By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

COLBY — Colby outscored Marshfield Columbus Catholic by four points in the fourth quarter to pull out a tight 54-51 victory over the Dons in a Cloverbelt Conference East Division boys basketball game Tuesday night at Colby High School.

The Dons trailed 28-24 at halftime before coming back to take a 34-33 lead heading in the fourth.

However, Columbus could not hold on, surrendering 21 points over the final eight minutes.

Colby improves to 5-11 overall and 5-7 in the Cloverbelt East, while Columbus drops into a second-place tie with Neillsville at 9-3 in the conference (10-6 overall).

Tyler Fuerlinger had 15 points, and Evan Nikolai added 12 for the Dons.

Ryan Lynn topped the Hornets with 14 points.

Columbus Catholic’s next game is Saturday in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Dons play Maple Grove Heritage Christian at 11 a.m. Saturday as part of Wisconsin vs. Minnesota Border Battle at Cretin-Derham Hall High School.

(Hub City Times Sports Reporter Paul Lecker is also the publisher of MarshfieldAreaSports.com.)

Hornets 54, Dons 51

Columbus Catholic 17 7 10 17 – 51

Colby 16 12 5 21 – 54

COLUMBUS CATHOLIC (51): Billy Young 3, Christian Payant 6, Ben Behling 7, Ryan Dieringer 0, Evan Nikolai 12, Hunter Schultz 6, Matthias Gouin 0, Tyler Fuerlinger 15, Brett Loveland 2. Record: 10-6, 9-3 Cloverbelt Conference East Division.

COLBY (54): Trey Rau 5, Ty Raatz 7, Zach Meyer 4, Ryan Lynn 14, Nolan Derrico 8, Jared Seeman 13, Brandon Riegart 3. Record: 5-11, 5-7 Cloverbelt East.