SOUTH BELOIT—It’s not that the South Beloit boys basketball team is a stranger to lopsided contests, it’s just that it is used to being on the winning side of them.
But on Monday night, the SoBos were on the wrong end of a 71-47 rout at the hands of Galena’s dynamic offense and intense defense.
“It was just a royal kicking,” said assistant coach Mike Miller, who has been filling in as head coach after Matt Stucky took an indefinite leave as his wife Melissa battles cancer. “We’ve been fortunate to give them and tonight we had to take one.”
The Pirates are well-coached with Matt Wienen at the helm and Jerry Petitgoue, who became the winningest coach in Wisconsin prep history while guiding Cuba City for 52 years, on the staff as an assistant.
“Galena is a really good defensive team,” junior Ross Robertson said. “We just got out-toughed tonight. It’s in our heads — all mental stuff. They worked way harder than us tonight.”
The Pirates (18-10) jumped out to a 10-2 lead as they made it known they could hit shots from the perimeter, with Kaden Hauber starting the game with a pair of treys, and pound it inside, with two-pointers from Drew Keonigs and Myles Schumacher.
The SoBos (19-6) fought back with threes from Coltan Porter and TreyMon Payton-Ruff and buckets at the rim from Robertson, Trudane Peterson and Desmond Hampton helping cut Galena’s lead to 15-12 after the first.
But the Pirates outscored South Beloit 20-10 in the second quarter with Hauber, who finished with a game-high 25 points, accounting for 11 of those points with the help of three treys.
“They have (Connor) Glasgow, who became their all-time career scorer tonight, and (Hauber) adds another shooter and passer,” Miller said. “They play pass and cut better than almost anybody we’ve faced. And they passed and cut us to death. It led to every wide open shot.”
Another reason for the 35-22 deficit at halftime was the SoBos’ frequent turnovers. Galena tipped and intercepted passes, knocked the ball out as South Beloit tried driving in the paint or just flat out snatched the rock.
“They really packed the paint,” said Robertson. “They like to reach down and stuff the ball. They stripped us a lot and went the other way to score off fastbreaks.”
Robertson scored 10 of his 18 points after halftime, but the SoBos were unable to sustain enough momentum to stack up scoring possession.
“We were just a step behind defensively from the tip,” Miller said. “It seemed like they were one step ahead of us on every action. We looked like a tired team. Every loose ball, every chance for a 50-50 rebound, went their way.”
South Beloit couldn’t cut into the deficit and trailed 53-38 after the third. The Pirates scored 18 points to the SoBos’ nine in the fourth to ice the game.
Payton-Ruff finished with 10 points for South Beloit while Glasgow ended with 15 and Keonigs scored 12 for Galena.
“We’ve been on an NBA schedule with two four-game weeks,” Miller said. “We finally get an off day tomorrow and I think they need it. Hopefully, we’ll get our legs back.”
South Beloit will be back in action as it plays in the Northeastern Athletic Conference tournament hosted at Schaumburg Christian on Saturday. After winning the regular season title, Robertson agreed the SoBos are eager to grab a second crown.
“We’re gonna bounce back,” he added. “We’ll get back after it and get back in our grind and the way we normally play. And we should be all good.”
• BOXSCORE:
GALENA 71, SOUTH BELOIT 47
Galena 15 20 18 18 — 71
S. Beloit 12 10 16 9 — 47
GALENA (fg ft-fta pts) — Glasgow 6 2-2 15, Hauber 9 2-3 25, Kevern 1 0-0 3, Romer 2 0-0 5, Keonigs 6 0-1 12, Schumacher 2 0-0 4, Hefel 3 0-0 7. Totals: 29 4-6 71.
S. BELOIT (fg ft-fta pts) — Robertson 7 4-4 18, Porter 2 0-0 6, Des. Hampton 2 0-0 4, Dar. Hampton 1 0-0 3, Payton-Ruff 4 0-0 10, Peterson 3 0-0 6. Totals: 19 4-4 47.
3-pt. Goals: Galena 9 (Hauber 5, Glasgow, Kevern, Romer, Hefel), SB 5 (Porter 2, Payton-Ruff 2, Dar. Hampton). Fouled out: none. Total fouls: Galena 5, SB 11.
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