Vikings whip Warriors, bounce Bulldogs

A road win and a home win brought the Colfax boy’s basketball teams record to 5-0 as they defeated the Amery Warriors 67-55 in Amery Dec. 4, then took care of business as they resumed conference play with a 62-41 win over Boyceville two days later.

Amery

Although Colfax coach Andy Meade didn’t necessarily think his team was prepared to compete for four solid quarters, the Vikings did manage to outscore the Warriors in three of the four quarters of the game. They jumped out to a 19-11 lead with Sawyer DeMoe scoring nine of the points on four baskets and a free throw to go with two deuces from Lane Olson and a shot from behind the arc by both Cody Zivcic and Ethin Kiekhafer.

Colfax extended their lead to 11 at the break, 35-24 with Austin Huss leading the way with six points, and Zivcic came up with nine of the Viking’s 14 points in the third quarter with Huss picking up the other five, giving them a 49-37 advantage heading into the final eight minutes of play.

Amery scored 19 fourth quarter points with eight coming from Cole Monson while the Vikings finished off the game with 18, half of them coming from the free throw line. DeMoe knocked down four of four to go with a bucket, Jeremiah Wait hit a pair, Kiekhafer connected on two of three with a deuce and Joe Wahl was one for two to go with Zivcic’s triple and basket.

“We had pretty solid play from Kiekhafer and DeMoe,” Meade said. “They were consistent on both offense and defense. We need to do a better job blocking out and getting after the rebound and we need to do it quickly because we have a very tough schedule ahead. This team needs to understand that our success is totally dependent on our work ethic and we will have to work hard for everything we get.”

Zivcic had the hot hand for the Vikings, finishing with 22 points which included four shots from downtown while DeMoe added 15 points, Huss 11 and Kiekhafer 10. Colfax went 12 for 15 from the foul line while the Warriors were 11 of 13.

COLFAX (67) Zivcic 9-0-0-22, DeMoe 5-5-6-15, Huss 4-2-2-11, Kiekhafer 3-2-3-10, Olson 3-0-0-6, Wait 0-2-2-2, Wahl 0-1-2-1

AMERY (55) J. Smith 4-6-6-14, Monson 3-5-7-12, J. Stewart 5-0-0-10, J. Luehman 4-0-0-8, M. Elbing 2-0-0-6, L. Krueger 1-0-0-3, C. Scholz 1-0-0-2

THREE POINTERS: Zivcic 4, Kiekhafer 2, Elbing 2, Huss 1,Monson 1, Krueger 1

Boyceville

The Vikings used their inside and outside game to eventually pull away from the Bulldogs in the third quarter for the big win. After falling behind 3-0 to start the game, DeMoe hit from underneath, Kiekhafer banged in a three pointer, Olson scored from the paint, Zivcic canned a triple and Olson hit again for a 12-5 lead. The smaller Bulldogs created some problems with their quickness and they came up with five points to cut the Colfax lead to two before Zivcic added five straight points of his own to put the Vikings up 17-10. Wait then drained a long ball from the top of the circle for a 20-12 lead as the quarter ended.

Using their long arms, Colfax kept the Bulldogs away from the paint most of the game, resulting in some long possessions for Boyceville which kept the ball out of the Vikings hands. They connected on just four shots in the second quarter, a deuce each by Huss, Rudi and Zivic and a three ball from Kiekhafer to go with two free tosses by Huss for a 31-20 lead at the break.

Rudi, Huss and Zivcic all hit three pointers in the third quarter to help the Vikings take a 47-31 lead heading into the last eight minutes and their defense began to wear the Bulldogs down as Boyceville committed their seventh team foul before the fourth quarter began. The Vikings connected on six of eight free throws in the final quarter to put the finishing touches on the game.

“Boyceville came out very tough and prepared to play tonight,” Meade said. “We took advantage of our height and did a good job keeping them away from the basket. They were forced to take a lot of outside shots that didn’t fall for them. We had a few good runs that allowed us to slowly increase our lead and earn the win.”

Huss and Zivcic tied for scoring honors with 13 each and Kiekhafer and Olson both finished with nine points. The Vikings combined for nine triples and were 11 of 16 from the foul line with Huss going six for six.

BOYCEVILLE (41) J. Kuhn 4-0-0-13, M. Lagerstrom 4-2-2-11, R. Williams 4-0-0-8, B. Schutts 2-1-2-5, J. Schultz 1-0-0-3, Mi. Leach 0-1-2-1

COLFAX (62) Huss 3-6-6-13, Zivcic 5-0-0-13, Kiekhafer 3-1-2-9, Olson 4-1-2-9, Rudi 3-0-2-8, DeMoe 2-3-4-7, Wait 1-0-0-3

THREE POINTERS: Zivcic 3, Kuhn 3, Rudi 2, Kiekhafer 2, Huss 1, Wait 1, Lagerstrom 1