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Purple Knights score 113 points in season-opening win
BELOIT — The odds were going to be stacked against Milwaukee Pulaski High School regardless on Wednesday evening at Johnny Watts Court at Barkin Arena.
But when the team suited up only five varsity players against Beloit Memorial, the game was over before it even began.
The Purple Knights ran a 90-minute clinic against the out-manned Rams, wreaking havoc with their press, sharing the ball and getting easy basket after easy basket on the way to a 113-31 victory in the season opener.
The brilliance of Amare Hereford, playing in his final season opener of his fantastic career, was well on display per usual. He eased his way through the Pulaski defenders time and again, showed off his range with four three-pointers, and headed to the bench with 10 minutes left in the game with the smoothest 39 points you’ll see.
Meanwhile, he had plenty of help. JJ Martin was terrific distributing the ball and finished with 17 points, and Brock Hodges had 13. Tayvon Cates came off the bench to score 10, including a rim-rattling dunk that gave the Knights their 99th point and brought the partisan crowd to their feet.
They scored their 101st point with eight minutes to play and the running clock in full effect.
Beloit Memorial head coach Todd Marks said he was pleased with the effort level despite the odd circumstances.
“First of all, I want to make sure and give a lot of credit to those five guys on the other side,” Marks said. “That’s not an easy thing to do, to play a team like we play and never get a break. But they never gave up and kept playing hard, and I’ve got a lot of respect for that.
“I was happy for the most part with what we did. We shared the ball and got out in transition, and those were things we wanted to do. Defensively we were good in spurts. I thought there were times where we let the scoreboard dictate how hard we guarded the ball, but for the most part I was pleased with that end, too.”
Hereford said he told his teammates before the game to appreciate the moment.
“I told the guys, especially the seniors, to not take tonight for granted,” Hereford said. “You’ll never get this high school experience again. We’re 0-0 and we wanted to try to go out, play hard and make a statement. I think we were able to do that.”
After some kind words for the backcourt foursome of Hereford, Hodges, Martin and James Ford, Marks said others made an impact as well.
“I thought Treyvion Jordan came in and gave us some really good energy,” Marks said. “And Treyvon Cates and Braylon Huebbe did some really good things. Little things like getting offensive rebounds, being willing to guard, being willing to start the break. Those are the little things we need to compete.”
