This story is sponsored by Total Electric
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield Columbus Catholic boys basketball team showed off its high-powered offense with a burst in the second half that left Auburndale reeling.
After falling behind by a point early in the second half, the Dons ripped off an 11-2 run and maintained a double-digit lead for much of the second half as they beat Auburndale 82-67 in a nonconference game Monday night at Columbus Catholic High School.
Matthias Gouin had a three-point play to spark the run that turned a 33-32 deficit into a 43-35 lead after a basket by Tyler Fuerlinger.
Hunter Schultz hit a pair of 3-pointers and Nick Malovhr added another to push the Dons’ lead to 54-42 and they led by at least 10 the rest of the way.
“We’re fortunate we have five or six kids that can really shoot,” Columbus Catholic coach Joe Konieczny said. “I thought Malovhr hit some big ones, Hunter hit a few in the second half, and we were able to create a few turnovers on our press which got us some easy ones and maybe some confidence.”
Both teams were efficient on offense, with Auburndale shooting 54 percent (25 of 46) and Columbus making 61 percent (27 of 44) of its shots from the field.
The difference in the game was the first 8 minutes of the second half, where Columbus made 11 of 12 shots, including 3 of 4 3-pointers.
Auburndale had chances to get back in the game late, but couldn’t hit a free throw. The Apaches were just 9 of 21 at the line in the second half after making all four of their attempts in the first half.
Fuerlinger finished with 22 points and made 7 of 10 free throws during the final 7 minutes. Schultz added 18, Malovrh had 17, including four 3-pointers, and Billy Young chipped in 11 points for Columbus Catholic (4-0).
Nicholas Steele had 21 points and Dylan Peplinski added 17 for Auburndale (1-1) as they accounted for more than half of the Apaches’ points.
The first half was tight throughout. Auburndale ran out to a 29-23 lead after a 9-0 run that included seven points from Steele.
The Dons responded with a 9-0 run of its own, seven coming from Young, and led 32-31 at halftime.
Columbus moved into a man-to-man defense to try to stop Steele from getting into the lane, and for the most part, it worked.
“We thought that we had the advantage from a skill standpoint,” Konieczny said of the defensive switch. “They are so well-coached. To try to do anything besides try to win your win with your players’ skill level, you’re not going to do it. We tried a 1-3-1 and a 2-3 in the first half and (Auburndale) Coach (Chad) Weinfurter had them getting layups against us. We went man-to-man and relied on the fact that maybe we had more experience and talent at certain spots.”
Columbus Catholic plays at Gilman on Thursday, while Auburndale is off until Dec. 15 when it hosts Stratford in its Marawood Conference South Division opener.
Dons 82, Apaches 67
Auburndale 31 36 – 67
Columbus Catholic 32 50 – 82
AUBURNDALE (67): Nicholas Steele 8-14 5-5 21, Luke Olsen 2-5 3-8 8, Logan Willfahrt 0-1 0-0 0, Caleb Weinfurter 2-8 1-2 6, Collin Hawkins 4-7 0-2 8, Christian Firnstahl 2-2 1-4 5, Dylan Peplinski 6-8 4-5 17, Logan Brown 1-1 0-0 2. FG: 25-46. FT: 14-26. 3-pointers: 3-12 (Olsen 1-2, Peplinski 1-2, Weinfurter 1-7, Steele 0-1). Rebounds: 24 (Hawkins 7). Turnovers: 23. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Hawkins, Firnstahl. Record: 1-1.
COLUMBUS CATHOLIC (82): Billy Young 5-7 1-1 11, Matthias Gouin 1-3 4-5 6, Nick Malovrh 5-8 3-4 17, Evan Nikolai 4-5 0-0 8, Hunter Schultz 6-13 4-4 18, Tyler Fuerlinger 6-8 9-12 22, Charles Payant 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 27-44. FT: 21-26. 3-pointers: 7-20 (Malovrh 4-7, Schultz 2-7, Fuerlinger 1-3, Gouin 0-2, Nikolai 0-1). Rebounds: 20 (Young 6). Turnovers: 18. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: Nikolai. Record: 4-0.