Boys basketball takes out Delavan-Darien, 67-37
By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Lake Geneva Badger boys basketball team blitzed the Delavan-Darien Comets in the first half on Monday night in Delavan outscoring the Comets 36-6. The Comets played the Badgers evenly in the second half but could never seriously cut into the lead in a 67-37 Badger win.
The Comets played the Badgers tough on Dec. 7 trailing by just four at the half and losing 57-48. The rematch went much differently. Badger stopped the Comet offense cold in the first half with an aggressive man-to-man defense and pushed the ball on offense to get fast-break baskets before the Comets could get their usual zone defense set up, resulting in the 30-point halftime margin.
Grant DuMez led the Badgers with 15 first-half points. Kale Rodgers added 14. The two combined to score 29 of Badger’s 36 first-half points. The Comets got two baskets from Mateo Morales and one from Reese Crull in the last minute of the half.
Instead of rolling over and accepting defeat, the Comets came out with much more energy and fight to start the second half. Colin Terpstra made all three free throws after being fouled attempting a three-point shot and Crull made one of two free throws. Later Jay T Greenwald scored to give the Comets as many points in four minutes of the second half as they had the entire first half.
After being outscored by 30 in the first half, the Comets played the Badgers even in the second half at 31 points apiece. Badger did not get as many fast-break opportunities in the second half but did make nine three-point shots overall and led by as many as 37 points.
Rodgers led the Badgers with 20 points and DuMez finished with 19. Morales and Crull led the Comets (0-15, 0-10 Southern Lakes Conference) with eight points each.
The Badgers (4-11, 2-6 SLC) lost to Kenosha Tremper 71-59 at home on Feb. 2.
Tremper (6-11) led 37-30 at the half and won the second half 34-29. Rodgers led all scorers with 22 points. DuMez added 14 and Spencer Bishop had 11. Jyon Young led four Tremper players in double figures with 17. Trey Cardona added 16, Blake Hoffman had 11, and Jake Gross had ten.
The Badgers also lost to Elkhorn 80-39 at home on Feb. 1. The game was close at the half, but the Elks ending up pulling away with a strong second half.
Elkhorn led just 34-27 at the half but outscored the Badgers 46-12 in the second half. Elkhorn shot 48 percent from the field while holding the Badgers to 31 percent. The Badgers made seven of 19 three-point attempts. Elkhorn made eight of 23. The real difference was in turnovers. Badger turned it over 28 times leading to 26 Elkhorn points. Elkhorn turned it over 13 times leading to five Badger points. The Elks also outrebounded the Badgers 38-25.
Rodgers led the Badgers with 16 points. No one else had more than six. Nick Brown led Elkhorn (14-2, 8-1 SLC) with 13. Jordan Johnson and Vince Umnus each added 10.
