BY MIKE WARREN

EDITOR

Marshfield – The Columbus Dons are headed back to the WIAA boys’ state basketball tournament. The Dons secured their spot March 9, with an 80-77 win over Cashton in a Div. 5 sectional semifinal at La Crosse Logan High School.

“How fortunate to have a group of boys like I have that are willing to take me on such a ride,” Columbus Head Coach Joe Konieczny told us after the game.  

Columbus built a 43-38 halftime lead.

In the second half, the Dons jumped out to a 72-62 lead, before the Eagles used a 10-0 run to tie the game with just a few minutes left.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Charlie Moore put Columbus ahead 78-72, before a three-pointer by Connor Butzler pulled the Eagles to within three.

Cashton then got a stop and went inside for a quick score to make it a one-point game.

Knowing the Eagles would now have to foul, Columbus got the ball to Blake Jakobi – who had knocked down eight consecutive free throws two nights earlier to ice a 57-54 win over Royall in a Div. 5 sectional semifinal contest played at Adams-Friendship High School. However, Jakobi uncharacteristically missed the front end of a 1-and-1 bonus situation.

He made up for the miss moments later, when he came up with a tipped Cashton pass in transition. Jakobi got the ball to Cy Becker, who was immediately fouled. Now Becker found himself in the unenviable position of having to knock down clutch free throws. Like Jakobi moments earlier, Becker also now faced a bonus situation. No good.

However, Lucas Kreklau came up with perhaps his biggest rebound of the afternoon. He immediately got the ball to Emmitt Konieczny, who was fouled with 10 seconds remaining.

The tenth team foul on Cashton put the Columbus senior at the line facing two free throws. Swish, and swish. Dons by three.

The Eagles quickly got the ball to their end of the court. A game-tying three-point attempt by Butzler glanced off the right side of the rim and the rebound fell to a Columbus defender. The Dons then ran the clock out to hang on for the victory.

Emmitt Konieczny led Columbus with 26 points, 18 in the second half – including three three-pointers. Moore added 18 points.

For the eighth time since joining the WIAA in 2000, the Dons advanced to the sectional final round of the postseason. They did so with a 57-54 win March 7 over Royall in a Div. 5 sectional semifinal contest played at Adams-Friendship High School.

“I think it was just kind of a classic, as far as a high school basketball game goes,” said Columbus Head Coach Joe Konieczny following the contest. “We got a seven- or eight-point lead early. Royall takes an eight-point lead with seven minutes left, and then our kids just made some big shots and got just enough stops. Unfortunate that somebody had to lose a game like that.”

The Dons led 22-17 as the clock was winding down on the first half, when Royall’s Tyrus Wildes sank a near-half-court buzzer beater to make it just a two-point game at halftime.

The Panthers – a state tournament from a season ago – kept the momentum going into the second half, and at one point had built a seven-point lead with seven minutes remaining.

“They play such good defense,” Konieczny said of Royall. “They’re big and they’re physical, and I thought we found a way, and obviously this time of year that’s the point is just try to find a way, so I give our young men a lot of credit.”

With their backs against the wall, senior Blake Jakobi seemingly put the team on his back and guided the Dons through what had been their toughest half of basketball to that point all season.

“He did,” Konieczny told us. “He hit a big three, got to the rim one time. I thought Lucas Kreklau hit two really big shots as well. And then somewhere in there, Emmitt (Konieczny) got to the rim once or twice to give us just a three-point lead. But Blake hits two free throws to go up four. They come down and hit a deep three with 13 seconds left. Blake hits two [free throws] again. We’re up three. They come down and bank one in. And luckily, his foot was on the line, so we get a one-point lead, and then Blake makes two more [free throws] to ice the game, so I thought down the stretch we handled things really well.”

Jakobi knocked down eight consecutive free throws in the closing moments of the game to keep Columbus in front and eventually put the game away. He led all scorers with 23 points. Kreklau added 15, including ten second-half points, on a night when the Panthers held Charlie Moore scoreless. Emmitt Konieczny added 13 points for the Dons.

Top-seeded Columbus Catholic will now be making its fourth State appearance overall and its first since 2019, when the Dons finished runner-up. Prior to that, the Dons lost in the Division 4 semifinals in 2003 and in the Division 5 semifinals in 2017.

As a former member of WISAA, the Dons were a four-time champion in Division 3. They won back-to-back titles in 1996 and 1997, as well as in 1999 and 2000.

Columbus will play fourth-seeded Solon Springs, which makes its inaugural appearance in the State Tournament by virtue of its 59-41 win over Owen-Withee in the Ashland Sectional final. The Eagles are the champions of the Northern Lights Conference this season.

The Div. 5 field also includes two other schools making their first trips to Madison. Second-seeded Almond-Bancroft qualifies for the State Tournament for the first time in the program’s history. They began celebrating the accomplishment following the Eagles’ 70-57 win over Reedsville in the Hortonville Sectional final. They are the champions in the South Division of the Central Wisconsin Conference this season. Abundant Life Christian is the third seed. The Challengers’ first appearance comes following a 63-53 victory over Salam in the Evansville Sectional final. They tied Deerfield for the championship in the South Division of the Trailways Conference this year.

Columbus faces Solon Springs in a Div. 5 state semifinal March 15 at 9:05 a.m. at the Kohl Center in Madison. The radio broadcast can be heard on SportsRadio 92.3 FM, WOSQ beginning at 8:30 a.m.