Schultz pours in 36 points for Dons

By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

MARSHFIELD — In an instant, the Marshfield Columbus Catholic boys basketball team turned a tight game into a blowout.

Trailing 10-7 four minutes into the game, the Dons called a timeout and responded with a 17-0 run over the next 5:37 and cruised from there, beating Colby 89-51 in the opening Cloverbelt Conference East Division game for both teams Tuesday night at Columbus Catholic High School.

Columbus Catholic is now 3-0 overall after winning the Cranberry Classic at Wisconsin Rapids Assumption last weekend. Colby drops to 0-2.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Nate Meyer and Mathew Karl put Colby on top 10-7 before the Dons turned up the pace.

Hunter Schultz started the big run with a basket, and that was followed by a 3-pointer from Ryan Dieringer.

Dieringer added another 3, and Schultz finished the run with a steal and layup that put Columbus up 24-10. The Dons led by double-digits the rest of the way.

“Ryan Dieringer in the first half hit two or three outside shots that really got us going,” Columbus Catholic coach Joe Konieczny said. “His attitude and ability to get us going, as a leader, he was fantastic.”

Columbus pushed the lead to 45-21 by halftime and started the second half with a 16-6 run to take its advantage to 34.

Schultz was able to get to the basket as well as shoot well from the outside, finishing with 36 points and nine rebounds to lead Columbus. He was 13 of 24 overall from the field, including 4 of 10 from 3-point range.

Tyler Fuerlinger added 19 points and seven rebounds for the Dons, who had 11 different players in the scoring column.

The Dons shot nearly 50 percent from the field (33 of 67) and were an efficient 17 of 24 at the free throw line.

“Some individuals didn’t have their best, but we’re very deep and have multiple guys that can score,” Konieczny said. “I thought Hunter played well tonight. He was fantastic as far shooting the ball. When everybody else maybe didn’t have their outside shots, he was knocking down shots.”

Columbus Catholic plays at Spencer in a conference matchup on Friday.

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

Dons 89, Hornets 51

Colby 21 30 – 51

Columbus Catholic 45 44 – 89

COLBY (51): Tony Ortega 1-5 1-1 3, Mathew Karl 5-16 2-5 15, Nate Meyer 3-9 2-4 10, Sawyer Stuttgen 0-4 3-6 3, Lucas Bruesewitz 0-0 0-0 0, Reece Kellnhofer 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Schmitt 1-3 0-0 3, Alex Garcia 0-2 0-0 0, Cullen Meacham 3-7 1-2 7, Sam Krause 0-1 0-0 0, Wyatt Dawson 5-9 0-1 10. FG: 18-56. FT: 9-19. 3-pointers: 6-25 (Karl 3-12, Meyer 2-3, Schmitt 1-2, Stuttgen 0-1, Garcia 0-1, Krause 0-1, Ortega 0-3). Rebounds: 35 (Karl 8). Turnovers: 28. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: none. Record: 0-3, 0-2 Cloverbelt Conference East Division.

COLUMBUS CATHOLIC (89): Jarred Mandel 2-6 0-0 4, Charles Payant 0-1 2-2 2, Ryan Dieringer 3-5 0-0 8, Peyton Nystrom 2-3 0-0 4, Matt Olson 0-0 1-2 1, Nick Malovrh 2-4 2-2 6, Bryce Fuerlinger 0-0 0-0 0, Hunter Schultz 13-24 6-9 36, Nick Hutchison 0-1 0-0 0, Noah Taylor 1-1 0-0 2, Ethan Meece 1-1 1-2 3, Tyler Fuerlinger 7-16 5-6 19, Noah Hansen 2-4 0-1 4, Karak Bushman 0-1 0-0 0. FG: 33-67. FT: 17-24. 3-pointers: 6-23 (Schultz 4-10, Dieringer 2-4, Payant 0-1, Malovrh 0-2, Fuerlinger 0-3, Mandel 0-3). Rebounds: 37 (Schultz 9, Meece 8). Turnovers: 14. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: none. Record: 3-0, 2-0 Cloverbelt East.