BRODHEAD—The Beloit Turner boys basketball team had finally figured out how to slow down a hot-shooting Brodhead squad from the perimeter and fought its way back into the lead.
But it was two crucial stops in the paint that sealed the Trojans’ 78-68 win over the Cardinals in a Rock Valley Rock showdown on Thursday night.
Brodhead junior Cullen Walker had just drained a step-back jumper to make it a one-score game with about three minutes left. A few possessions later, senior Gunner Boegli took a pass and sailed towards the hoop but was met with 6-foot-5 senior Tyshawn Teague-Johnson, who delivered a massive block.
“I mean a blocked layup, that’s a tie ballgame,” Cardinals’ head coach Tommy Meier said.
“It was just a bad decision from him,” Teague-Johnson said with a laugh.
After sophomore AJ Dotson sank two free throws to make it 72-68, Brodhead took to the paint again to try to get it back to a two-point margin. But junior Sam Erickson stood firm in the paint and took a charge with under a minute left.
“Tyshawn’s block was huge and Sam’s charge was huge as well,” Turner head coach Ken Watkins said.
The Trojans (14-6, 9-2 RVR) finished with six more points from the charity stripe to ice the win.
“What I was really proud about is there were a number of times tonight where things weren't going our way,” Watkins said. “And there was a lot of adversity, but we weren't barking at each other. It was just next play.”
Turner had surged for the lead in the first half with its inside-out offense. Senior Zay Howard and Teague-Johnson were pounding it in the post while Dotson hit a pair of treys and a jumper to help build a 37-31 lead.
Brodhead had kept pace with its absurdly good shooting from outside the arc as it hit nine threes in the first half alone. Five of those long shots came from junior Gabe Bockhop, who seemed to hit one every time the Trojans tried to pull away for good.
“The funny thing is Gabe’s been struggling, but the kid has confidence,” Meier said. “We kept telling him to shoot. It seemed like he couldn’t miss tonight.”
Bockhop hit a jumper to start a 11-0 run from the Cardinals (9-10, 5-6) into halftime. The junior had four of those points while teammate Sam Searls added a three.
“In the first half, we were drained and thinking about the game too much,” said Teague-Johnson, who finished with 19 points. “We picked up a lot of energy.”
Up 42-37 at halftime, Brodhead’s Walker scored five points and Brody Riese added a three to build a quick 14-point lead in the second half.
But that's when Turner’s defense stepped up and started limiting the shots from the perimeter as the Cardinals had just two after Riese’s bucket.
“Thank God for our assistant coaches, who are a lot smarter than me,” Watkins said. “They said ‘We have to go to a two-three (defense). They're shooting it so well, we have to try to disrupt the rhythm.’”
Watkins estimates Brodhead only scored on one of its eight possessions with his squad in the new defense, and he saw an extra pep in his team's step when it returned to man.
The Trojans’ offense, meanwhile, got to work. Teague-Johnson scored 10 points and Dotson added six from beyond the arc to help cut the Cardinals’ lead to 64-59.
“Our pick-and-roll is very hard to guard,” Teague-Johnson said. “Either I get a switch and it's going to me or Zay gets a switch and that's a bucket.”
Howard then scored on a pair of and-ones as he put up eight-straight points and provided an assist on a Elijah Terrell bucket to put Turner ahead for good at 69-64.
Dotson ended with 19 points while Howard paced Turner with 21.
“Zay's so dynamic coming off (our ball screen), the things he can make happen,” Watkins said. “He can pass or finish it himself.”
Walker had 25 points while Bockhop finished with a game-high 27 points for Brodhead.
The win helped the second-place Trojans put some distance between themselves and the third-place Cardinals, who have lost five of their last six games.
“Our guys battled their (butts) off,” Meier said. “We talked about ‘Why can’t we play with this energy every game?’ The outcome wasn't what we wanted, but this was everything we could ask from these guys. We also talked about using this as a springboard to keep things rolling.”
• BOXSCORE:
BELOIT TURNER 78, BRODHEAD 68
Turner 37 41— 78
Brodhead 42 26 — 68
TURNER (fg ft-fta pts) — Howard 6 9-12 21, Terrell 2 1-2 5, Teague-Johnson 7 3-7 19, Amosa 1 0-0 2, Dotson 5 4-4 19, Erickson 2 0-0 6, Njoo 2 0-0 6. Totals: 25 17-21 78.
BRODHEAD (fg ft-fta pts) — Walker 10 0-0 25, Bockhop 9 3-4 27, Dooley 2 2-2 6, Searls 1 0-0 3, Riese 1 0-0 3, Boegli 0 2-2 2, Engen 1 0-0 2. Totals: 24 7-8 68.
3-pt Goals: BT 11 (Dotson 5, Teague-Johnson 2, Erickson 2, Njoo 2), Brod 13 (Bockhop 6, Walker 5, Searls, Riese). Fouled out: none. Total fouls: BT 15, Brod 16.
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