Against the wind
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| Polo junior Scott Scholl gathers himself for a shot in front of teammate Jake Dollmeyer on Thursday at Polo. (Chris Padgett/cpadgett@svnmail.com) |
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POLO – The Polo boys basketball team ran into a buzz saw Thursday night.
Make that several buzz saws, and they were wearing South Beloit uniforms. Polo saw a nine-point lead turn into a 14-point deficit in less than five minutes during the second quarter and never recovered in an 87-70 NUIC East loss.
South Beloit’s relentless defense and torrid 3-point shooting keyed a 23-0 blitz that turned the SoBos’ 31-22 deficit with 6:39 left in the quarter into a 45-31 lead with 1:52 left.
Polo (2-4, 0-2) was not able to pull within single digits again.
“We knew South Beloit could do that to us,” Marcos coach Matt Messer said. “In the first quarter we came out focused. We stuck with our plan and it showed.
“But all year our problem has been one bad quarter. Tonight, it was the second quarter. That doomed us. We got a little tired. Credit South Beloit and their tenacious style of play.”
The SoBos (4-1, 1-0) rode the trio of Katonka Friar, Terrel Williams and Denzel Woods, as they combined for 73 points and 14 3-pointers.
Woods poured in a game-high 30, Williams tossed in 23 and Friar 20. Williams had six 3s, while Friar and Woods each drained four.
South Beloit scored eight points in 19 seconds as it bolted to an 8-2 lead. But Polo responded with six quick points to pull even.
The Marcos handled the pressure in the opening quarter, getting 10 points from Connor Lincoln (who finished with a team-high 15) and taking a 25-20 lead after a frenetic period.
After scoring the last five points of the first quarter, Polo opened the second quarter with a 6-2 spurt to build its nine-point advantage.
The Marcos’ 11-2 tear to end the first quarter and start the second included a 3-pointer by Lincoln, a bucket by Scott Scholl (9 points), a fast-break basket by Dagin Buck (10 points), an inside hoop by Garrett Scholl (14 points), and a field goal by Jake Dollmeyer (8 points, all in the first half).
“Our philosophy is that we want to be better conditioned and play a complete game,” South Beloit coach Mat Parker said. “We feel like at some point their players are going to get tired.
“In the second quarter some of their shots were getting short. We were able to transition and get layups, and we were knocking down some 3s. You could really tell that they were winded at that point in the game.”
