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NEILLSVILLE – The Columbus Catholic boys basketball team overcame a six-point halftime deficit and defeated Neillsville 52-51 in a Cloverbelt Conference East Division game Thursday night at Neillsville High School.
The two teams came into the game as part of a four-way tie for the lead in the Cloverbelt East and with the victory the Dons left tied atop the standings with Owen-Withee at 6-2 as Loyal, the other team in the tie, fell by one point at home against Spencer.
Columbus Catholic plays at Owen-Withee on Tuesday.
Sam Dums scored inside with one minute left to put Columbus up 50-49. After both teams turned it over, the Dons were able to run a little clock before Mac Konieczny was fouled with 14 seconds remaining. He calmly nailed both free throws to up Columbus Catholic’s lead to three.
Instead of trying a tying 3-point attempt, Neillsville’s Landon Rakestraw drove the length of the court for a layup with six seconds to go. With the clock running, the Dons (10-6) were able to inbound the ball and dribble out the remaining time to clinch their fifth-straight win.
Ben Weiland led Columbus Catholic with 21 points and Konieczny added 17 in the victory.
Rakestraw had 16 points and Andrew Hoeser 15 for Neillsville (5-10, 5-3 Cloverbelt East).
Dons 52, Warriors 51
Columbus Catholic 19 33 – 52
Neillsville 25 26 – 51
COLUMBUS CATHOLIC (52): Mac Konieczny 17, Cade Jansen 0, Mason Edwards 0, Devlin Timmler 0, Ben Weiland 21, Jack Kohlbeck 0, Kaleb Hilgemann 5, Sam Dums 5, Carter Sommer 4. Record: 10-6, 6-2 Cloverbelt Conference East Division.
NEILLSVILLE (51): Landon Rakestraw 16, Andrew Hoeser 15, Zion Jones 11, Colter Dillenbeck 6, Cody Hart 3, Kaiden Strey 0, Micah Ziebell 0. Record: 5-10, 5-3 Cloverbelt Conference East Division.