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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Marshfield Columbus Catholic’s top scorer Jared Fleischmann had a rare cold shooting night so the Dons had to find their offense from someone else.
Junior Jacob Puent stepped up. The 6-foot-4 center scored 20 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead Columbus to its fifth-straight win, a 46-43 defeat of Spencer in a Cloverbelt Conference East Division boys basketball game Thursday night at Columbus Catholic High School.
Fleischmann scored 17 points, but was just 6 of 20 from the field, and it was Puent who stepped up with 12 second-half points to lead the charge back for the Dons, who trailed most of the first half.
Columbus pulled out to a 9-5 lead before the Rockets charged ahead, scoring 10 of the final 11 points in the first quarter and led 15-10 after one.
Spencer pushed its lead to 23-16 on a basket by Miles Weber and two free throws from Jeremiah Cattanach – then the Rockets’ fortune changed.
Spencer didn’t score over the final 4:01 of the half and a three-point play by Puent with 5.4 seconds left brought the Dons to within 23-21 at halftime.
“We have been much better lately defensively,” Columbus Catholic coach Joe Konieczny said. “Jake Puent stayed on his feet and got some nice blocks because he wasn’t jumping all over the place, and as a team, I thought we rebounded pretty well.”
Spencer scored the first five points of the third quarter on a basket by Weber and a 3-point from Bobby Pilz, but again went cold and this time the Dons fully took advantage.
Columbus went on a 10-0 run over 5:05 to take a 31-28 lead. After a 3-pointer by Cattanach tied the game, Puent scored inside to give the Dons a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.
Puent scored six points in the fourth quarter to keep the Rockets at bay. Spencer came within three points on three occasions over the final 2:30 but couldn’t get any closer.
Spencer’s Mitchell Susa hit a 3-pointer with 9 seconds left to make it 46-43. Fleischmann was able to elude the Rockets’ defense for 6 seconds before being fouled with 2.7 seconds left. He missed a free throw, but Spencer couldn’t only get off a ¾-court shot at the buzzer that came up well short.
“We played hard,” Spencer coach Randy Reckner said. “I guess if we’ve had one struggle, we haven’t been very consistent. We’re getting there. It was a great effort by the team.”
Columbus Catholic improve to 10-4 overall and 7-4 in the Cloverbelt East. After starting the season 1-2, the Dons have seemed to find their stride.
“We’ve won our last five and we’ve got some wins against some teams that beat us the first time through,” Konieczny said. “Our conference is really balanced and I think we’re going to have a lot of these games where it’s a two- to eight-point game. We’ve been fortunate to win some of those where we lost the first time around.”
Columbus hosts Loyal and Spencer will play at undefeated Augusta in Cloverbelt East action next Tuesday.
Dons 46, Rockets 43
Spencer 15 8 8 12 – 43
Columbus 10 11 12 13 – 46
SPENCER (43): Jeremiah Cattanach 4-10 2-2 11, Joe Meyers 0-2 0-0 0, Calvin Lenz 0-4 0-0 0, Bobby Pilz 3-7 0-0 9, Miles Weber 4-8 0-2 8, Cody Esser 3-4 1-3 7, Spencer Susa 0-1 0-0 0, Mitchell Susa 1-8 5-5 8, Nate Mercier 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 15-44. FT: 8-12. 3-pointers: 5-17 (Pilz 3-7, Cattanach 1-1, M. Susa 1-6, Meyers 0-1, Lenz 0-2). Rebounds: 31 (Weber 8, Esser 8). Turnovers: 21. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: Esser. Record: 4-8, 4-7 Cloverbelt East.
COLUMBUS (46): Alex Baierl 1-5 2-2 5, Bryce DeSmet 0-2 0-0 0, Jared Fleischmann 6-20 5-6 17, Derrick Green 2-3 0-0 4, Sam Studinger 0-0 0-0 0, Christian Payant 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Larson 0-3 0-0 0, Jacob Puent 7-13 6-8 20. FG: 16-46. FT: 13-16. 3-pointers: 1-14 (Baierl 1-4, Fleischmann 0-6, Larson 0-3, DeSmet 0-1). Rebounds: 25 (Puent 15). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: none. Record: 10-4, 7-4 Cloverbelt East.