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MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield Columbus Catholic boys basketball team opened the WIAA playoffs with a dominating 71-33 victory over Rib Lake in a Division 5 regional quarterfinal on Tuesday night at Columbus Catholic High School.
Tyler Derfus scored 17 points, Jared Fleischmann added 13 and Mike Iwanski had 11 for the Dons, who improve to 18-5. Rib Lake ends its season at 1-19.
Columbus led 24-9 after the first quarter and 44-18 by halftime.
Third-seeded Columbus hosts No. 6 Greenwood (13-10) in a regional semifinal on Friday. The winner plays the winner of the No. 7 Bruce-No. 2 Clayton game at the higher seed on Saturday in a regional final.
Columbus defeated Greenwood both times the teams matched up in Cloverbelt East play this season. The Dons won 45-35 at Greenwood on Jan. 12 and 68-51 just last Monday at home in their final conference game of the year.
Dons 71, Redmen 33
Rib Lake 9 9 5 10 – 33
Columbus 24 20 14 13 – 71
RIB LAKE (33): Quentinn Edelburg 4, Jordan Cardey 4, Joe Frombach 4, Zack Iverson 7, Ben Edelburg 10, Ryne Gerstberger 2, Colter Weinke 2. Record: 1-19.
COLUMBUS (71): Brandon Nikolai 2, Mike Iwanski 11, Jared Fleischmann 13, Derrick Green 4, Zach Strobel 6, Tyler Derfus 17, Alex Baierl 2, Bryce DeSmet 2, Alex Larson 5, Malcolm Pittsley 2, Jacob Puent 7. Record: 18-5.