By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
The Elkhorn Area High School boys basketball team was outscored by five points in each half and lost 88-78 to Wilmot Jan. 29 at home in a Southern Lakes Conference basketball game.
The Elks won 57-49 Jan. 25 in a non-conference game at Big Foot High School in Walworth.
Elkhorn (6-10, 2-7 SLC) played a SLC game Tuesday at Burlington (6-8, 5-4 SLC) and plays a SLC game tonight at Badger (7-7, 6-3 SLC).
“It’s hard to give up 88 points and win,” Elks coach Josh Skatrud said of the game against Wilmot. “I give them a lot of credit, because they shot the ball really well.”
Skatrud said the Elks margin of error is simply too small to withstand stretches of poor play against any opponent.
“Our guys played really hard, so I was pleased with the effort,” Skatrud said.
The Panthers (6-9, 4-5 SLC) outscored the Elks 37-32 in the first half and 51-46 in the second half.
Elkhorn’s Alex Easterday finished with one of the more productive offensive nights in recent memory for the Elks.
“Alex Easterday had a big game with 37 points,” Skatrud said. “It’s been a long time since a player from Elkhorn has scored that much, and we scored 78 points, so offense wasn’t the issue.
“I wish we could have pulled it off, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
Easterday finished with 13 field goals, including two from 3-point range, and went nine of 15 from the foul line.
Dayne Fisher scored 18 for the Elks. Bobby Brenner scored 30 and was one of four Panthers in double figures.
Late turnovers against Big Foot (6-9) added extra drama to the Elks’ efforts to get a non-conference road victory.
“Things got a little chaotic in the last minute when we turned the ball over a couple times, but we were able to knock down enough free throws to seal the win,” Skatrud said. “I can’t claim the win was pretty, but we really needed it.”
The Elks led Big Foot 24-19 at halftime and outscored the Chiefs by three in the second half, 33-30.
Easterday led the Elks with 15 points. Fisher added 12. Michael Gorlaski led Big Foot with 18 points.
