MILTON, Wis.—Sophomore Amare Hereford snatched a defensive rebound and dished out a fine-looking pass to teammate Diego Perez, who scored a transition bucket.
The score put Beloit Memorial in front 36-35 five minutes after halftime, and it was looking like the Purple Knights were ready to unleash some of that second half magic that had won them a regional championship.
But Kettle Moraine proved to be simply too much from the post.
The top-seeded Lasers answered with eight-straight points, six of those from the free-throw line, and despite several pushes from Beloit to overtake, it proved to be a permanent lead as the fifth-seeded Knights fell 71-64 in Thursday night’s WIAA Division 1 sectional semifinal.
“We knew it would be a battle,” Beloit head coach Todd Marks said. “There were a lot of times in that game where it could have gotten away from us, and our kids really continued to put themselves in a good position just because they battled so hard.
“You look back and certainly a play here, play there or a bounce of the ball and maybe it's a little bit different outcome. Our kids are hurting because we put ourselves in a position to win, and they expected to win.”
Beloit (21-6) had run away in the regional semifinals by outscoring Mukwonago 44-28 in the second half, and it had won a 53-50 battle with Madison Memorial with some clutch scoring after halftime to steadily stay ahead and win its first regional championship in 10 years.
After Kettle Moraine (24-3) went ahead 43-36 with the work from the charity stripe, Nathan Vuillaume and Will Stuckey each splashed 3-pointers to take a 10-point lead.
The Knights’ Hereford responded with a pair of three-point plays and Perez hit a trey to cut the deficit to 53-48.
Hereford and senior Kaleef-Hobson Thomas each scored from the paint and Cousins, who finished 5-for-7 from the line, hit two free throws to put Beloit behind by one.
“(Kettle Moraine) likes to switch a lot of ball screens,” Hereford said. “So either I'd throw the ball into the post to Jyrell, he can go score, or I would get the switch and attack the paint and draw a foul or attack with the drive and kick.”
Vuillaume, who had 17 of his 19 points after half, scored a layup but Perez answered with one of his own. Teig Kowalski produced a three-point play for the Lasers to make it a two-possession game.
A bucket from Hereford put Beloit behind 62-60 but Stuckey drilled a pair of free throws and, after the Knights forced a turnover but missed a pair of shots under the basket, Vuillaume hit another score at the rim to make it 66-60 with about a minute to go.
“Our rotations were just a little late on some of the digs that we worked on,” Marks said. “Part of that was because it was so loud out there. We were maybe just a step late and we were trying to dig it out of the post.
“But that's a credit to them, they've got guys who really take their time and have really good footwork. They don't really get sped up, they're strong and on balance.”
Ben Bestor scored a two-pointer and Stuckey scored three more points on free throws to ice it.
The physically dominant Lasers drew 17 fouls from the Knights and went 26-for-29 on their free-throw attempts.
“They had shooters, so we couldn't really double in the post,” Hereford said. “It was just one-on-one down there. But now we know our offseason work — we have to get in the gym and get stronger.”
Beloit opened with a 5-1 lead but the Lasers quickly made it 5-all. Kettle Moraine hit shots to also make it a tie game at 11 and 13 before taking a 27-19 lead after finding success in the paint and taking advantage of a cold stretch from the Knights’ offense, who had to adapt to the Lasers’ aggressive style.
Hereford hit a trey to make it 29-24 at halftime, and he finished with a team-high 24 points while going 5-for-5 from the line.
“Whenever we needed something, he got us a bucket and continued to battle,” Marks said. “And he's just getting started. He’s a real special player.”
Cousins easily finished with a double-double after scoring 22 points and snatching a ton of rebounds both offensively and defensively to keep the height-disadvantaged Knights in it.
“All year, he's just been a kid who just comes to work every day,” Marks said. “We really relied on him in this game and rode his shoulders. He really came up big.”
Stuckey finished with 28 points, 14-for-16 from the charity stripe, for the Lasers, who finished with just three total treys.
"Stuckey orchestrates the offense," Marks said. "He always gets the ball in the right spot and is always under control."
Kettle Moraine moves on to face seventh-seeded Janseville Craig, who upset No. 3 Sun Prairie West 74-71, in the sectional finals on Saturday night.
• BOXSCORE:
KETTLE MORAINE 71, BELOIT MEMORIAL 64
Beloit Memorial 24 40 — 64
Kettle Moraine 29 42 — 71
BELOIT MEMORIAL (fg ft-fta pts) — Hereford 8 5-5 24, Perez 3 2-2 9, Cousins 8 5-7 22, Hobson-Thomas 2 1-2 5, Hodges 1 1-3 4. Totals: 22 14-19 64.
KETTLE MORAINE (fg ft-fta pts) — Stuckey 6 14-16 28, Kosbiech 2 1-2 5, Vuillaume 6 6-6 19, Bestor 3 0-0 6, Kowalski 2 3-3 7, Thompson 2 2-2 6. 21 26-29 71.
3-pt. Goals: BM 6 (Hereford 3, Perez, Cousins, Hodges), KM 3 (Stuckey 2, Vuillaume). Fouled out: Hobson-Thomas. Total fouls: BM 19, KM 16.
Most Popular
Comments / 0