By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield Columbus Catholic boys basketball team outscored Owen-Withee by 20 points over the middle two quarters to pull past the Blackhawks 62-43 in a Cloverbelt Conference East Division matchup Friday night at Columbus Catholic High School.

The Dons improve to 7-4 overall and 6-1 in the Cloverbelt East with the victory, setting up two key conference matchups next week. The Dons play Neillsville, which is tied for second place with Columbus, on Monday, before playing first-place Spencer next Thursday.

Columbus Catholic led 15-12 after the first quarter before outscoring Owen-Withee (6-3, 4-2 Cloverbelt East) 18-7 in the second quarter and 19-10 in the third to pull ahead by 23.

Evan Nikolai led the Dons with 22 points, Brett Loveland added 11 and Hunter Schultz had 10 for Columbus.

Dons 62, Blackhawks 43
Owen-Withee 12 7 10 14 – 43
Columbus Catholic 15 18 19 10 – 62
OWEN-WITHEE (43): Kolton Kaduce 6, Austin Milliren 11, Bryce Niemi 4, Hayden Houts 7, Preston Shelton 5, Adam Shakal 2, Will Maki 5, A.J. Oryn 3. Record: 6-3, 4-2 Cloverbelt East.
COLUMBUS CATHOLIC (62): Billy Young 7, Evan Nikolai 22, Hunter Schultz 10, Ben Behling 4, Tyler Fuerlinger 8, Brett Loveland 11. Record: 7-4, 6-1 Cloverbelt East.