By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
In two games this season, the Burlington boys basketball team came out flat against rival Waterford.
In both contests, the Wolverines came away victorious.
Tuesday night was a different story.
The host Demons, just five days removed from a 52-36 lopsided loss at Waterford, knew their backs were against the wall in a WIAA Division 2 playoff opener.
Burlington hung with Waterford through three quarters, and a flurry of 3-pointers combined with a crucial technical foul in the final period helped the Demons pick up a decisive 48-35 victory.
Fourth-seeded Burlington improved to 10-13. Fifth-seeded Waterford finishes its season at 10-11.
Burlington snapped a four-game losing streak.
The Demons advance to Friday’s regional semifinal at top-seeded Union Grove.
“The guys have been working hard all week,” said Burlington senior Luke Dahl, who returned after missing three games with an ankle injury. “We had a good game plan, and we came out and executed. It feels good to beat Waterford.”
Burlington leading scorer Ben Geiger was cold all game from 3-point land, missing his first 10 shots.
But good shooters know to keep shooting, and eventually the ball will go in.
Geiger knocked down a triple off an inbound play to give Burlington a 33-32 lead, but Waterford tied things up at 33-33 with three minutes left.
Then, Geiger knocked down another trey, Burlington got a stop and Dahl canned another triple to open Burlington’s lead to 39-34 with two minutes to play.
What happened next wound up being the controversial turning point that swung momentum in Burlington’s favor for good.
Waterford’s Ross Gunderson drove to the right baseline and attempted a 10-foot jumper, a shot he had hit earlier. Dahl blocked the shot from behind, recovered the ball and stepped out of bounds.
Just when Waterford thought it had the ball, down 39-34, with 1:03 remaining, a technical foul was called on Waterford coach Mickey Mala.
Mala thought Gunderson was fouled on his jump shot and let the referee know about it.
“I said, ‘Call the foul,’” Mala said. “He had been hit on the forearm on his shot multiple times. I didn’t raise my voice. I didn’t say anything to an official all year long. The ref said ‘You’re not going to do that.’ I wasn’t trying to Jim Boeheim it. I apologized to my guys. It’s a very tough pill for me to swallow.”
Geiger went on to knock down both technical foul shots, Dahl added two free throws and the game was essentially over at 43-34 with 39 seconds left.
Burlington held a slight 26-25 lead after three quarters. Both teams, Waterford with a stingy zone and Burlington with a ball-hawking man-to-man, were strong defensively until the fourth quarter.
That’s when the Demons imposed their will with a 22-10 period.
“We did a poor job defending them the first two games,” Burlington coach Steve Berezowitz said. “We defended much better tonight without shooting the ball well. I was proud that we grinded it out on the defensive end.”
“With Ben, it was a matter of time before he got going offensively. We got a couple stops late, and that was the difference.”
Burlington junior Frank Hozeska had a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds. He took the ball to the rim and managed easy layups or kicked it out to the open shooter.
Geiger and Dahl each added eight points. James Tully grabbed nine rebounds, and Ty Wiemer and Nathaniel Sibley each had seven boards. Burlington out-rebounded Waterford, 44-34.
Greyson Wolf-Dixon led the Wolverines with 13 points. Nathan Nicholls hauled in 12 rebounds.
“We got looks off of penetration,” Berezowitz said. “We got to the free-throw line and actually made some free throws. We are two teams that are very similar, and you knew it was going to be a grind-it-out game.”
Waterford finished third in the Southern Lakes standings for the season. Mala is proud of his team, which was picked near the bottom of the SLC in the preseason.
“I told the guys to walk out with their heads high,” Mala said. “I thought we accomplished quite a bit. We beat Burlington twice, we beat Wilmot once and we did very well.”
Now, Burlington looks forward to Friday against the Grove. The Broncos knocked off the Demons twice this season, 35-34 in Union Grove and 65-59 at Burlington.
“We match up well with Union Grove,” Dahl said. “We have the momentum right now.”
Berezowitz said the Demons played the Broncos well this season.
“We have to shoot the ball well, and we have to defend their screens,” he said.
Catholic Central 61, Juda 31
The top-seeded Toppers jumped out early and never looked back in a Division 5 playoff opener in Burlington Tuesday night.
Catholic Central led, 35-15, at halftime.
“We created a high-possession tempo, and our defense created turnovers,” said Topper coach Eric Henderson. “We jumped out early with good energy and executed our game plan.”
Henderson said the team defense led to easy baskets.
Senior Spencer Wilker led the Toppers with 15 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
Ben Heiligenthal added 11 points, and Bailey Wright had 10 for Central (19-4).
Catholic Central advances to a regional semifinal Friday night at home against Williams Bay (17-6).
The fourth-seeded Bulldogs, who have been ranked in the state this season in Division 5, edged fifth-seeded Monticello, 69-65, Tuesday in the Bay.
Other area boys playoff scores
Elkhorn 55, Delavan-Darien 40
Greendale 80, Westosha Central 58
Big Foot 41, Whitewater 38
Williams Bay 69, Monticello 65
Albany 69, Faith Christian 45
-
-
-
-
-