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MarshfieldAreaSports.com
NEILLSVILLE – The Spencer boys basketball team won a big early-season Cloverbelt Conference East Division matchup Thursday night, knocking off Neillsville 48-43 on the road at Neillsville High School.
Spencer and Neillsville came into the game as two of the four teams tied atop the Cloverbelt East with 4-1 records, along with Marshfield Columbus Catholic and Owen-Withee. Columbus beat Granton and Owen-Withee toppled Gilman to remain tied with Spencer at 5-1. Neillsville moves into fourth place at 4-2.
Bobby Pilz scored 15 points and Ryan Busse added 12 for the Rockets (5-1 overall).
Spencer used an 11-2 second quarter to take a 26-15 lead at halftime. Neillsville stormed back to cut the Rockets’ lead to 32-30, but Spencer held on with a 16-13 advantage in the fourth.
Spencer held Neillsville to just 27.5 percent shooting (14 of 51) overall and 13 percent (3 of 23) from 3-point range.
The Rockets also made 13 of 15 free throws in the win.
Matt Grottke had 23 points and 14 rebounds for Neillsville (4-2 overall).
Spencer is now off until Jan. 3 when it plays at Gilman.
Rockets 48, Warriors 43
Spencer 15 11 6 16 – 48
Neillsville 13 2 15 13 – 43
SPENCER (48): Bobby Pilz 4-8 5-6 15, Ryan Busse 5-5 2-3 12, Jeremiah Cattanach 2-6 2-2 6, Cody Esser 3-4 0-0 6, Joe Meyers 0-8 4-4 4, Mitchell Susa 1-7 0-0 3, Spencer Susa 1-2 0-0 2, Miles Weber 0-2 0-0 0. FG: 16-42. FT: 13-15. 3-pointers: 3-9 (Pilz 2-3, M. Susa 1-3, Meyers 0-3). Rebounds: 21 (Meyers 5, S. Susa 5). Turnovers: 6. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: none. Record: 5-1 overall and Cloverbelt East.
NEILLSVILLE (43): Matt Grottke 8-14 7-11 23, Sam Neville 2-8 3-4 8, Michael Dux 1-11 0-0 3, Kyle Hauge 1-6 0-0 3, Jake Kunze 1-3 1-2 3, Ricky Nelson 1-2 0-0 2, Neal Matson 0-4 1-2 1, Devin Opelt 0-1 0-0 0, Donavon Harris 0-2 0-0 0. FG: 14-51. FT: 12-19. 3-pointers: 3-23 (Dux 1-10, Neville 1-3, Hauge 1-6, Nelson 0-1, Matson 0-1, Opelt 0-1, Harris 0-1). Rebounds: 28 (Grottke 14). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: none. Record: 4-2 overall and Cloverbelt East.