By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
BURLINGTON – It was like something from the wild, wild West.
An old-fashioned shootout Friday night between the Burlington and Wilmot boys basketball teams featured 146 combined points, back-and-forth frenetic play and one of the best individual performances in conference history.
The Panthers may have had the most lethal weapon in guard Brandon Schattner, who went off for 45 points. But the Demons countered with the largest arsenal, and in the end they blew Wilmot away.
Burlington scored the last four points of the game in the final minute to pull out a 75-71 victory and inch closer toward the top of the Southern Lakes Conference standings, a place they’ve known well as three-time defending conference champs.
Burlington improved to 5-6 overall and 4-2 in the SLC, where it’s tied with Waterford and Wilmot. Union Grove is in first place (5-1). It was the Demons’ second straight win, and they have won five of seven after beginning the season 0-4.
The final quarter played just like the entire game. Schattner found the bottom of the net on just about every Wilmot possession, and Frank Hozeska and Ben Geiger countered for Burlington with penetration to the hoop and lethal outside shooting.
Geiger, who led the Demons with 20 points, hit two free throws to give Burlington its first lead of the fourth quarter at 65-63 with three minutes to play. The lead kept changing hands for the next two minutes, until a big defensive stop got the crowd on its feet.
Hozeska intercepted an errant pass around half-court, slashed to the rim and scored to give the Demons a 71-68 lead with a minute to play. But Schattner, who made a habit of hitting clutch shots all night, struck again. He calmly dribbled up the court, stopped, popped and swished a 3-pointer, his fifth of the game, to lock it back up at 71-71 with 35 seconds to go.
Then, a harrassing triple team forced the ball from Hozeska’s hands, and the Panthers called timeout with 25.2 seconds on the clock. Nate Hensel, Wilmot’s other offensive threat, got into the lane for a wide-open floater, but it clanked off the back rim. Burlington’s Luke Dahl corralled the rebound and quickly passed it down the court to Geiger.
Geiger, who had been taking the ball to the hoop all night, drew a quick double team. With less than 15 seconds to play, he jumped and dished nicely to a cutting Nathaniel Sibley all alone. Sibley swooped in and laid the ball off the glass, and it spun around the rim and dropped in for the go-ahead bucket to make it 73-71.
On the ensuing possession, Schattner tried another top-of-the-key triple, but Hozeska blocked the attempt, and Geiger got the loose ball and was fouled. Geiger’s two foul shots sealed the victory.
Hozeska finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds and did it all on the floor. His defense and play-making opened things up for Burlington on both ends of the court.
“It was a big win,” Hozeska said. “We’ve been playing really well lately. In the end, I felt like we were going to win it. Coach wanted the ball in my hands so I could take it to the hole. We ended up getting a stop, and Sibley’s bucket was a good look. We never quit, and we know this was a big game. We’re a pretty good team, and we showed it tonight.”
Nate Klug added 16 points, James Tully scored seven and Mitch Klug tallied six.
Geiger was a force down the stretch, as he often finished with an acrobatic layup or canned an outside shot. He’s emerging as the team’s go-to scorer.
“Tonight we started out hitting shots but we slowed down,” Geiger said. “Then we looked to take it to the hoop. The younger guys are starting to get more into it. They started the season playing a little scared. Now, they’re more comfortable. We aren’t playing scared. We’re back to where we want to be.”
The Demons came out on fire, taking a 27-18 lead after one quarter. But Wilmot stormed back with a 24-11 second quarter and clung to a 59-56 lead after three quarters.
Burlington coach Steve Berezowitz said the Demon defense came up big in the end despite Schattner’s huge night.
“We couldn’t switch matchups with Schattner because of foul trouble,” Berezowitz said. “He dominated. We didn’t do a very good job of stopping him. But we found a way with six stops in a row. That was the turning point.”
Berezowitz was proud of his floor leaders.
“I was proud of Ben,” he said. “He missed a layup that could’ve put it away, then he came back and hit two huge free throws. And Frankie dictated the entire game. When he switched and covered Schattner, it was a big change for us defensively.”
Wilmot was streaking entering the game. The Panthers had just handed Union Grove its first conference loss on Tuesday and were tied atop the standings. This was Burlington’s second conference game against a top opponent, but it was the first signature win of the season.
“The guys know we’re making progress, and that’s the big key,” Berezowitz said. “We haven’t even talked about winning conference. We’re just focusing on getting better. We’re so much better than we were in the beginning of the year.”
Burlington travels to Verona tonight in nonconference action and returns to SLC play Tuesday at Westosha Central. The Falcons (5-6, 2-3) beat the Demons in Burlington back in November.
#TaylorStrong
A capacity crowd showed up to watch some basketball but also to honor the late Mark Taylor.
Taylor, a former Burlington resident, passed away Dec. 9 after a battle with cancer. He was 51.
Active in coaching youth basketball, Taylor was a loving husband and father of three sons and a daughter, all of whom played or play for the Demons.
Burlington students Sophie Grandi and Nate Klug gave a heart-warming speech honoring Taylor early in the night, and Robyn Robers and Ellen Stang added another speech for Taylor before the boys game. The Burlington girls lost, 58-40, in the first game of the night. Stang had 15 points and 16 rebounds.
Robers fought back tears as she remembered her friend Mark, a man people affectionately called “Papa T.” Robers is friends with Taylor’s daughter Teagan, and in a Standard Press article back in December, Robers said Mark treated all visitors to his Burlington home like family. She said she was always treated like one of Mark’s children.
In her speech, Robers said that any donation was welcome, either large or small.
Well, the packed house got the message. Thanks to a “miracle minute,” where BHS students combed the stands with buckets for exactly one minute during each game, more than $4,000 was raised for the Taylor family.
Burlington senior Ashley Derks took to Twitter to thank Wilmot fans for their contributions.
“S/O to Wilmot for buying #TaylorStrong wristbands and putting them on their water bottles and for being so supportive last night,” she said.
So, in only 120 seconds, $3,700 was raised, as the other $400 came from a raffle.
Mark Taylor’s impact on the community will last forever, and last night students and fans showed their appreciation in a big way.
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