NEW GLARUS — The Knights are stuck in a head-scratching predicament. For the third straight game, New Glarus held a late lead, only to let it slip away. On Dec. 14, Platteville became the latest team to find late success against the Glarner Knights, winning 39-38.
“It’s kind of been the same story the last three games — we’ve had leads late and didn’t execute down the stretch, and the other team executed better,” New Glarus coach Travis Sysko said. “We’ve just had too many turnovers.”
The Knights led 38-34 with 3:14 left to play after a free throw from AC Strok. Both teams played intense defense and worked the ball around on offense. Platteville’s Jesse Martin fed a pass to Devin Digman in the post to pull the Hillmen within a bucket with 2:09 to play.
Platteville went to a full-court press, but New Glarus appeared to have beaten it — only from Strok to miss the layup on a fast break transition. With 53 seconds left, Wyatt Heer hit his only shot of the game — a 3-pointer — to give Platteville the come-from-behind victory. Heer attempted six shots in the game — all from 3-point range.
New Glarus had three more opportunities to regain the lead, but didn’t. Dain Walter’s desperation 3-point heave missed at the buzzer. Walter led the Knights with 18 points — 14 of which came in the first half. New Glarus led 25-24 at the midway point. Strok added seven points. The Knights were 4 of 8 from the charity stripe and didn’t hit a 3-pointer the entire night.
“Give Platteville credit — they hit a shot when they needed one,” Sysko said.
New Glarus travels to Monticello Dec. 23 for a nonconference game.
“We need to figure out what we’re going to do next week for Monticello. We need to figure out what we’re going to do in practice,” Sysko said. “The postseason is a long way away and we’re not even thinking about that. We are thinking about how we are going to get better before Christmas.”
DeForest 73, Monroe 64
DEFOREST — Fifth-ranked Monroe dropped a tough decision at third-ranked DeForest Dec. 13 in a game that could play a large role in 10 weeks’ time. Both Badger Conference teams are in the same sectional and could very well meet again in the postseason.
The game was tight throughout much of the first half. The Norskies led by a point after six and 11 minutes of play. By halftime, though, DeForest had stretched its lead to 39-32 — a run of 13-7 over the final 6:46 of the half.
In the second half, the Norskies (4-0, 3-0 Badger East) found a way to get well out ahead, taking a 16-point lead just minutes in, and holding onto the double-digit lead for much of the half.
Monroe’s JT Seagreaves had 21 points, 11 of which came in the second half.
Tim Fredrickson led DeForest with 19 points, while Max Weisbrod, a Northern Michigan recruit, finished with 18 — seven shy of his season average. Josh Jansen added eight points and 12 rebounds.
The Cheesemakers (4-1, 3-0 Badger West) were set to host Fort Atkinson (2-3, 1-2 BE) on Dec. 16, then travel to Oregon (5-1, 2-1 BW) Dec. 21. Over the holiday break, Monroe is scheduled to face Brodhead at the New Glarus Tournament on Dec. 27, and will face either New Glarus or Deerfield the next day.
Brodhead 75, Whitewater 52
BRODHEAD — Senior Owen Leifker scored 28 points, and freshman Cullen Walker added 22 as the Cardinals sprinted past the Whippets Dec. 14 in a Rock Valley Conference game.
Brodhead jumped out to a 40-21 lead by halftime. Josiah Engen finished with 11 points.
Leifker had 18 points in the first half, including three-straight 3-pointers. He’s now just 96 points from eclipsing the 1,000-point career mark. Leifker is averaging 22.2 points per game this season and has hit 46.2% of his 3-point attempts.
The Cardinals were 11 of 16 from the free throw line and connected on eight 3-pointers.
Benton 75, Albany 43
ALBANY — Benton’s Rex Blaine had a night to remember, finishing with a career-high 30 points on 12 of 14 shooting against the Comets Dec. 13. He hit all four of his free throw attempts, and was 2-for-2 from deep.
The Zephyrs committed just six turnovers. Nate Lawrence added 10 points.
In other area basketball action, on Dec. 14 Pecatonica lost to Boscobel 55-42 and Monticello was defeated by Wisconsin Heights 64-53. Darlington rescheduled its nonconference game with Black Hawk to Jan. 11.
