Dons still perfect in Cloverbelt East

By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

MARSHFIELD — As it has shown throughout this season, when the Marshfield Columbus Catholic boys get things rolling, there is not much the opponent can do to stop them.

The Dons rolled out to a 55-point first half and cruised to a 101-61 victory over Colby in a Cloverbelt Conference East Division game Tuesday night at Columbus Catholic High School.

Hunter Schultz scored 24 points, Tyler Fuerlinger added 20, and Evan Nikolai had 19 for Columbus, which is now 15-1 overall and still perfect at 12-0 in the Cloverbelt East. The 101 points tieda season-high for the Dons and marked the second time they eclipsed the century mark for points.

Colby drops to 5-12 and 5-7 in the conference.

“Offensively, we were very good,” Columbus Catholic coach Joe Konieczny said. “Defensively, I thought we were sloppy at times, but for the most part we were unselfish and did what we had to do to get a win.”

The Dons scored from all over the court as five different players combined for nine 3-pointers, and when the long-range shot was not there, they were able to drive inside for easy baskets.

After building a 55-34 lead by halftime, Columbus kept up the pressure to put the game away early in the second half.

The Dons used a 15-0 run after Colby closed to within 18 to build a 73-42 lead with 13 ½ minutes to go.

Nikolai hit a 3-pointer, and Schultz had two baskets in the run. Three minutes later the Dons cleared their bench and gave a number of young players a chance to earn valuable varsity minutes.

“It’s really nice to have games like that where you can get younger kids 10 minutes of varsity experience,” Konieczny said. “They work hard in practice, so for them to get a full 10 minutes, I’m happy for them.”

Eric Jorgenson and Trey Rau each had 12 points for the Hornets.

Columbus Catholic is at Granton on Thursday.

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

Dons 101, Hornets 61

Colby 34 27 – 61

Columbus Catholic 55 46 – 101

COLBY (61): Tony Ortega 2 3-5 8, Ty Raatz 1 0-0 3, Mathew Karl 3 0-0 8, Nate Meyer 0 2-2 2, Trey Rau 4 4-4 12, Nolan Derrico 2 0-0 6, Jared Seemann 1 1-2 3, Mario Bonilla 1 0-0 2, Wyatt Dawson 2 1-2 5, Eric Jorgenson 5 2-2 12. FG: 21. FT: 14-17. 3-pointers: 6 (Derrico 2, Karl 2, Raatz 1, Ortega 1). Record: 5-12, 5-7 Cloverbelt East.

COLUMBUS CATHOLIC (101): Billy Young 3 0-0 6, Matthias Gouin 4 0-0 10, Nick Malovrh 2 0-0 4, Evan Nikolai 7 2-4 19, Hunter Schultz 10 2-4 25, Tyler Fuerlinger 9 1-1 20, Noah Hansen 2 2-2 6, Brett Loveland 3 0-0 7, Karak Bushman 1 0-0 2, Nick Hutchison 1 0-0 2, Charles Payant 0 0-0 0, Peyton Nystrom 0 0-0 0, Calvin Brown 0 0-0 0, Matt Olsen 0 0-0 0. FG: 42. FT: 7-11. 3-pointers: 9 (Nikolai 3, Schultz 2, Gouin 2, Fuerlinger 1, Loveland 1). Record: 15-1, 12-0 Cloverbelt East.