BELOIT—Beloit Memorial boys basketball head coach Todd Marks summarized Friday night’s outing against Westosha Central in only a few yet perfect words: “Just a tough night overall.”
The Purple Knights had trouble slowing down the Falcons’ shooters from both inside and outside the arc, couldn’t find an offensive flow with numerous missed shots and sent their opponent to the free-throw line 31 times.
The off night for Beloit resulted in a 80-46 loss in their first matchup of the season against Southern Lakes Conference-leading Westosha Central at Barkin Arena.
“Anytime we were able to get a surge of some sort, we couldn't get a shot to fall or get that stop,” Marks said. “And that's a testament to Westosha, they played very well. It obviously wasn't our best night.”
The setback snapped a three-game conference win streak for the Knights, who are 12-4 overall and sit in fourth place at 6-3 in a jumbled top half of the SLC. The Falcons (12-2, 8-1) are in first with Burlington (13-5, 8-2) and Waterford (12-7, 8-3) right behind them.
Beloit split the season series with both the Demons and Wolverines
Westosha Central came out hot, stacking up defensive stops and setting up a perimeter presence with treys from Quinn Burns and Elijah Griffin helping construct an early 12-4 lead.
Knights’ sophomore Amare Hereford ensured that Beloit responded as he hit a trio of three-pointers to cut the advantage to 17-16.
“We came out a little flat, they took it to us a little bit,” Marks said. “And then to our kids credit, we had a little surge defensively where we got a couple stops and played in transition.”
Beloit’s offense has thrived off the success of their full-court press, which has given teams fits for most of the season and led to turnovers and fastbreak buckets.
But the Falcons had no issues penetrating the Knights’ defense with 6-foot-9 Liam Lubkeman able to muscle his way to the rim over and over again while Griffin hit baskets from mid-range jumpers and beyond the arc.
“We weren't able to get enough baskets to get into our pressure the way we wanted,” Marks said. “And it snowballed from there.”
Griffin finished with 14 points in the first-half to help Westosha take a 38-25 lead into the locker room.
Senior Jyrrell Cousins hit two shots at the rim to pull Beloit back to 40-29 early in the second half, but the Knights, unable to slow down the Falcons’ hot-shooters, would get no further.
An 8-0 run from Westosha made it a 17-point game and the Falcons finished the game on a 21-6 run for the dominant victory.
Hereford, who received considerable attention, was Beloit’s only double-digit scorer with 14 points as Westosha used its physicality around the hoop to prevent the Knights from finding ways to score.
“Their size was definitely a factor,” Marks said. “We've played size but not that kind of size across the board physically. That certainly challenged some shots around the rim. But then we got a lot of good looks that were right there, hung on the rim and just didn't quite go down.”
Marks added that, with a squad consisting largely of sophomores, overcoming all of the missed shots was tough. Emotions were high in the physical game with 23 total fouls on Beloit and two players getting called for technicals.
“That's something that we continue to talk about all the time is our mental toughness along with our physical toughness, especially when you're competing against really high-level teams,” Marks said. “Every opportunity is a chance for growth. It was very humbling tonight.”
Griffin finished with four threes and 29 points while Lubkeman ended with 15.
“(Griffin) is an excellent player,” Marks said. “He had a couple really tough shots where we were making a little surge and he hit a three. He commands attention and they have the size, so it’s a nice combination.”
Among Beloit’s eight games left this season (five within the SLC), the Knights only face one more opponent with more than three conference wins: Westosha, which they play at on Feb. 19.
“I know we’re going to be ready to go,” Marks said. “And we have to have that mindset because if we feel sorry for ourselves, it's going to snowball in the other direction.
• BOXSCORE:
WESTOSHA CENTRAL 80, BELOIT MEMORIAL 46
Westosha 38 42 — 80
Beloit 25 21 — 46
WESTOSHA (fg ft-fta pts) — Wade 1 0-0 2, Burns 5 1-2 12, Oppenneer 1 0-0 2, Rynberg 3 2-3 8, Meininger 2 0-2 4, Schultz 1 2-2 4, Griffin 8 9-12 29, Longrie 1 2-2 4, Lubkeman 6 3-8 15. Totals: 28 19-31 81.
BELOIT (fg ft-fta pts) — Hereford 5 1-1 14, Ford 1 0-0 2, Perez 1 0-0 2, Crawford 2 2-4 6, Cousins 4 0-1 8, Hobson-Thomas 2 0-0 4, Hodges 1 2-2 4, McCallister 2 2-2 6. Totals: 18 7-10 46.
3-pt Goals: WC 5 (Griffin 4, Burns), Beloit 3 (Hereford 3). Fouled out: Cousins, Hobson-Thomas. Total fouls: WC 17, Beloit 23.
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