Boys Basketball: Josh Beetham, Yorkville hold off East Dubuque in Chuck Dayton opener

DEKALB – Yorkville may have surprised East Dubuque with its speed and athleticism in the first half of Thursday’s first round game in the 92nd Chuck Dayton Holiday Classic.

Then the Warriors nearly stunned the Foxes with their long-range shooting in the second half.

But the Foxes held on, withstanding a second-half rally for a gritty 61-56 victory.

Yorkville (7-4) advances to Friday’s second-round game against Guilford (6-2) at 6 p.m.

“This was a very difficult matchup for us,” Foxes coach Mike Dunn said. “They’re extremely well coached and fundamentally sound. We had a couple tapes on them, but not a whole lot. They’re not as athletic as the teams we see, but very fundamentally sound.”

East Dubuque (6-1) may just be a small school of a little over 200 kids, but coach Eric Miller has enjoyed fantastic success with a 97-10 record in the past four seasons. The Warriors gave the Foxes everything they could handle.

“As a 1A school it took us a couple of quarters to figure out where we were,” Miller said. “It’s not so much fundamentals or basketball skills, but the speed is different. The athletes are a little better, a little bigger, stronger and quicker and it took us a little too long to adjust. I don’t think their speed and strength as a bigger school bothered as much in the second half.”

After leading 31-17 at halftime, the Foxes took their biggest lead of the game on an easy lay-in from Josh Beetham with 4:40 left in the third quarter. All his teammates on the floor were involved in the ball movement, before Beetham pretty much laid it in uncontested.

“I think that’s really important with what we’ve been doing well this year,” Foxes junior Ryan Shimp said. “We like to get everyone involved. We don’t really look at it as starters and bench, it’s everyone helping each other out.”

That could’ve been the breaking point for the Warriors, but they wouldn’t go away, knocking down 8-of-12 three-pointers in the second half.The Foxes enjoyed a 25-16 rebounding edge, but committed 22 turnovers to East Dubuque’s 21.

“We were gambling too much in the second half, leaving shooters wide open and they hit their shots,” Dunn said. “And we have to do a better job than we did on turnovers. If we don’t turn over the ball it’s not as close, at least I don’t think it is.”

The Foxes saw their lead cut to 53-50 with 3:08 left, but Jack Marker and Jack Fisher each made a pair of free throws and Brandon Ducoing scored on a pair of drives to keep the Warriors from getting any closer.

“We didn’t handle the ball too well, but when it came down to it, they were in foul trouble and we knocked down free throws,” Fisher said.“They kept chipping away, but we kept our lead and made the free throws.”

While the Warriors were drilling three-pointers, the Foxes countered with Beetham in the post, as the 6-foot-6 senior made all six of his shots, scoring all but one of his 13 points in the second half to lead the Foxes.

“When we get the ball down to Josh good things happen,” Dunn said. “I’m proud of our kids. We found ways. We know we have to be better at taking care of the ball, but (East Dubuque) is a good team. They’ll beat a couple teams here. No doubt about it.”

Marker added 11 points, Fisher had 10, Shimp chipped in with nine and Ducoing had eight points, six assists and four steals. Beetham also grabbed seven rebounds.