that can do a lot of damage.”

“Nick (Klug) got to the basket tonight. That opens up some things, and his 3’s in the second half helped. He got to the free throw line. The big thing was he did it in a variety of different ways.”

It was the fifth win in six games for Burlington, which improved to 10-8 overall and 8-4 in the SLC, two games behind Westosha Central, which won, 53-47, at Elkhorn Friday night.

If Burlington wins at Wilmot next Friday and Central loses against Lake Geneva Badger, it would set up a battle for the conference championship Thursday, Feb. 25 at Burlington between the Demons and Falcons.

Westosha’s third-leading scorer, Jordan Easthon, who contributed 16 points per game, is out for the season with an ankle injury. Central is 2-0 without him, however, it defeated Elkhorn Friday night without Elks’ leading scorer Alex Easterday, who scores 21 points per game.

“We’re excited,” Berezowitz said. “We’re playing a little differently than the first time we played Central. In only a month, with confidence and understanding and feel, high school kids can make big leaps. You hope the learning curve continues.”

 

Has Burlington caught Westosha?

On Jan. 15 in Paddock Lake, Westosha Central broke open a 30-30 halftime tie to run away from Burlington, 76-64. Easthon scored 20 points, and junior point guard Tre Williams paced Central with 27 points.

It hasn’t been a full month, but the Demons are playing better basketball than they did in January.

Klug continues his maturation as a dominant offensive force, complete with an evolving outside shot, and Ty Wiemer (13 points Friday night) has emerged as a bruiser down low on both sides of the ball. Throw in Aaron Mutter and 6-foot-5 Brock Halbach, and Burlington has developed a formidable defensive front line while Nick Klug, brother Mitch and other role players like Cal Tully and Luke Geiger have provided versatility on the perimeter.

It will be a tall task for the Badgers to win at Westosha Central, but Lake Geneva’s high-possession, high-scoring attack can simply out-score the Easthon-less Falcons.

While Ron Hall and Williams are probably two of the five best players in the SLC, Easthon is in the conversation and will most likely earn all-conference honors.

Whether it’s Burlington, Badger or Westosha that wins conference, Klug, who has been playing AAU basketball since fifth grade and now plays with the state’s elite Wisconsin Swing squad, isn’t slowing down any time soon.

“We have to keep building off practice and getting better,” he said. “We’ve been playing really good ‘D’ lately and getting a lot of stops. And our offense has been good. We need to keep building off that.”

 

VIDEO: Nick Klug speaks after his memorable performance

 

Friday Night Scoreboard

Boys basketball

Westosha Central 53, Elkhorn 47

Waterford 81, Delavan-Darien 76

Wilmot 85, Union Grove 74

Muskego 79, Waukesha South 71

Racine Park 49, Franklin 40

Kenosha Tremper 78, Kenosha Bradford 68

Mukwonago 66, Waukesha North 61

Girls basketball

Lake Geneva Badger 33, Burlington 32

Delavan-Darien 62, Waterford 59

Westosha Central 47, Elkhorn 45

Union Grove 43, Wilmot 34

East Troy 59, Evansville 46

Whitewater 54, McFarland 42

Mukwonago 63, Waukesha North 23

Waukesha South 62, Muskego 54

 

 

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