Dons come back from 12-point deficit in home finale

By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

MARSHFIELD — Spencer’s zone defense gave the Marshfield Columbus Catholic boys basketball team fits for the first eight minutes, but once the Dons figured things out, they were able to settle in and return to their normal fast-paced attack.

After falling behind 16-4, Columbus used runs of 11-0 in the first half and 17-2 in the second half to blow past Spencer 68-47 in the two teams’ Cloverbelt Conference East Division finale on Monday night at Columbus Catholic High School.

The Dons finish off their conference title with a perfect 16-0 record (19-2 overall) while Spencer ends up 10-6 and drops to 14-7 overall.

Columbus Catholic missed its first 13 shots over the first 7:15 as Spencer built a 9-0 lead.

A 3-pointer from Aaron Pankratz and baskets by Calvin Lenz and Bobby Pilz stretched the Rockets’ lead to 16-4 midway through the half.

“Obviously, when you miss your first 13 shots, it’s borderline panic,” Columbus Catholic coach Joe Konieczny said. “Give their defense credit. I thought they made us settle for some long ones.”

The Dons, in turn, cranked up their defensive pressure and used an 11-0 run to get back in the game.

Columbus forced turnovers on seven of the next 11 possessions and tied the game at 18-18 on a basket by Evan Nikolai.

Spencer’s Bobby Pilz drives past Columbus Catholic’s Tyler Fuerlinger, left, and Evan Nikolai during the second half of the Rockets’ loss at Columbus Catholic High School on Monday.

“We knew their pressure would start coming, we knew it would be an extended zone, and we just didn’t get ourselves in good spots and didn’t take care of the ball,” Spencer coach Randy Reckner said. “It’s a credit to their pressure, but really we didn’t take care of the ball.”

The game remained tight for the next 15 minutes of game time. Columbus led 26-25 at halftime, and Spencer got as close as six after a Jack Bezlyk basket with 5:23 to go, but from there it was all Dons.

Columbus scored 17 of the final 19 points as Spencer missed its final five field goal attempts and turned the ball over four times.

A three-point play by Tyler Fuerlinger, who scored a game-high 25 points, and a pair of steals and layups by Nikolai and Matthias Gouin highlighted the run for Columbus.

“In the second half, we kind of tried to get our defense going playing some more half-court trap and got a few easy ones that seemed to kind of lift the lid off (the basket) a little bit,” Konieczny said. “We tried to stay confident and said (shooting) percentages will even out.”

Pilz had a team-high 23 points for Spencer while the rest of the Rockets combined for just 10 of 31 shooting and 24 points.

Spencer will host a Cloverbelt Conference East-West crossover game against a team to be announced on Thursday. Columbus will play in the first-place game of the crossovers against Eau Claire Regis on Saturday afternoon at Neillsville.

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

Dons 68, Rockets 47

Spencer 25 22 – 47

Columbus Catholic 26 42 – 68

SPENCER (47): Jonny Tomke 0-3 0-0 0, Noah Zastrow 2-8 1-3 5, Calvin Lenz 3-7 0-0 6, Bobby Pilz 8-18 5-6 23, Aaron Pankratz 1-2 0-0 3, Jack Bezlyk 2-6 2-2 6, Ryan Busse 2-5 0-0 4. FG: 18-49. FT: 8-11. 3-pointers: 3-13 (Pilz 2-7, Pankratz 1-1, Tomke 0-1, Zastrow 0-1, Busse 0-1, Lenz 0-2). Rebounds: 31 (Pilz 6). Turnovers: 21. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: none. Record: 14-7, 10-6 Cloverbelt East.

COLUMBUS CATHOLIC (68): Billy Young 0-1 1-2 1, Matthias Gouin 2-4 0-0 5, Nick Malovrh 4-10 0-0 11, Evan Nikolai 8-13 0-0 16, Hunter Schultz 0-9 2-2 2, Tyler Fuerlinger 10-18 3-4 25, Noah Hansen 0-0 0-0 0, Brett Loveland 4-6 0-0 8, Charles Payant 0-2 0-0 0, Peyton Nystrom 0-0 0-0 0, Noah Taylor 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Olson 0-1 0-0 0, Jarred Mandel 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 28-64. FT: 6-8. 3-pointers: 6-27 (Malovrh 3-9, Fuerlinger 2-5, Gouin 1-3, Schultz 0-7, Payant 0-2, Loveland 0-1, Nikolai 0-1). Rebounds: 33 (Fuerlinger 9). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 19-2, 16-0 Cloverbelt East.