Beloit Turner boys basketball rolls rival Clinton

BELOIT—The Beloit Turner boys basketball team knew that a big matchup with first-place Edgerton was just on the horizon.

But the second-place Trojans also knew that they had some other important business to take care of first: extending its winning streak over longtime rival Clinton.

Turner upped its reign over the Cougars to 17-straight games with a 70-28 victory on Friday night.

“It’s a school that’s close by and it’s a rivalry game,” Turner head coach Ken Watkins said. “And we didn’t play a great second half (on Tuesday) against Evansville — we held that over their heads a little bit. Give the guys credit, they responded. Our energy was pretty good all night along.”

The Trojans will now turn their attention to Monday’s matchup against the Rock Valley Rock Division-leading Crimson Tide, who hold a one-game lead in the standings.

Senior Tyshawn Teague-Johnson said that the Trojans have embraced the “one game at a time” mentality.

“It’s best for us,” he added. “When we look ahead, we forget what's in front of us. We did that a little earlier in our season against Brodhead. We looked forward to the next game and didn't really consider thinking about that game, but that bit us on the butt.”

Turner fell 57-43 to the Cardinals as it lost three of its first four games to start the season. The Trojans (16-6, 11-2 RVR) have lost just three games since behind a tenacious defense and high-powered offense.

The dynamic frontcourt was on full display Friday as Teague-Johnson scored eight points to help Turner jump out to a 26-5 lead.

Clinton junior Reagan Flickinger hit two buckets as the Cougars made it 28-11 before Johnson added on another 11 points to give Turner a 45-13 advantage at halftime.

“The athletes that they have and what they can do off the ball and on the ball — they just outsize us and they get the ball down low,” Clinton head coach James Spry said. “The defense is tenacious, they sealed our guy and got those good looks. When you can dominate that close to the basket, it's a hard team to stop.”

Zay Howard, AJ Dotson and Teague-Johnson each buried shots for the Trojans out of halftime to quickly make it 52-17 in the second half, where both squads played a majority of the time with its reserves playing.

“That's really been our focus: to play inside out,” Watkins said. “We shoot a much higher percentage when the ball goes inside first and it gets kicked back out. Our guys were pretty committed to that.”

Turner scored 19 baskets from the paint as Teague-Johnson scored 23 points, including on a few high-flying dunks that got a full crowd on its feet, and Howard added 14. 11 different Trojans in total found the basket.

The Cougars (6-16, 3-10) piled up numerous turnovers early and struggled to get past Turner’s intense man-to-man defense. Flickinger scored 10 points and Jacob Schoonover added eight as Clinton went 0-for-6 on free throws and only hit a pair of treys.

Watkins credited Howard with locking down Flickinger, who is the top scorer in the conference at 23.8 points per game.

“Reagan was our focal point defensively,” Watkins said. “Zay is a guy who wants to guard the other team's best player. He really prides himself on being able to hold whoever his matchup is below his average.”

Clinton wraps up the regular season with road games against Evansville and Edgerton.

“We just went in there, we flushed all the toilets and said, 'This one's over. We're going to move on,’” Spry said. “We can't let this deter us with what we want to do and what we know we can do moving forward.”

And the Trojans will try to move into a tie for first in the conference with a win over Edgerton, who Turner beat 62-55.

“We’re playing for a conference title, and it’ll be pretty fun,” Teague-Johnson said. “It’s going to be a competitive one especially because we’re at their place. They’re great shooters, and I can’t wait for it.”

• BOXSCORE:

BELOIT TURNER 70, CLINTON 28

Clinton;15;13;--;28

Turner;45;25;--;70

CLINTON (fg ft-fta pts) – Schoonover 3 0-2 8, Atkinson 2 0-0 4, Arnold 0 0-1 0, Perez 1 0-0 2, Krummel 2 0-3 4, Flickinger 5 0-0 10. Totals: 13 0-6 28.

TURNER (fg ft-fta pts) – Howard 6 1-2 14, Terrell 0 0-2 0, Teague-Johnson 10 2-2 23, Amosa 2 2-2 6, Smith 0 2-2 2, Dotson 3 1-2 8, Erickson 1 0-0 3, Noack 0 0-1 0, Halon 1 1-2 4, Atkinson 1 0-1 2, Everson 0 1-2 1, Njoo 2 0-0 5, Fernandez 0 2-2 2. Totals: 26 16-18 70.

3-pt Goals: Clinton 2 (Schoonover 2), BT 7 (Dotson 2, Howard, Teague-Johnson, Erickson, Halon, Njoo). Fouled out: Clinton 17, BT 12.