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Long shot gets Craig boys going

MADISON — Much like one of those age five-and-under jigsaw puzzles, the pieces just seemed to fall into place Saturday afternoon for Janesville Craig’s boys basketball team.

The pieces and the shots fell for Craig High, especially after Charlie Roherty made a half-court shot to end the first half. The banked-in three-pointer at the buzzer propelled a torrid-shooting second half for the Cougars, who rode the wave of momentum to the 79-58 over Madison West in a Big Eight Conference game.

Craig improved 3-2 in the conference and 4-2 overall as made 18 of 28 field-goal attempts in the second half, led by JoJo Pregont draining five of his seven shots for 14 of his game-high 25 points. Teammate Kyle Goike made six of his eight shots in the second half to finish with 16 points, helping the Cougars pull away from a 32-26 halftime lead.

It also helped the Cougars to get Cooper Cullen back after serving his five-game athletic code violation. The 6-6 senior returned to the starting lineup and pushed the lead to 60-37 on a steal and coast-to-coast lay-up

“This is more like the way we can play,” Craig coach Bob Suter said. “We’re getting stronger and stronger. I thought all along that come Christmas time that we could be a pretty good basketball team.”

West (2-4, 2-2) hung with the Cougars for most of the first half, but missed nine of its first 10 shots of the second half. Craig took advantage with an 11-2 run and never allowed the Regents back in contention.

“Roherty’s shot got us all pumped up,” Goike said. “We just came out in the third quarter and stuck it to them.”

Trailing 29-26, West had the ball and was working for the last shot of the first half. But John Harth’s three-point attempt from the wing came a few seconds early, which allowed Roherty time to get off his three-point attempt from just beyond half court and give Craig its six-point halftime lead.

Lucas Burns kept Craig in front in the first half with 11 of his 19 points. Michael Horton led the Regents with a 12-point game.

CRAIG 79, WEST 58

Craig (79)—Roherty, 1-1-4; Kennedy, 1-0-2; Cullen, 3-0-6; Kuehne, 0-2-2; Clanfield, 0-3-3; Goike, 8-0-16; Pregont, 9-7-25; Sims, 1-0-2; Burns, 7-3-19. Totals: 30-16-79.

West (58)—Athanas, 2-2-7; Johnson, 4-0-9; Gaines, 4-0-10; Horton, 4-0-12; collins, 2-1-5; Harth, 0-4-4; Hoerning, 1-4-6; Krohn, 1-0-2; Remington, 1-1-3. Ttla.ls 19-12-58.

Janesville Craig 14 18 19 28—79

Madison West 12 14 9 22—58

Three-point goals—Craig 3 (Burns 2, Roherty), West 8 (Horton 4, Gaines 2, Athanas, Johnson). Free throws missed—Craig 7, West 5. Total fouls—Craig 14, West 17.

Sophomores—West 80, Craig 47. Craig leading scorer: Cody Dare, 12.