EDGERTON, Wis.—Beloit Turner boys basketball head coach Ken Watkins’ voice was pretty hoarse after an exciting WIAA Division 3 regional semifinal showdown with rival Edgerton that took overtime to decide a winner.
Watkins better get on hydrating because the fifth-seeded Trojans will be playing for a regional championship on Saturday night after it advanced with a 64-58 victory over the fourth-seeded Crimson Tide on Friday.
It was Turner’s third win of the season over Edgerton, which shared the Rock Valley Rock Division crown with the Trojans after both finished 13-2.
It was also Turner’s seventh-straight year knocking the Crimson Tide out of the playoffs.
“It matches up like this every year,” Trojans’ senior Tyshawn Teague-Johnson said. “So, we just wanted to keep our tradition going of beating them.”
“That could have gone either way,” Watkins said “It was right down to the wire. When we got down ten it was looking a little grim, but our guys never hung their heads.”
The 10-point deficit Watkins refers to came with 10 minutes left in the second half after Leyton McKillips scored four points as part of a 8-0 run to put the Crimson Tide (18-7) up 43-33.
“Their ability to move the ball (makes Edgerton’s offense tough to defend),” sophomore guard James Njoo said. “They have a really good team chemistry and know when to hit each other. They know how to get open shots.”
Njoo’s trey stopped the surge and five points from Teague-Johnson helped cut it to 45-41.
After Edgerton’s Vinny Fox drew a defensive foul following a rebound, he clapped in the face of Carter Fernandez prompting a technical foul. Senior Zay Howard sank both of the ensuing free throws and Njoo hit another 3-pointer to give Turner (20-6) a 46-45 advantage.
Njoo finished with 12 points on four treys.
“I was just confident with my shot,” Njoo said. “Zay was being the playmaker he is — he can find me whenever I’m open. He gets me right in my shot.”
The Crimson Tide’s Preston Schaffner hit a basket to tie it back up at 47 but Howard and Teague-Johnson responded with a pair of 2-pointers. Buckets from Cole Langer and McKillips tied it back up at 51.
“Both teams threw haymakers left and right at each other,” Edgerton head coach Daryl Fox said. “I've got so much respect for coach Watkins, he's hard to beat. Our guys battled.”
Njoo hit yet another key 3-pointer with under two minutes left to give Turner a three-point lead, and Howard contested a shot from Olin Zellmer to give the Trojans a chance to build up its advantage.
But Teague-Johnson missed a free throw and after the Crimson Tide missed a 3-point try, Zellmer put up a trey attempt from the right wing. It missed, but Howard had fouled him.
With all zeros showing on the clock and a ravenous visiting Turner crowd’s jeers filling the gym, Zellmer sank all three of his shots from the charity stripe to force overtime.
“Give Zellmer credit on that,” Watkins said. “Those are three really, really high-pressure free throws. Our guys could have hung their heads and felt sorry for themselves, but there was none of that.”
Instead, the Trojans came into the extra period energized. After winning the opening tip, Teague-Johnson went and scored from the paint. Howard stole the ball on the ensuing possession and hit a layup to give the Trojans a 58-54 lead just 40 seconds into overtime.
“It was the senior leadership,” said Watkins about the hot start. “We got that bucket right away with Tyshawn and Zay called that play. He was the one who suggested it in the huddle. A two possession cushion, it doesn't lock and seal the thing, but it allows us to breathe a little easier.”
With how Edgerton was playing, no lead was big enough. Even after senior Elijah Terrell’s layup made it a six-point lead, McKillips hit two shots from the free-throw line and the Crimson Tide forced a turnover and grabbed a slew of offensive rebounds until Zellmer scored to cut it to 60-58.
“No one gave up,” coach Fox said. “We're good enough offensively that if we can put a few stops together, we'll make some baskets. Turner does make it really difficult to score, they have length and athleticism. We just had to keep working.”
But the Trojans went 4-for-4 on free throws and Teague-Johnson snatched the rebound on each of Edgerton’s next two missed shots to seal the win.
“I’m proud of this team, we all fought through adversity,” Teague-Johnson said. “It’s hard, but we all have hope and trust in each other. It’s amazing how we can do that.”
The 6-foot-5 senior scored 27 points and snatched 17 boards.
“My coach said I need to get in the paint,” Teague-Johnson said. “So I took myself down there and started using anger to fuel my mentality in grabbing rebounds.”
McKillips paced a balanced Edgerton squad with 15 points while Zellmer was next with 14 and Vinny Fox ended with 11.
Turner had jumped out to a 10-1 lead before Edgerton surged ahead to make it 17-13. Howard scored eight of his 14 total points in the first half to help the Trojans keep pace with the hot-shooting Crimson Tide, who held a 30-24 advantage at intermission.
Teague-Johnson scored seven points out of halftime to help Turner trail 35-33 before Edgerton upped the lead to 10 points.
Turner will play at top-seeded Lakeside Lutheran (23-2), a state semifinalist last season, on Saturday at 7 p.m. to try and capture a second-straight regional championship.
“Lakeside has good size and good guards,” Watkins said. “They play really well as a team and play excellent defense. They're a team that graduated a lot last year and they're right back in this position again, so that speaks very highly of them.”
• BOXSCORE:
BELOIT TURNER 64, EDGERTON 58
Turner;24;30;10;--;64
Edgerton;30;24;4;--;58
TURNER (fg ft-fta pts) – Howard 3 8-9 14, Terrell 2 1-3 5, Teague-Johnson 10 5-10 27, Amosa 2 0-0 4, Njoo 4 0-0 12, Fernandez 1 0-0 2. Totals: 22 14-22 64.
EDGERTON (fg ft-fta pts) – V. Fox 5 0-0 11, Zellmer 4 7-8 14, Schaffner 4 0-0 10, Langer 4 0-0 10, McKillips 5 4-5 15, J. Fox 2 0-1 4. Totals: 21 11-15 58.
3-pt Goals: BT 6 (Njoo 4, Teague-Johnson 2), Edg 5 (Schaffner 2, V. Fox, Zellmer, McKillips). Fouled out: V. Fox. Total fouls: BT 15, Edg 18.
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