This story is sponsored by: American Family Insurance – Randy LeMoine Agency, LLC
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
SPENCER – When the Marshfield Columbus Catholic boys basketball team is playing on both ends of the court the way it did Friday night against Spencer, it’s hard to believe anybody can beat them.
The Dons turned to a half-court trapping defense 5 minutes into the game to spark a huge run and cruised to an 87-41 victory over Spencer in a Cloverbelt Conference East Division game at Spencer High School.
Columbus put together a 36-7 run during a 6-minute span to bust open the game. During the stretch, the Dons made 12 of 14 shots from the field and forced 12 turnovers to turn a 7-4 lead into a 43-11 advantage.
“Spencer seemed like they were trying to be really patient offensively, so we half-court trapped and I thought that sped the game up and it kind of snowballed from there,” Columbus Catholic coach Joe Konieczny said.
Spencer is returning just one starter from last season and its inexperience showed as the Rockets’ guards struggled to get the ball through the Dons’ trap, which began with Tyler Fuerlinger and Hunter Schultz squeezing the point guard at half-court.
“They have a ton of experience and we have a ton of inexperience,” Spencer coach Randy Reckner said. “The pace they want to play it, we can’t play at that pace. That press fed into that and we panicked. It was a good learning game.”
Schultz was again the catalyst for the Dons (4-0 overall, 2-0 Cloverbelt East), pouring in 33 points on 12 of 16 shooting. He made 7 of 9 from 3-point range. Fuerlinger added 23 points in the win. Columbus finished a sizzling 63 percent (30-for-48) overall and was even better from 3-point range, making 13 of 20.
“Hunter and Tyler, Ryan Dieringer, when you have four or five guys that can knock down a 3 in rhythm, and they’re all doing it at the same time, it’s pretty fun to be a part of and to witness,” Konieczny said. “I thought we played extremely well. Spencer didn’t probably have its best game, but when we shoot the ball like that, with the experience that we have back, it’s very tough on anybody.”
Columbus put up an astronomical 59 points in the first half to push its lead to 34 points.
The Dons started the second half a perfect 7 of 7 from the floor, making all six of their 3-pointers. Schultz hit three shots from long range as the Dons outscored Spencer 20-8 during the first 6:09 of the half before pulling their starters.
Jack Bezlyk led Spencer (1-1 overall and Cloverbelt East) with 14 points and six rebounds. Noah Zastrow added 12 points.
Columbus will play at Auburndale in a nonconference game Tuesday, while the Rockets look to regroup Monday at Pittsville.
“We’re going to go through growing pains, there’s no doubt about it,” Reckner said. “They’re a great group of kids to work with, they want to learn. Things like this might happen, especially against a team like Columbus. They are extremely good.”
Dons 87, Rockets 41
Columbus Catholic 59 28 – 87
Spencer 25 16 – 41
COLUMBUS CATHOLIC (87): Jarred Mandel 3-6 3-3 9, Charles Payant 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Dieringer 3-3 0-0 8, Peyton Nystrom 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Olson 0-0 0-0 0, Nick Malovrh 2-3 0-1 5, Bryce Fuerlinger 1-2 0-0 2, Hunter Schultz 12-16 2-2 33, Nick Hutchison 0-0 0-0 0, Noah Taylor 1-3 0-0 2, Ethan Meece 1-1 2-2 4, Tyler Fuerlinger 7-13 6-8 23, Noah Hansen 0-1 1-2 1, Karak Bushman 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 30-48. FT: 14-18. 3-pointers: 13-20 (Schultz 7-9, Fuerlinger 3-6, Dieringer 2-2, Malovrh 1-1, Mandel 0-2). Rebounds: 27 (Payant 6). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: none. Record: 4-0, 2-0 Cloverbelt Conference East Division
SPENCER (41): Noah Zastrow 4-10 4-5 12, Lukas Ellefson 0-2 0-1 0, Austin Bacon 1-2 0-0 3, Jack Bezlyk 5-13 3-4 14, Jacob Miller 1-5 2-4 4, Collin Nieman 0-2 0-0 0, Nate Karau 2-3 2-2 6, Josh Rudolph 0-1 0-0 0, Jordan Veigl 0-1 0-0 0, Vladimir Rivera 1-2 0-0 2. FG: 14-41. FT: 11-16. 3-pointers: 2-12 (Bacon 1-1, Bezlyk 1-6, Zastrow 0-2, Nieman 0-2, Ellefson 0-1). Rebounds: 20 (Bezlyk 6). Turnovers: 20. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 1-1 overall and Cloverbelt East.