How Belvidere snapped a 55-game NIC-10 boys basketball losing streak and what lies ahead
One.
Only one.
But a huge one.
Belvidere snapped a 55-game NIC-10 boys basketball losing streak Wednesday with a 77-66 win in Tuesday’s conference opener over an East team that was missing several key players after a post-game fight against East St. Louis on Saturday in the 205 Tip-Off Classic.
“It felt really good,” Belvidere coach Brian Koehne said. “Our kids, they needed that. They had worked so hard. It was time for them to get a win.”
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Although the Bucs were aided by East’s off-court problems, it was the end of a remarkable two days for Belvidere. The Bucs were 10-70 overall the previous three years and have been struggling in most sports. But they also pulled out a dramatic 45-41 victory over Richmond-Burton on Monday. In that game, the Bucs blew a 17 point lead and trailed by three points with two minutes left, before rallying to win.
Against East, it was the opposite. The Bucs (2-4, 1-1 after a loss to Boylan on Friday) were the ones who were down big, trailing by 15 points midway through the third quarter. Senior guard David Guerrero (16 points) and junior guard Jason Dean (14 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists) led the comeback.
“We’ve been fighting all year long,” Koehne said. “We have come back in every single one of our games. We have been down 18 multiple times and cut it down to 3 or tied it and come up short in the end. To be down 15 in the third quarter and come back to win was good for our guys.”
Against Richmond-Burton, it was Ryan Jensen who tied the game with a clutch basket. In both games, Belvidere then clinched the game by making pressure free throws.
Koehne said the Bucs had only nine turnovers against East — “by far our lowest number of the year” — and attacked the basket, shooting over 50 percent from inside the 3-point line.
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He said that is the formula that has Belvidere heading in the right direction.
“The future is a lot brighter for us,” the coach said. “We have some good young talent. The best thing is we won at all three levels against East, it wasn’t just at varsity. We return seven guys and out of those seven, six of them played a lot of minutes last year.
“Where we go from here, I don’t know how many wins and losses we will have, but think we will be competitive. A lot more competitive than we have been the last two years.”
Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City. Contact him at: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge; 815-987-1383.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: How Belvidere snapped 55-game NIC-10 losing streak; what lies ahead?
