By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield Columbus Catholic boys basketball team used a full-court pressure defense to spark a huge second-quarter run and went on to beat Spencer 41-32 Thursday in a battle of Cloverbelt Conference East Division leaders.
The Dons forced nine turnovers in the quarter and closed out the first half with a 14-0 run to take a 23-15 lead. Dodge Langreck’s 3-pointer to open the second half pushed Columbus’ lead to 26-15 and Spencer didn’t get closer than four points the rest of the way.
Langreck finished with 13 poitns and Travis Pischel added 12 points for Columbus, which takes over sole possession of first place in the Cloverbelt East with a 10-1 record (13-1 overall). Spencer falls to 9-2, 10-3 overall.
“We knew if we pressed them that they would wear down and they started to, and we got a quite a few turnovers right in the middle there that put us back on top,” Columbus junior Jared Boyle said.
After Langreck’s 3-pointer early in the third quarter, Spencer responded with seven straight points and forced four turnovers of its own. Spencer’s Ben Bonitz scored to cut Columbus’ lead to 26-22 before Pischel’s steal and layup put the Dons back up by six.
The Dons’ lead fluctuated between five and eight points throughout most of the fourth quarter until Spencer made one last run at the lead.
Bonitz and Tyler Kolstad (team-high 11 points) scored on back-to-back possessions for the Rockets, cutting the Dons’ lead to 36-32 with 2:20 left. However, Columbus scored the final five points of the game and forced three turnovers in the final minute to put it away.
“Early in the game we gave them a lot of second chances and kind of defeated ourselves,” Columbus coach Joe Konieczny said. “In the second quarter we held them to one shot. It helps when they go a little cold. We were just fortunate to beat a good team tonight.”
Spencer finished with 19 turnovers and were just 5 of 12 from the free-throw line, including just 2 of 7 in the fourth quarter when it could have cut further into Columbus’ advantage.
“I thought we did a real good job with them in the first quarter and lost our focus a little in the second quarter and we started playing at their tempo,” Spencer coach Randy Reckner said. “Columbus is a good team and it’s hard to match their quickness.
“I can’t blame our kids, they played their tails off. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot a little bit in the fourth quarter. We missed some free throws, I think we missed two or three bunnies that could have brought it to two or even, so we made our own mistakes.”
After a home loss last week to Colby, it was important for the Dons to get back on the winning track in front of a big home crowd.
“We love our fans, they’re basically our sixth man,” Boyle said. “I wouldn’t want to be the other team coming in here to play us.”
Dons 41, Rockets 32
Spencer 13 2 9 8 – 32
Columbus 8 15 5 13 – 41
SPENCER (32): Phil Ivacic 0-3 2-2 2, Steve Gilboy 4-9 0-2 8, Josh Weier 0-0 0-0 0, Ben Bonitz 2-5 0-2 4, Wyatt Phillips 0-2 0-0 0, Tyler Kolstad 5-12 0-1 11, Bryan Brodziski 1-5 2-2 4, Justin Cowell 1-3 1-3 3. FG: 13-39. FT: 5-12. 3-pointers: 1-9 (Kolstad 1-5, Ivacic 0-3, Phillips 0-1). Rebounds: 31 (Gilboy 11). Total fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 10-3, 9-2 Cloverbelt East.
COLUMBUS (41): Mike Iwanski 0-2 1-2 1, Dodge Langreck 4-10 2-2 13, Travis Pischel 5-9 0-0 12, David Green 0-2 1-2 1, Tyler Mancl 2-3 0-0 4, Jared Boyle 3-8 2-2 8, Paul Selz 0-2 0-0 0, Brandon Nikolai 0-2 0-0 0. FG: 14-38. FT: 6-8. 3-pointers: 7-18 (Langreck 3-6, Pischel 2-3, Mancl 2-3, Iwanski 0-2, Selz 0-2, Boyle 0-1, Green 0-1). Rebounds: 14 (Iwanski 3, Green 3). Total fouls: 18. Fouled out: none. Record: 13-1, 10-1 Cloverbelt East.
Video highlights at allmarshfield.com
Contact Paul Lecker by e-mail at paul@marshfieldareasports.com.
