Colfax boys face tough competition, lose to McDonell and Durand

The early season schedule for the Colfax boys’ basketball team certainly isn’t an easy one but the Vikings held their own against two tough opponents before losing 61-56 on the road to Chippewa Falls McDonell Dec. 8, then barely had time to breathe before hitting the road again two days later with a trip to Durand. They came up short once again, losing 60-52 to the Panthers.

McDonell

The Macs are big and deep with three players at least 6’5” and are favored by many to win the highly competitive Western Cloverbelt Conference. But the Vikings gave them plenty to deal with as it went to the final minute before the game was decided. Seven different Vikings scored in the first half with Kedar Davis leading the team with seven points while Jarrod Rudi and Aliymu Davis both had five but they were down 36-26 at the half.

Kedar Davis was injured just before the break and didn’t get off the bench the second half however, and some foul trouble forced coach Garrett Maas to set a couple of more starters down which left the Vikings a little challenged in the depth department. But the Macks had some foul trouble themselves which sent the Vikings to the foul line several times where as a team they knocked down 11 of 18 free throws. Isaac Lee drained a pair of triples with the second one getting the Vikings to within five points late in the game and Colfax had a couple of opportunities in the last minute to tie the game or go ahead but couldn’t get the job done.

“Although we don’t like losing games, this was a good test for us to see where we stand,” coach Maas said. “I think we played well against a very good team and it came down to the end and we just couldn’t execute. We don’t have a lot of depth and with players on the bench, other kids have to step up and we are still trying to figure out who will be able to do that,” he added.

Andrew Harmon led the Vikings for the second consecutive game in the scoring department with 12 points, 10 in the second half. Aliymu Davis also finished in double digits with 10. The Vikings were 20 of 31 from the charity stripe and five players scored from behind the three point circle. The Macs scored 42 of their points from close range shots and were 10 of 18 from the foul line.

MCDONELL CENTRAL (61) H. Baughman 6-6-6-18, B. Retzlaff 3-2-3-11, N. Hoglund 5-0-2-10, A. Ohde 5-0-0-10, G. Knowlton 3-1-3-7, H. Erickson 1-1-1-3, R. Sorenson 1-0-2-2

COLFAX (56) Harmon 4-3-7-12, A. Davis 3-3-4-10, Rudi 1-6-9-9, Lee 2-2-3-8, K. Davis 2-2-2-7, B. Prince 2-2-4-6, J. Larson 1-2-2-4

THREE POINTERS: Retzlaff 3, Lee 2, Rudi 1, A. Davis 1, Harmon 1, K. Davis 1

Durand  

In their inaugural season in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference, the Panthers have been chosen as one of the top three teams in the conference with several experienced players back from last season. The Vikings struggled to get the ball in the basket consistently against their defense and made too many unforced errors early on but were down just 24-17 at the break.

Aliymu Davis got his wake up call and scored all 12 of his team leading points in the second half and the Vikings knocked down 14 of 18 free throws with Jacob Larson hitting 4 of 4 and Harmon 3 of 4, but it wasn’t enough. Durand went to the charity stripe way too often and hit 14 of 26 to help keep the Vikings at bay, and Colfax hit only four treys in the game while the Panthers doubled that number.

“We handled their pressure pretty good but we didn’t shoot very well,” Maas said. “Durand is a good opponent and we had too many mistakes against a quality team. We had balanced scoring and Jacob Larson gave us some good minutes on the defensive end tonight.”

DURAND (60) B. Weber 3-3-5-12, T. Bauer 4-0-1-10, W. Berger 2-3-5-9, R. Hansen 3-1-2-8, N. Siebenaler 3-1-2-7, L. Polzer 2-2-4-6, B. Schlosser 1-2-4-5, J. Biesterveld 1-0-0-3

COLFAX (52) A. Davis 4-2-4-12, K. Davis 4-2-2-11, Rudi 4-1-4-9, Harmon 3-3-4-9, Larson 1-4-4-6, Prince 1-2-2-5

THREE POINTERS: Weber 3, A. Davis 2, Bauer 2, Prince 1, K. Davis 1, Hansen 1, Schlosser 1, Biesterveld 1