DARLINGTON — Darlington boys’ basketball halted a 2-game losing streak with a 78-67 home win on Feb. 4 over Belleville.
“The Wildcats had a ton of fight, and didn’t make things easy on us,” Redbirds head coach Tom Uppena said. “They shot a lot of free throws in the second half, and we got in some foul trouble, but we held on and were able to close it out.”
The opening bucket came for Darlington (14-5) 13 seconds in as Broker Buschor rolled around the elbow with no Wildcat defenders in sight, and fired a shot from beyond the arc. A consecutive three along the baseline from Buschor set the Redbirds ahead 6-0 mere minutes into the contest.
Belleville finally got on the board as Gavan Jerome side-stepped to drain a shot beyond the arc.
The teams traded blows as the Wildcats clawed their way back into the matchup, with a Jackson Scholey three setting his squad ahead, 14-12 at the 12:30 mark. Belleville held a lead-or-tie almost exclusively over the next nine minutes. The only wrinkle in the Wildcats’ plans was a persistent host squad with Buschor’s hot hands sinking a three from pro range. Dante Glendenning cemented the lead on a two-for-two trip to the charity stripe.
Belleville didn’t give Darlington much space, staying within a couple scores most of the way to the break, but Taggart Gille had other plans for his team.
He had the ball in his hands for almost all of the closing 20 seconds of the first half. He attempted a layup, rebounded his own miss, rebounded his second attempt in the paint, then took the ball outside the arc to reset. Rather than passing with 7.9 seconds on the clock, he drove a final time to the hoop, putting a hook shot in for a 37-30 advantage.
The Redbirds came out of the lockers hot and ready to put the game away. They amassed as much as a 17-point advantage across the second frame, with the Wildcats only creeping within 10 points late.
No matter what Belleville did, it couldn’t seem to stop Buschor when he got his hands on the ball. He shot 75% from beyond the arc on a 27-point night with 11 assists netting the senior a double-double. It would’ve been a triple, but he was two rebounds shy of the mark.
Ryder Fitzsimons wasn’t terribly far behind with 19 points, and Zeke Zuberbuhler had 10 points.
“It was good to see the lid come off the hoop,” Uppena said. “We have shot well in a few games, and needed to see the ball go through the hoop. Broker got things going and kept them going. Ryder had a career night.”
The Wildcats had four ballplayers in double figures — Bryce Babler (19 pts), Sam Arndt (16 pts), Scholey (11 pts), and Evan Thomas (10 pts). Arndt led the pack in rebounds (9), steals (4) and assists (4). Scholey had five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Belleville 72, Wisconsin Heights 42
BELLEVILLE — The Wildcats used a dominating second half to score a victory on Monday, Feb. 3 against one of their Capitol South foes. Belleville went into halftime with a nine-point advantage, and out-scored the Vanguards 42-21 in the second half.
Babler led the way with 18 points, while Evan Thomas had 17 and Scholey eight.
