This story is sponsored by Norm E Lane Farm
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
SPENCER – Travis Pischel and Paul Selz scored 11 points each to lead the Marshfield Columbus Catholic boys basketball team to a hard-fought 44-38 win over Spencer in a Cloverbelt Conference East Division game on Tuesday night at Spencer High School.
After a 12-12 first quarter, the Dons won each of the final three quarters, but never by more than three points as the game was close the entire way.
Columbus won for the 10th time in its last 11 games to improve to 12-4 and 11-2 in the Cloverbelt East, staying within one-half game of first-place Colby, which beat Greenwood on Tuesday.
The Rockets had their four-game winning streak snapped and fall to 7-8 and 6-7 in the conference.
Wyatt Phillips led Spencer with 12 points and six rebounds.
Neither team shot well in the defensive battle. Columbus was 15 of 44 (34.1 percent), while Spencer was 15 of 42 (35.7 percent). The difference came at the free-throw line. The Dons were 9 of 10 while Spencer was just 3 of 6.
Columbus hosts Augusta and Spencer plays at Granton on Friday.
Dons 44, Rockets 38
Columbus 12 13 10 9 – 44
Spencer 12 10 9 7 – 38
COLUMBUS (44): Travis Pischel 4-11 2-2 11, Paul Selz 3-10 3-4 11, Brandon Nikolai 2-4 2-2 6, Jared Boyle 2-8 0-0 5, Mike Iwanski 1-4 2-2 4, David Cleveland 2-3 0-0 4, Tyler Derfus 1-4 0-0 3. FG: 15-44. FT: 9-10. 3-pointers: 5-22 (Selz 2-5, Boyle 1-3, Derfus 1-4, Pischel 1-7, Nikolai 0-1, Iwanski 0-1, Cleveland 0-1). Rebounds: 28 (Boyle 5, Iwanski 5). Assists: 7 (Nikolai 2). Turnovers: 12. Total fouls: 12. Fouled out: none. Record: 12-4, 11-2 Cloverbelt East.
SPENCER (38): Wyatt Phillips 5-11 0-0 12, Phillip Ivacic 3-10 2-3 10, Steven Gilboy 3-8 1-1 7, Luke Kromanaker 2-5 0-1 4, Jordan Buss 1-3 0-0 3, Hunter Reckner 1-2 0-0 2, Sam Cattanach 0-3 0-1 0, Ryan Krause 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 15-42. FT: 3-6. 3-pointers: 5-20 (Phillips 2-5, Ivacic 2-7, Buss 1-2, Gilboy 0-3, Kromanaker 0-3). Rebounds: 23 (Phillips 6, Ivacic 6). Assists: 8 (Four with two). Turnovers: 14. Total fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Record: 7-8, 6-7 Cloverbelt East.