By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
Last year was the first time in four seasons that the Burlington boys basketball squad didn’t win the Southern Lakes Conference championship.
But after what some may call a down year considering the Demons won the title the previous three years, Burlington is back and poised to challenge for the crown again.
With eight key returning players including all-conference performer Frankie Hozeska, head coach Steve Berezowitz said this year’s team will rely on its seniors.
“I really like our direction, and that starts with good senior leadership,” Berezowitz said Tuesday in an email. “We have young men who have had success on our past teams as well as in other programs. They continue to push each other every day.”
The Demons’ offensive charge with start with Hozeska. The 6-foot-3 guard is the leading returning scorer at 12.1 points per contest last season, and Hozeska also led the team in rebounding.
His talents were on display Dec. 4 in Burlington’s season-opening 53-50 overtime victory at Kenosha Bradford. Hozeska paced the local boys with 16 points.
Another key cog in the win was junior Mitch Klug, who scored nine of his 13 points in the final seven minutes, including the last two free throws with 30 seconds remaining, to ice the victory.
Hozeska, Klug, Brad Burling, James Tully, Nathaniel Sibley, Eric Johnson, Aaron Mutter and Ty Wiemer bring a ton of
experience to the floor.
The group hopes to take over the leadership void left by Ben Geiger, Nathan Klug and Luke Dahl, whom Berezowitz said gave consistent scoring, aggressive defense and great overall leadership last year.
“We have plenty of experience, however, some are playing new positions and adapting to new roles,” Berezowitz said. “This sometimes takes a little time.”
Burlington opened its SLC season Tuesday night at Union Grove. The Demons are a favorite to win the conference, but Grove is looking to defend its title and Lake Geneva Badger boasts the return of state coaching guru Forrest Larson.
Berezowitz is searching for consistency in these early stages.
“We are hoping to be more consistent on both ends of the floor this year,” he said. “We had trouble scoring consistently last year. We will also try to be a bit more aggressive on the defensive end. We are pretty early in the season to see what we will be really good at, but we will get there.”
Along with the experience, Berezowitz said a host of newcomers are champing at the bit to contribute. They include Bryan Sturtevant, Andrew Ohm, Cal Tully, Erik Viel, Jacob Weidert and Nick Klug.
Though Burlington committed more than 20 turnovers in its season opener, the Demons showed poise against Bradford after losing their lead and fighting it out in overtime.
Berezowitz said it may have looked sloppy at times, but he said getting the victory was key.
“It looked like we didn’t necessarily play well,” he said. “However, there were some things we did very well. When it is early in the season, it’s great to get a solid team win without playing exceptionally well. They are a great group of young men to work with, so I’m excited to see how far we can get.”
Schedule
(HOME GAMES ALL CAPS)
December – 12: at Elkhorn. 19: LAKE GENEVA BADGER. 20: at Slinger. 22: VERONA. 27: at Franklin (Carthage College). 30: EVANSVILLE. January – 6: at Wilmot. 9: at Delavan-Darien. 13: MUKWONAGO. 16: at Westosha Central. 23: at Waterford. 27: ELKHORN. 30: UNION GROVE. 31: at Monona Grove. February – 5: at Badger. 10: WILMOT. 13: DELAVAN-DARIEN. 20: WATERFORD. 26: WESTOSHA CENTRAL.
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