Colfax pounds Plum City in season opener

COLFAX — Although both teams had plenty of young players getting court time, the Colfax boys basketball team had enough players with plenty of scoring power and defense to take a 79-37 win over the Plum City Blue Devils Nov. 15 on their home court.

There were several firsts for Colfax in the game as senior Cody Zivcic hit the 30 point mark for the first time in his career. Zivcic was a one man wrecking crew, knocking down 24 points in the first half alone which included three triples, five deuces with three of them coming on layups after stealing the ball, and he went five for five at the free throw line. He finished his night off canning back to back three pointers in the third quarter, making it five for the game. Sophomore Sawyer DeMoe, who saw plenty of playing time last year as Lane Olson’s backup, also had a career high with 20 points on nine buckets from the paint and a pair of free tosses, while three Vikings scored their first varsity points including sophomores Grant Phillips and Ben Kragness along with freshman Jarrod Rudi.

With the two leading scorers from last years team unable to play (seniors Austin Huss and Olson) until after Thanksgiving, the underclassmen were asked to step up and they did just that. Sophomore Jeremiah Wait took over at point guard after missing all of last year with a knee injury and ran things pretty well as Ethin Kiekhafer started the game off with a bucket on a put back, and with Zivcic’s first three ball followed by his layup, a DeMoe bucket  after a Wait steal, a Kiekhafer triple and a deuce on a Wait assist as Wait saved the ball from going out of bounds, a DeMoe put back and five more points by Zivcic on a three ball and another layup put the Vikings in control 20-7 after a quarter of play.

Plum City had only two seniors on the team with only one scoring any points, and the mostly sophomore team couldn’t keep up with the quick defense and the offensive power of the Vikings as Colfax held a 46-15 halftime lead. Phillips and Rudi both hit one of two free tosses in the second quarter for their first varsity points.

DeMoe scored 12 of his points in the third quarter on five buckets and a couple of free throws as the Vikings held a 66-29 advantage, and Kragness dropped in a deuce from underneath to start the fourth quarter off to go with two buckets by both Phillips and Joe Wahl and a deuce and final free toss from Rudi to end the game.

“Both teams had a lot of young kids on the floor during the game, but we had more experience,” Colfax coach Andy Meade said. “Zivcic had a lot of good looks at the basket and he took advantage of it. Wait did a lot of good things for us without scoring a point, DeMoe showed he can be a leader and Rudi played well on both ends of the court. We had a lot of players get some good minutes. Plum City has some good athletes and they will get better in the next few years,” he added.

Colfax stays home to play a non-conference game against Cochrane-Fountain City, Tuesday Nov. 20.

Plum City (37) (FG-FTM-FTA-PTS) A. Boyer 5-1-2-12, C. Longsdorf 4-2-2-12, N. Gilles 2-0-3-5, A. Coss 2-0-0-5, T. Niebur 1-1-2-3

Colfax (79) Zivcic 10-5-5-30, DeMoe 9-2-2-20, Kiekhafer 5-0-0-12, Phillips 3-1-2-7, Rudi 1-2-4-4, Wahl 2-0-0-4, Kragness 1-0-0-2

Three Pointers: Zivcic 5, Kiekhafer 2, Longsdorf 2, Boyer 1, Gilles 1, Coss 1