Colfax boys lose heartbreaker at Ellsworth

ELLSWORTH — The Colfax boys gave up a slim halftime lead then tried to come from behind  late in the game but their effort fell a little short as they lost a non-conference game 58-56 to the Ellsworth Panthers Dec. 22 on the road. After starting the season with five consecutive road games, the Viking boys will come home with a 2-4 record for five games starting Jan. 5 against Amery.

Colfax held a 27-23 lead when the first half ended as Jacob Larson asserted himself in the paint with five deuces while Aliymu Davis canned a trey and a free throw along with three short range shots. Andrew Harmon tossed in a pair of freebies with a deuce and George Scharlau hit the first triple of his high school career to account for the Colfax points. The Vikings came out of the locker room a little sluggish, allowing the Panthers to eventually pull ahead. Down by four at 47-43 with 8: 12 left, the Vikings played point for point with the Panthers the next two minutes and drew to within two at 49-47. They went back down by four however before Brett Prince went to the charity stripe with 35 seconds left where he calmly canned both shots. After the Panthers hit a bucket to go up 56-53 with 10 seconds left, Prince was the King of the Court again when he nailed a triple to knot things up. But Ellsworth scored with less than two seconds left and the Vikings couldn’t get a decent final shot off, thus ending the game.

“This was our best game so far from a ball security standpoint with only 10 turnovers,” coach Garrett Maas said. “We didn’t shoot a high enough percentage of three point shots, though.”

Jacob Larson continues to increase his scoring total every game by leading the Vikings with 14 points. With starter Jarrod Rudi out with an ankle injury anywhere from 4-12 weeks, Colfax will need players like Larson to step and replace his scoring and his defensive skills as the season goes on. Aliymu Davis finished with 10 points and four steals while Kedar Davis finished with nine points and five assists and Harmon added nine points including 4 of 4 free throws. As a team, Colfax made just 6 of 24 three point attempts for 25% and were 10 for 14 at the charity stripe. Colfax struggled to stop Drake Flom who led the Panthers with 26 points, 16 in the second half. Ellsworth made 4 of 9 triples and were 6 for 10 on free throws.

NOTE: Just a little information for your enjoyment. 65 years ago, Clyde Prince who is Brett’s grandfather, scored 14 points in a 47-46 loss to Ellsworth. Colfax was in the Middle Border Conference with the Panthers back then.

ELLSWORTH (58) Flom 9-4-4-26, T. Mark 8-0-0-16, S. Schroeder 3-0-1-6, B. Dahl 1-2-4-4, B. Sharon 1-0-0-2

COLFAX (56) Larson 6-2-2-14, A. Davis 4-1-2-10, A. Harmon 2-4-4-9, K. Davis 4-0-1-9, Prince 1-2-4-5, I. Lee 2-0-0-5, Scharlau 1-0-0-3, A. Knudson 0-1-1-1

THREE POINTERS: Flom 4, A. Davis 1, Prince 1, Harmon 1, Lee 1, Scharlau 1, K. Davis 1