Turnovers cost Falcons in home loss to Elkhorn

By Dan Truttschel, Sports Correspondent

Turnovers at inopportune times came back to haunt the Westosha Central boys basketball team in its only game last week.

And, unfortunately for the Falcons, they were just too much to overcome.

Visiting Elkhorn outscored the Falcons 16-11 in a key third-quarter stretch en route to a 50-46 Southern Lakes Conference victory. The loss dropped Central to 6-12 overall and 4-6 in the SLC heading into a road game Tuesday night at Badger.

Results of that matchup were unavailable by press time.

Central held a six-point lead with four minutes left in the game but couldn’t hang on.

“Ultimately, we turned the ball over three of our last four possessions again,” Central coach Dave Sjong said. “They banked a three that put us down four, and that was about it.”

The first half was tight throughout, as the Falcons jumped to an 18-15 lead – and the difference between those two quarters and the last two weren’t difficult to see, Sjong said.

“We took care of the ball, and I think we played pretty good man-to-man defense,” he said. “In the second half, we may have gotten a little tired, but more importantly, we turned the ball over.”

Elkhorn used a man-to-man defense but also had its focus squarely on Central’s top scorer, Dalton Sjong, from the opening tip, his father said.

And that forced other Falcons to step up their game.

“At all times, there were two or three guys around Dalton,” Dave Sjong said. “(That) forced other guys to make shots.

“We didn’t get enough shots. We only had 35 shots in the entire game, and that’s just not good. Unfortunately for us, it’s the same thing it’s been, we turned the ball over in crunch time.”

Jason Castona led the Falcons with 11 points, followed by Mike Michelau and Sjong with nine and Tyler Stoxen with eight.

Following the Badger game, the Falcons will host rival Wilmot Friday night. Central beat the Panthers earlier this year.

And as always, whenever those two teams match up, the atmosphere will be an exciting one, Sjong said.

“It will be a fun week,” he said. “Badger will be a good game for us, and the Wilmot-Westosha game is always a great game for everybody.”

 


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