BELOIT—Tyshawn Teague-Johnson and Zay Howard have collaborated time and time again to treat the crowds at the Beloit Turner boys basketball games to a circus act.
The duo were on full display at times against Evansville on Tuesday night with Teague-Johnson soaring through the sky after taking a pass from Howard to lay down a dunk or Howard using his quick and athletic drives through the post to hit a bucket.
But the Trojans also showed they have plenty of other performers on the court as 10 different players scored in the 68-44 win over the Blue Devils in Rock Valley Rock Division action.
“When we have another scorer behind Zay and Tyshawn, it makes us really hard to match up with,” head coach Ken Watkins said. “AJ (Dotson) once again had a terrific night shooting the ball. That’s really opened up some things for us offensively. Teams can’t help quite as much, especially off of AJ.”
While Turner’s offense got contributions from all over the court, its backcourt really shined through in the first half. Evansville (3-18, 1-11) never seemed comfortable shooting as the Trojans pressured the ball to force turnovers or used their athleticism to block shots.
“What we emphasize here at Turner is defense,” senior point guard Zay Howard said. “We all want to get better and better on defense. The more we pressure teams, the more they're going to turn over the ball.”
Turnovers were aplenty for the Blue Devils as the Trojans (15-6, 10-2) scored the first eight points of the night. Two of those came off a Howard steal.
“Zay did a nice job pressuring the ball,” Watkins said. “We were able to beat them on a couple of drives.”
Dotson hit a pair of treys while Johnson and Howard combined for 11 points to help make it 21-7 midway through the first half.
Six points from Karder Tway cut it to 21-10 before Turner finished on an 18-2 run to take a 39-12 lead into the locker room. Five different Trojans scored in the run with Johnson’s five providing the most.
“Any of us can go for 20 points on any given night,” Howard said. “Coming off the bench, I don’t think there's a big divot or a drop in the rotation.”
Dotson, who finished with a game-high 17 points and hit five 3-pointers, scored Turner’s first five points and Johnson and Howard both provided buckets as it upped its lead to 48-18.
“AJ has been shooting really well, so he has no reason not to be confident,” Howard said. “It’s consistent every time he lets it fly.”
The deficit was too big for the young Blue Devils to make a run at as Turner held on for the 24-point victory.
Teague-Johnson finished with 13 points while Howard added 12. James Njoo scored five while Elijah Terrell, T.J. Noack and Ethan Halon all added four for Turner. Harker Larsen paced Evansville with 13 points while Tway had 12.
While Watkins liked the big lead the Trojans built up by halftime, he added he needs to see more from his squad that seemed to be going through the motions for much of the second half and was outscored 32-29.
“I would have liked to see a little bit more energy,” he said. “We were out of position a couple of times and got whistled for fouls. I would feel a lot better about this if we put two good halves back to back. Championship teams don't coast, they slam the door when they get the opportunity.”
Turner will next play at Clinton before traveling to play Edgerton, who sits one-game ahead of the second-place Trojans in the conference standings.
“It’s one game at a time,” Howard said. “We’ll definitely be focused in practice and make each other better. All we gotta do is stay focused and disciplined.”
• BOXSCORE:
BELOIT TURNER 68, EVANSVILLE 44
Evansville 12 32 — 44
Turner 39 29 — 68
EVANSVILLE (fg ft-fta pts) — Tway 2 7-9 12, A. Wickersham 0 1-2 1, Karnes 1 2-5 4, Thies 1 0-0 3, M. Wickersham 2 0-1 5, Dahlsen 0 2-2 2, Burkhalter 0 2-2 2, Brown 1 0-2 2, Larsen 6 1-4 13. Totals: 13 15-27 44.
TURNER (fg ft-fta pts) — Howard 5 1-2 12, Terrell 2 0-0 4, Teague-Johnson 6 1-1 13, Johnson 2 0-1 4, Smith 1 1-3 3, Dotson 6 0-0 17, Erickson 0 0-2 0, Noack 2 0-0 4, Halon 1 2-4 4, Elliot 0 2-2 2, Njoo 2 0-0 5. Totals: 27 7-15 68.
3-pt Goals: Evansville 3 (Tway, Thies, M. Wickersham), BT 7 (Dotson 5, Howard, Njoo). Fouled out: none. Total fouls: Evansville 11, BT 20.
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