By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
NEKOOSA – The Marshfield Columbus Catholic boys basketball team found itself down 14 points with 5 minutes left in Monday’s nonconference game, but like all good teams, the Dons weren’t going to give up. Unfortunately for the Dons, they had dug themselves too big of a hole.
Columbus made three straight 3-pointers and closed to within one point late, but ultimately its rally fell short and the Dons lost for just the second time this season, falling 58-57 to Nekoosa at Nekoosa High School.
Derek Baker hit a basket and a 3-pointer to give the Papermakers (5-11) a 51-37 lead with 5 minutes remaining. Then the Dons found their shooting strokes and used relentless defensive pressure to get back in the game.
Travis Pischel hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Dodge Langreck hit another to spark an 11-0 run that brought Columbus (15-2) to within three points with 2:19 to go. Columbus forced turnovers on three straight Nekoosa possessions during the burst.
Nekoosa helped keep the Dons alive down the stretch, making only 4 of 9 free throws and following Tyler Mancl’s 3-pointer with 16 seconds left, Columbus had closed to within 56-55.
Two free throws by Kyle Severson with 13 seconds left gave Nekoosa a three-point lead and the Dons had one final shot at tying it, but Mancl missed a 3-pointer from the top of the key and Langreck rebounded and made a basket at the buzzer to provide the final margin.
Baker had 24 points and seven rebounds to lead Nekoosa, which used an 11-2 run to close the first half to take a 30-22 lead. The Papermakers maintained their lead in the third as the beat up the Dons on the boards. Nekoosa outrebounded Columbus 32-19 and had 13 second-chance points.
“We gave them a lot of chances and didn’t go a good job figuring out how physical we were going to need to play,” Columbus coach Joe Konieczny said. “By time we decided to be phyiscal and do some things better, it was just too late.”
Pischel had 14 points, including four 3-pointers, and Langreck and Jared Boyle each added 12 points for Columbus, which will look to rebound Thursday when it plays at Rib Lake in a nonconference game.
“Obviously there are a lot of things we can take away from this,” Konieczny said. “I thought we got a little to individualized at times, didn’t make the extra pass, and we have to be more physcial when the game is being called like that.”
Papermakers 58, Dons 57
Columbus 11 11 9 26 – 57
Nekoosa 17 13 11 17 – 58
COLUMBUS (57): Mike Iwanski 1-5 2-2 4, Dodge Langreck 5-11 1-2 12, Travis Pischel 5-11 0-0 14, David Green 1-7 3-4 5, Tyler Mancl 3-6 0-0 7, Jared Boyle 5-11 2-4 12, Paul Selz 1-5 0-0 3, Brandon Nikolai 0-1 0-0 0. FG: 21-58. FT: 8-12. 3-pointers: 7-25 (Pischel 4-7, Langreck 1-5, Mancl 1-4, Selz 1-4, Boyle 0-3, Green 0-1, Nikolai 0-1). Rebounds: 19 (Green 5). Total fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Turnovers: 5. Record: 15-2.
NEKOOSA (58): Michael Peterson 0-1 0-0 0, Dylan Ferkey 0-1 0-0 0, Kyle Severson 4-7 3-4 13, Derek Baker 7-15 6-9 24, Jacob Peterson 1-4 0-0 2, Tanner Lieber 3-3 0-0 6, Colton Oltesvig 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Stephens 0-0 0-0 0, Derek Martinson 6-10 1-3 13. FG: 21-40. FT: 10-16. 3-pointers: 6-12 (Baker 4-6, Severson 2-3, Ferkey 0-1, Peterson 0-1, Martinson 0-1). Rebounds: 32 (Martinson 9, Baker 7). Total fouls: 12. Fouled out: none. Turnovers: 20. Record: 5-11.
