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Craig slips past West

JANESVILLE — All Craig High School coach Bob Suter’s fears were coming true Saturday as he watched his team “sleepwalk” through the first half en route to a 52-37 Big Eight boys basketball victory here Saturday.

While the Cougars stumbled to just 13 first half-points, Madison West was running up a nine point lead before Craig came back to cut the lead to seven, 23-16, at the half.

Suter said he did not want to play back-to-back games in the “dog days of January,” but the only alternative was Feb. 14 and West “was having a Valentine Day dance and some of the West players wanted to dance.”

Following Friday night’s loss at Beloit, Suter was concerned that his Cougars (6-6, 5-5) would not be ready for another Big Eight test in 24 hours.

“I don’t know if they were physically or just emotionally tired, but they were just sleepwalking out there in the first half,” Suter said. “It seemed as if it was all in slow motion.”

Suter was unable to watch after West’s James Horton hit three three-point goals in a row from the same spot on the floor, deep in the right corner. On three successive possessions West’s reserve point guard, 5-7 junior A.J. Irby, drove the lane. When the Cougars collapsed on him, he passed the ball to a wide-open Horton who canned the open shots.

After the third Horton long-range basket, Suter called time out. After the timeout, Horton was held to just three points the rest of the game, another long range three in the fourth quarter.

During the intermission Suter reviewed the basic, he said.

“We went to the ‘three,’ the basic (former Craig coach) Stan DuFrane three-player weave,” Suter said. “You run it right and the second cutter is always open.”

Craig opened the third quarter with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 23 on a Brad Cagney basket. The lead went back and forth until Fredricks scored at 1:23 to put Craig ahead for good, 31-29.

While Craig was getting higher percentage shots in the lane and changing up to a more pressing defense, West (3-9, 2-8) cooled off scoring just 14 points in the second half, seven in each quarter. Craig finished strong with Joe Kennedy scoring all his nine points in the final quarter when the Cougars put up 21.

Cagney led Craig scorers with 14. A.J. Fredricks added 10 and Kyle Goike contributed nine. West’s Horton led all scorers with 15.

Craig has another busy week ahead hosting Madison LaFollette on Tuesday and traveling to Madison on Saturday to take on Big Eight leader Memorial.

CRAIG 52, WEST 37

West (37)—Green, 1-0-2; Horton, 5-0-15; Jones, 1-0-3; Harth, 1-0-3; Jarvis, 5-1-11; Irby, 1-0-2; Golden, 0-1-1; Totals: 14-2-37.

Craig (52)—Cagney, 6-0-14; Kennedy, 4-0-9; Fredricks, 5-0-10. Goike, 2-4-9; Pregont, 2-2-6; Wright, 1-0-2; Armstrong, 1-0-2. Totals: 21-6-52.

Madison West 10 13 7 7—37

Janesville Craig 9 7 15 21—52

Three-point goals—West 7 (Horton 5, Jones, Hearth). Craig 4 (Cagney 2, Kennedy, Goike). Free throw missed—West 3, Craig 5. Total fouls—West 10, Craig 9.

Sophomores—Craig 56, West 50. Craig scoring leaders: Andy Kyle, 14; Nate Brault, 13; Myles Johnson, 12.

n Beloit 74, Parker 61—The Purple Knights overcame a rough night at the free throw line in holding off the Vikings in a Big Eight Conference clash.

Beloit (10-2, 8-2) moved within a half-game of front-running Madison Memorial with the win. The Purple Knights misfired on 24 of 45 free throw attempts, but held on thanks to 21 points from Terrel Parks.

“That was probably our best overall effort of the year,” Parker coach Ryan Masterson said. “Our guys battled hard but I think we just wore down at the end because of some injuries we’re battling, and a couple guys didn’t feel too good either.

“Beloit was real aggressively defensively, and that caused us some problem, but overall I was really proud of the way we played.”

Tyler Teubert had 17 points to lead the Vikings (0-12, 0-10), while Creed Knuston added 12.

Parker is at Madison Memorial on Tuesday night.

BELOIT 74, PARKER 61

Beloit (61)—Stone, 2-1-6; Lindsey, 0-2-2; Young, 3-1-7; Smith, 2-2-7; Fields, 0-1-1; Evans, 4-5-14; Tyler, 0-1-1; Parks, 8-5-21; Davis, 6-1-13. Totals: 25-21-74.

Parker (74)—Simonson, 1-4-6; Moe, 1-0-2; Thompson, 3-2-8; Teubert, 6-4-17; Huson, 1-2-5; Anderson, 1-1-3; C. Knutson, 6-0-12; Lehr, 3-2-8. Totals: 22-15-61.

Beloit Memorial 20 14 15 25—74

Janesville Parker 12 18 14 17—61

Three-point goals—Beloit 3 (Stone, Smith, Evans), Parker 2 (Husen, Teubuert). Free throws missed—Beloit 24, Parker 6. Total fouls—Beloit 20, Parker 24. Fouled out—Simonson, Thompson, Husen.

Sophomores—Beloit won.