BELLEVILLE — The Highway 69 rivalry between Belleville and New Glarus just finished yet anther nail-biting chapter in its stories history. The boys basketball teams went to battle against each other Jan. 10, and it was New Glarus coming away with the narrow 56-53 victory in the Capitol South Conference opener for both squads.

Had the Knights not jumped out to a 20-point halftime lead, it maybe wouldn’t have ended the way it did. While Belleville scored the first five points of the game in 70 seconds time, New Glarus countered with an 11-0 run over the next 150 seconds. 

By the time halftime hit, the Glarner Knights had extended their advantage to 40-20 following a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Matt Roth, who cleared the space he needed with an ankle-breaking crossover.

 “You couldn’t script it much better than how we would have wanted it to go in the first half,” New Glarus head coach Travis Sysko said.

The Wildcats were taken out of their strengths almost immediate in the game, as 6-6 big man Brendan Pawloski was hit with two fouls in the game’s first three minutes. Head coach Drew Shrader toyed with the idea of bringing his main post presence back into the game, but instead opted against the idea.

“With the flow of the game, we just didn’t want to take that chance. We know how big of a presence he is for us both on the offensive end and the defensive end,” Shrader said. “Certainly, though, we are not as good of a team when he is not on the floor.”

 The late triple from Lake Belle View wasn’t the only shot Roth made from downtown, either. The junior sharpshooter had 13 points in the opening half, which included three 3s in all.

Breckyn Thompson had 10 points in the half for New Glarus, while Brent Weeden added six. The only Wildcat able to conjure up much scoring in the frame was Adam Cann, who hit a pair of 3s himself and eight total points.

“I thought they (New Glarus) had a great game plan and came out and executed very well. They were the most physical team, they rebounded better, and, ultimately, they executed their stuff better than we did,” Shrader said. “At halftime we just said, ‘Hey, look, we just need to be the aggressor. We can’t allow them to dictate everything we do. We have to be the aggressor offensively and defensively. That means attacking the rim, that means attacking the ball.’”

As the two teams re-entered the court for the second half, one side was loose and nonchalant, and the other appeared focused. So when the Wildcats scored the first six points, the Knights didn’t bat an eye. However, Belleville kept on plugging away, and from the 13:00 mark to 1:04, the Wildcats out-scored the Knights 25-5, bringing the scoreboard even at 53 with just 64 seconds left.

“We talked at halftime and knew it was going to be a grind. We knew they were going to give us everything they can to get back in it. Great job to those guys for doing just that,” Sysko said.

Sysko wanted his players to wind out the clock for the final shot so-as not to give the Wildcats a shot at a buzzer-beater. But as the clocked ticked under 30 seconds left, speedy sophomore guard Nolan Julseth saw an opening and attacked the rim. Not only did he make a layup with 25.5 seconds remaining, he drew the foul and made the free throw. Adding further to the dramatics, the foul was called on Belleville guard Jackson Scholey, his fourth of the night.

“We went a little sooner than I would have liked, but Nolan found a way to get to the hoop and get the and-one,” Sysko said. “We’ve been in some close games already this year, and the guys kept their composure and found a way to get it done at the end.”

After a scoreless trip down the court for Belleville, Scholey, his team’s main ball-handler, was forced to foul out in order to put Roth at the line with nine seconds left. Roth missed the bonus free throw, but Cann was unable to get a shot off thanks to airtight defense from Thompson.

“Scholey picking up his fifth was huge. We knew the next option as their three-shooter was Cann, and Breckyn wanted him. He faceguarded him and he never got a great look at it. Great job by Breckyn on that defensive stop,” Sysko said.

The Wildcats held Roth scoreless in the second half, but his 13 points paced his team. Thompson and Julseth each had 12 points, Weeden nine and Clayton Streiff eight.

Scholey and Cann led Belleville with 17 points each, and Pawloski chipped in another seven — all in the second half.

“Ultimately we just need to be more consistent. We just have to not dig ourselves in a hole. As a coaching staff, we’re going to take a hard look at that and how we get started in games,” Shrader said. “At the end of the day, if we are always clawing and fighting back, it makes our margin for error a lot smaller.