The Belleville boys basketball team hosted the Wisconsin Heights Vanguards on Tuesday, January 26th.

Coach Jarod Wichser said, "We looked really good in the first half against Wisconsin Heights.  Anytime you shoot 6 for 6 behind the three-point line in a half, things are going to look good.  We really seem to get a big boost when our first few shots go in.  It gives us a lot of confidence and I think that's exactly what happened Tuesday.  Heights is always a scrappy team that's well coached so we wanted to execute well from the beginning and for the most part I think we did that."

Belleville was ahead by 14 points at the half, 32-18.

"We knew they'd make a run in the second half - which they did.  Fortunately we had guys step up and make some plays to weather the storm," said Wichser.

Belleville held on to their lead and won the game, 63-50.

Sophomores Brock Kelly and Drew Shrader led the Wildcats with 19 points and 18 points respectively.  Daniel Meier added in 10.  

Leading the Vanguards in scoring for the night was Camden Parman with 20 points. Tylan Parman and Tony Caminiti each chipped in 11 points.

The team headed to New Glarus on Friday night.

Wichser commented, "Friday was a pretty frustrating night for us, to say the least.  You have to tip your hats and give credit to New Glarus though.  They executed better than we did and that includes knocking down shots.  We had some really good looks in the first half that we weren't able to finish and against a good team like New Glarus that's going to have a major effect on the outcome."

By half-time, the Wildcats were trailing by 11 to the Knights.

Wichser continued, "For about a six-minute stretch in the second half, I thought we finally executed like we were capable of.  We communicated well defensively and forced them to take some tough perimeter shots while keeping them off the glass.  Offensively we attacked the rim with confidence during that stretch.  But, as we all know, the halves aren't six minutes long and we need to become more consistent from an execution standpoint."

Travis Sysko, head coach for New Glarus, said, "I was really proud of how our boys played tonight. It was a tough, physical game and we were able to take care of the ball and answer some runs that Belleville made with runs of our own."

The final score of the game was New Glarus 62, Belleville 38.

Drew Shrader led the Wildcats with 11 points. Brock Kelly added 7 and Reese DeNure contributed 4 points.

Jaden Kreklow scored 13 points for the Knights. Austin Schlueter put 12 on the board, and Gavin Binger chipped in 10.

On February 1st, Belleville hosted River Valley and on the 4th they host Waterloo.