BELOIT — Beloit Memorial’s Barkin Arena hasn’t rocked like this in quite a while, but then the Purple Knights haven’t fielded a team this capable in a decade.
Saturday night, it took every bit of skill and resolve for the hosts to knock off the tall and talented Madison Memorial Spartans, who fooled no one with their 13th seed and 12-13 record. After all, they finally had a healthy roster and had proved it by spanking No. 4 Muskego in Friday’s WIAA Division 1 regional semifinals.
That brought them to Beloit to face their old Big Eight rivals, and the Knights ultimately sent them packing 53-50.
“It feels like you’re on top of the world when you’re at home and everyone is cheering for you,” Beloit senior guard Diego Perez said. “It’s been a while since Beloit experienced something like this and in my senior year, this is my last ride so I am going to soak in the moment as much as I can.
“The fans were a huge part of this, giving us energy and giving us motivation. We didn’t want to let them down.”
The Knights certainly didn’t do that and in the face of some clear adversity.
Head coach Todd Marks’ biggest fear was realized early on when Beloit’s rim protector, 6-foot-5 Jyrell Cousins, was whistled for three fouls and had to come out of the lineup just 4 minutes and 35 seconds into the game. He sat the entire rest of the half and despite having a clear disadvantage inside, Beloit still held a 20-19 lead at the break.
“Losing Jyrell is always a huge problem, particularly when the other team’s center is a really good player,” Perez said.
The Spartans’ 6-7 Sam Mickelson fills that bill. The UW-Whitewater commit has good range and a nice shooting touch.
With Cousins unavailable, Beloit turned to 6-2 Kaleef Hobson-Thomas, who had played well in Friday’s win over Mukwonago despite nursing a recently sprained ankle.
“The ankle is getting better,” Hobson-Thomas said. “I did a lot of rehab on it and while the pain is still there, the adrenaline is pumping and I was ready to go. (The Spartans) are a tall team and we had to counter their height and their strength by just playing smart. I’ll give a taller guy a little room, but I’m going to be right there.”
The Knights (21-5) had no shortage of heroes. Amere Hereford led the way with 16 points, Cousins and Brock Hodges had 11 apiece, Perez chipped in 10 and James Ford five. They all played great defense.
“It came down to our mentality and our defense,” Hereford said. “We knew it was going to be a battle to score on them. Going into the second half we just wanted to stay strong, play our game and good things were going to happen. Jyrell is a big body and we wanted to use him wisely. He gave us a real spark at the start of the half.”
Hereford and Cousins combined for Beloit’s first 13 points of the second half as they took a 33-22 lead. But the Spartans cut it to 39-35 and worse, Cousins picked up his fourth and fifth fouls within six seconds of each other, fouling out with 7:19 left.
The Spartans tied the game at 39-39, but just as they had in Friday’s 74-60 win over Mukwonago, the Knights saved some of their best ball for down the stretch.
Ford put Beloit back on top 41-39 with two free throws with 6:16 remaining. The Knights stayed in front, but the biggest lead was only four points on numerous occasions. Hereford helped them stay there, hitting six straight free throws.
“I got off to sort of a slow start, but I kept my cool and tried to play my game,” Hereford said. “Down the stretch I was able to hit some free throws. I work on those every single day. A team shouldn’t foul me in the clutch because I’ll knock them down every single time.”
The Spartans were able to close within 52-50 with 16.9 seconds left in the game.
They fouled Hodges and he hit 1-of-2 free throws for a 53-50 lead.
“That was a big one by Brock,” Marks said. “He doesn’t hit that, we’re probably going to OT because they were just bullying us to the rim.”
Instead of that option, the Spartans had to use up most of the clock to get off a 3-pointer that missed. The rebound caromed out-of-bounds and the visitors were given the ball back with 0.6 seconds remaining. Two timeouts later they shot up an airball on a 3-pointer at the buzzer and the Beloit student section stormed the court.
“The crowd was jumping,” Hereford said. “I could barely hear. It was so loud with our student section, our fans and their fans. It was loud in general and we loved it.”
Marks was proud of his team.
“Our guys showed a lot of toughness, a lot of grittiness, a lot of resilience because that game was so intense,” he said. “Every possession mattered so much. It sounds cliche, but we weren’t playing to hold on. We were playing confident and aggressive and everybody made a play in some shape or form down the stretch. We found a way to win it.”
Beloit advances to play top-seeded Kettle Moraine, which edged No. 8 Oregon 78-72 on Saturday. Tipoff in the sectional semifinal at Oregon is at 7 p.m. Thursday.
The Knights haven't played in a sectional since an Andre Neal-led team beat Janesville Craig 71-62 for a regional crown in 2013-14. Beloit fell to Mukwonago 60-48 in a sectional semifinal that season.
In the other half of the bracket, No. 7 Craig plays No. 3 Sun Prairie West at Waunakee. The sectional final will be played at Craig on Saturday at 7 p.m.
• FRIDAY'S REGIONAL SEMIFINAL: A second-half surge carried the Knights to their 74-60 win over Mukwonago.
Cousins put Beloit on top 51-49 with two free throws. Perez buried a 3-pointer and then blocked a shot which caromed to Hereford to start a fastbreak he finished. A few seconds later, Cousins yanked down a defensive rebound and fired a pass to Perez who hit Hereford in stride for another layup and a 58-45 lead.
This time, 12-seeded Mukwonago (11-14) didn’t recover. The visitors were outscored 23-11 in the final eight minutes with 14 of Beloit’s points coming at the free-throw line. For the game, the Knights were 20-of-30 at the line.
Hereford with 28 points, Cousins had 15 point, Perez 14 and Hodges chipped in 11 to give the Knights a strong balanced scoring attack.
• BOXSCORES:
Saturday's game
BELOIT 53, MAD. MEMORIAL 50
Madison Memorial;19;31;--;50
Beloit Memorial;20;33;--;53
MADISON MEMORIAL (fg ft-fta pts) – Wischhoff 2 0-0 4, Rodriguez 2 1-2 7, C.Liggon 3 1-3 8, Taylor 0 0-2 0, Dykstra 3 0-0 6, E. Liggon 3 5-6 11, Mickelson 5 4-7 14. Totals: 18 11-20 50.
BELOIT MEMORIAL (fg ft-fta pts) – Hereford 4 8-10 16, Ford 1 2-2 5, Perez 3 2-4 10, Cousins 5 0-0 11, Hobson-Thomas 0 0-0 0, Hodges 3 2-4 11. Totals: 16 14-20 53.
3-pt. Goals: MM 3 (Rodriguez 2, C. Liggon), BM 7 (Hodges 3, Perez 2, Ford, Cousins). Fouled out: Cousins. Total fouls: MM 22, BM 18.
Friday's game
BELOIT 74, MUKWONAGO 60
Mukwonago;32;28;--;60
Beloit Memorial;30;44;--;74
MUKWONAGO (fg ft-fta pts) – Karrels 1 0-0 2, Greuel 2 0-1 6, Christian 0 0-2 0, Poling 8 2-4 19, Tess 3 1-1 7, Ploeckelman 1 0-0 2, Pollnow 4 6-7 16, Brunsch 0 0-1 0, Hayden 3 0-0 8. Totals: 21 9-15 60.
BELOIT MEMORIAL (fg ft-fta pts) – Hereford 10 7-9 28, Ford 0 1-4 1, Perez 4 5-6 14, Cousins 5 4-5 15, Hobson-Thomas 2 1-2 5, Hodges 4 2-4 11. Totals: 25 20-30 74.
3-point goals: M 8 (Greuel 2, Poling 2, Pollow 2, Hayden 2. BM 4 (Hereford, Perez, Cousins, Hodges). Fouled out: Tess, Greuel. Total fouls: M 22, BM 21.
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