Colfax Vikings end season with regional loss to Regis
The Colfax boys’ basketball team started the tournament season on a positive note, winning a first round regional game at home against neighboring Boyceville 62-38 March 1. The win allowed them to travel to Mondovi three days later to take on the Buffaloes where they needed to come from behind a few times before pulling out a 62-53 win.
But 24 hours later, it was a repeat of the Colfax girls’ journey through the regionals as they went to Eau Claire Regis and ended their season with a 66-51 loss to the Ramblers. The Vikings ended their season with a 12-13 record while Regis improved to 22-2 and will play Fall Creek Wednesday night in the sectional semi-final at Chippewa Falls.
Boyceville
After defeating the Bulldogs quite handily twice in conference play this year, the big win the third time around wasn’t much of a surprise, especially after one of the Bulldogs leading scorers had quit the team a week earlier.
Brett Prince put Colfax up 2-0 on a bucket under the hoop, and the Vikings spurted to a 15-2 advantage. George Scharlau and Prince each nailed a triple, Aliymu Davis scored on a put back, Jacob Larson got his big paws on a defensive rebound and dribbled to the other end of the court for a layup. Alex Knudson hit a short jumper to put Colfax up 24-7. And after Kedar Davis drained a trey and Aliymu Davis scored on a layup, the Vikings were in control by the half up 29-11.
“Boyceville threw a lot of different defenses at us,” Colfax coach Garrett Maas said. “We expected that and it threw us off a bit but we adjusted and started to hit some shots. We knew we had to shore up our defense because the last time we played them we gave up too many rebounds. And our offense had a lot of turnovers,” he added.
The Vikings extended their lead to 41-16 after Andrew Harmon canned a triple just 12 seconds into the second half, followed by a drive for a deuce by Kedar Davis. Another fast break layup by Larson and a jumper in the paint and a shot from long range by Kedar Davis just added more points.
Boyceville’s Bryce Boda, who went off for 16 points against the Vikings last month, finally broke the run with a shot in the paint, but Isaac Lee countered with a trey from the top of the circle. A minute later, Lee found Larson behind the Bulldog defense for another easy bucket and after a pair of Kedar Davis free throws and Knudson’s deuce, Colfax was up by 30 points at 52-22.
With around four minutes left in the contest, Maas cleared the bench, resulting in Treyton Teige scoring six points on a three pointer, a free toss and a deuce. Taylor Sarauer scored his first varsity points after fighting for a rebound and putting the ball in the hoop. Adam Pretasky came oh so close to his first varsity points when he canned a three quarter length shot but the buzzer sounded just before it left his hands.
Balanced scoring was a key for Colfax with 10 players all coming up with points. Jacob Larson finished with a career high 16 while Kedar Davis added 12. Colfax was 5 for 8 from the foul line with seven treys while Boyceville, led by Boda’s 14 points was 1 for 4 from the stripe with three triples.
COLFAX (62) Larson 7-2-2-16, K. Davis 4-2-2-12, A. Davis 4-0-2-8, Teige 2-1-2-6, Lee 2-0-0-5, Knudson 2-0-0-4, Prince 1-0-0-3, Harmon 1-0-0-3, Scharlau 1-0-0-3, Sarauer 1-0-0-2
BOYCEVILLE (36) Boda 6-1-4-14, L. Knudtson 3-0-0-7, H. Anderson 3-0-0-6, B. Hanestad 2-0-0-5, C. Boesl 1-0-0-2, B. Larson 1-0-0-2
THREE POINTERS: K. Davis 2, Prince 1, Harmon 1, Lee 1, Teige 1, Scharlau 1, Boda 1, Hanestad 1, Knudtson 1
Mondovi
It was the same situation for the Vikings, having to play another team from the Dunn-St. Croix Conference they had beaten twice during the regular season. Although Blake Purdy of the Buffaloes had just been named the D-SC Player of the Year, he was no match for the three point shooting by Harmon or the free throw shooting by Kedar Davis. Harmon knocked down five treys in the game, all at key times, and with Colfax holding a 50-48 lead with 3:02 left in the game, Davis put it away by canning 10 of 12 freebies.
It was a slow start for both teams with each team coming up empty on their first two possessions before Mondovi broke the ice with a trey. Alymus Davis took care of that with his own, but the Buffs pulled ahead 9-3 before Harmon swished his first triple. Harmon assisted Aliymu Davis for a layup and after Harmon swiped the ball, Larson scored on a putback for a 10-9 Colfax lead. The Buffaloes took the lead back a few seconds later on a shot in the paint and went up 14-10 before Harmon canned another triple.
Mondovi pulled ahead 20-14 when the Vikings came up empty on several possessions but Kedar Davis drilled a three pointer and added a deuce to get Colfax within a point down 20-19.
However, brother Aliymu was called for a charge in between those shots for his third foul, The Vikings committed their seventh team foul a minute later and a free toss by Greg Poeschel and a put back by Purdy put Mondovi up 23-19.
Defensive lapses by both teams resulted in plenty of points in a short amount of time as Kedar Davis hit another shot from downtown, Mondovi scored in the paint, Harmon dropped in a short jumper and Purdy hit a pair of free tosses for a 27-24 Buffalo advantage. Larson scored on an offensive rebound but with eight seconds left in the half, Poeschel found an open lane and scored for a 29-26 Buffalo lead.
“We knew Purdy and Poeschel were going to get their points so we just wanted to keep them under control and not let their other players hurt us,” Maas said.
Kedar Davis came up with a steal and assisted Harmon for a bucket to begin the second half, and Kedar put Colfax ahead again on a layup 30-29.
Purdy was called for a charge for crashing into Aliymu Davis who took a big chance by holding his ground with three fouls, and a minute later Kedar Davis was called for his own charge.
Purdy took advantage and scored to regain the lead for the Buffaloes, but like magic, Harmon found nothing but net for another triple to get the lead back at 33-31.
Nine straight points coming from Larson’s put back, Kedar Davis’ triple and his deuce, along with another put back from Larson put the Vikings up 42-31 with around 13 minutes to go.
The Buffaloes hit a three pointer and after Harmon countered with his fourth one, the Viking’s offense went stagnant for the next few minutes. Mondovi took advantage and went on a six point run and the Colfax lead was cut to five at 45-40.
Coach Maas called a much needed time out which led to Harmon draining another trey to give Colfax some breathing room up 48-40, then Poeschel scored in the paint. Kedar Davis gave the old pump-fake and scored in the lane, but this was tournament time folks, and neither team was ready to see their season end.
The Buffaloes came up with back to back treys and suddenly with 3:02 on the clock, the Vikings’ lead was down to two at 50-48.
The Vikings decided to try and run some clock which resulted in Mondovi having to foul. They kept sending Kedar Davis to the stripe, who hit the front end of a one and one twice for a 52-48 lead with 2:14 to go.
Davis went back a few seconds later, and this time hit both freebies and Prince, who had been awfully busy guarding Poeschel most of the night, combined with Aliymu Davis for a steal resulting in a Kedar Davis layup.
After Mondovi scored on a put back, Prince gave up an open layup to pass the ball out and run some more time off the clock and from there on out it was Kedar Davis time as he finished off the game with six more free tosses.
“I told the kids at halftime if we continued to work hard on defense, our offense would come around,” Maas said. “We were too tentative early on but maybe a little too aggressive the second half. We did a good job of finding the open guy and Kedar and Andrew had a good night shooting. Our other guys did a great job finding them and the shots started to fall which made the difference,” he added.
Only four players scored for the Vikings in this contest with Kedar Davis pouring in a career high 30 and Harmon, also with a career high, scored 19. Larson added eight and Aliymu Davis five. Kedar Davis was the only Viking to attempt a free throw all night and he was 11 for 16. Colfax knocked down 13 triples in the game while Mondovi, led by Purdy’s 22 points had four treys and were 7 for 11 at the foul line.
COLFAX (62) K. Davis 8-11-16-30, Harmon 7-0-0-19, Larson 4-0-0-8, A. Davis 2-0-0-5
MONDOVI (53) Purdee 10-2-3-22, Poeschel 4-0-4-12, C. Kamla 3-0-0-8, B. Becker 1-3-4-5, A. Hoepner 1-0-0-3, S. Hayes 1-0-0-3, T. Parker 1-0-0-2
Eau Claire Regis
Harmon was still hot from long range with four triples in this regional final, but the Ramblers coaching staff did a good job scouting as Regis made sure Kedar Davis didn’t get near the basket or even get a decent look at it until the second half.
Meanwhile, Colfax had to deal with sharpshooter Logan Rohrscheib who averages 31 points a game and will play for Division II UM-Duluth next year. With just about every Viking taking a turn at defending him, Rohrscheib was held to a season low 22 points (0 for 8 from long range). The Ramblers had enough offense from others and plenty of defense to pull away in the second half for the 15 point win.
Prince drilled a three pointer to start the Viking’s scoring then a Larson free toss and a Prince steal and dish to Larson for a bucket made it 6-4 for Colfax. Aliymu Davis knocked down a trey for a 9-8 advantage but the well went dry for several minutes allowing the Ramblers to go up 15-9. Aliymu Davis broke the run with another trey but a pair of three pointers from the Ramblers allowed them to up their lead to 21-12.
Larson connected from the lane and the top of the key on back to back possessions however, to get Colfax back within five. When Aliymu Davis hit a free throw, followed by Harmon’s three ball from the corner and Prince’s layup off a fast break, the Vikings were back in business down 23-22.
Rohrscheib scored on a drive and free throw while Trenton Cronk added a short jumper for the Ramblers, but Harmon scored on a spin around in the lane to make it 28-24. Rohrscheib struggled to score from the outside so he continued to drive the lane, resulting in getting fouled, and he canned a pair of free throws and Regis led 30-24 at the break.
Harmon sparked the Vikings with his second trey just 20 seconds into the second half. Prince followed suit a minute later, putting Colfax within two at 32-30.
But four Viking shots from behind the arc failed to find the mark and the Ramblers pulled ahead 38-32 before Aliymu Davis scored in the paint.
Things just spun out of control for the Vikings in the next few minutes when they turned the ball over three consecutive times, and before the spinning stopped, Regis was ahead 48-32.
After Prince snapped the Regis run with a pair of freebies and Kedar Davis connected for his only trey of the game, Colfax was behind 50-37.
Rohrscheib roared back with a layup with around 7:00 to go, and a minute later both teams committed their seventh foul which ended up helping the Ramblers down the stretch more than the Vikings.
An Aliymu Davis free toss and Harmon’s third trey allowed Colfax to cut into the deficit at 54-41 with 4:20 left, and on Larson’s reverse layup, it remained a 13 point game at 56-43.
Harmon’s fourth long ball from the opposite corner of his third one, brought Colfax closer down 57-46. Back to back deuces by Regis upped their lead once again before Kedar Davis scored on an end to end drive.
Cody Osborn went to the foul line twice for Regis and connected four times to ice the game. With 1:18 to go, Maas cleared his bench with his team behind 63-48. Knudson, a senior who had been in the game less than five seconds, scored the final points of the year for Colfax when he drained a triple.
“I thought we did a really good job defending Rohrscheib and made every shot difficult for him,” Maas said. “We just put Regis on the foul line too much. We had one bad stretch in the second half and Regis took advantage of it by scoring three times. I was extremely proud of our guys and how they never gave up,” he concluded.
Harmon finished with 14 points and five rebounds, Prince and Aliymu Davis each added 10 points while Larson scored nine points and collected eight boards. The Vikings were 10 for 29 from behind the arc and 5 for 9 from the charity stripe. Regis went 4 for 17 from long range and 22 of 27 from the foul line.
EAU CLAIRE REGIS (66) Rohrscheib 7-8-10-22, Osborn 5-4-4-16, Cronk 3-1-2-9, B. Martin 2-4-4-8, B. Sokup 2-4-6-8, M. McCann 1-0-0-2, J. Salonek 0-1-2-1
COLFAX (51) Harmon 5-0-0-14, Prince 3-2-2-10, A. Davis 3-2-4-10, Larson 4-1-2-9, K. Davis 2-0-1-5, Knudson 1-0-0-3
THREE POINTERS: Harmon 4, Prince 2,A. Davis 2, Cronk 2, Osborn 2, K. Davis 1, Knudson 1