Colfax boys’ basketball tied for first in Dunn-St. Croix

By Amber Hayden

It was a successful week for the Colfax boys’ basketball team as it won a pair of Dunn-St. Croix games and moved into a tie for the conference lead with Durand.

Colfax now sits at 4-0 in conference play and 6-2 overall following victories over Glenwood City and Mondovi last week.

The Colfax boys took a commanding lead in the second half of last Tuesday’s home game against the Glenwood City Hilltoppers and went on to win the January 7 contest, 71-47. After getting off to quite a rocky start in the first half, Vikings junior Drew Gibson tied the game up at nine all before Colfax finally took a lead and maintained it for over 25 minutes.

With a win over the Mondovi Buffaloes on Friday evening, January 10, the Viking boys are now tied for first with the Durand Panthers in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference. A team effort kept the Vikings in the lead throughout both halves of the Mondovi game which resulted in a 49-31 victory.

The Colfax boys have a busy week ahead of them, which started on Monday evening with a long road trip to play Northwood near Minong. Then this Thursday, January 16, Colfax returns home for a game against the Durand Panthers in a battle for the Dunn-St. Croix. Colfax then has a Saturday game in Bloomer and a Tuesday, January 21 homegame against the Boyceville Bulldogs.

Glenwood City

Colfax did get off on the right foot in last Tuesday’s, January 7, home game against Glenwood City as the Vikings allowed the Hilltoppers to jump out to an early lead in the opening seven minutes.

But an inside basket by Drew Gibson, off a rebound, for two points tied the game up and gave Colfax the energy they needed to settle in and slow down to take a win 71-47.

The Hilltoppers worked a somewhat successful double team on seniors Ed Hydukovich and Zach Rindy in the opening half – the pair has put up big numbers as of late – but left the lane and outside open for Cole Seehaver and Drew Gibson.

Seehaver scored the first three points for Colfax with 15:22 left in the first half of the game, he finished his evening with a total of 20 points off of five doubles, a pair of threes, and a four-for-four performance at the charity stripe.

As for Gibson, he was sent into the game after Zach Rindy had received his second foul in the opening half, and was able to score 10 of his 15 points in the remaining minutes of that half. Gibson wrapped up the evening with two doubles, three triples, and was two-for-two at the line.

Glenwood City began a full-court press on the Vikings in the first half after Colfax had regained the lead, and it looked to be working as the Hilltoppers were able to get the easy steal as the ball was being thrown down court to either Rindy or Hydukovich.

With 34.7 seconds left in the first, Colfax Coach Garrett Maas allowed Cole Seehaver to call the play on the inbound. This continued into the second half with Seehaver calling out the play and Maas telling his players to set it up.

In the second half of Tuesday’s game, Hunter Rebak went up for a quick two points with 37 seconds ticked off the clock. Rebak fought foul trouble throughout the second half and would leave the game with 2:07 left and with only those two points on the night.

On two back-to-back passes, one from Hydukovich and the other from Noah Albricht, Cole Seehaver made his way to the net unguarded for the lay up. Each of the passes were made as Hydukovich and Albricht were in the process of turning with the ball looking to go out-of-bounds, but Seehaver was able to get the ball at the last second.

In the remaining minute of the game, Maas sent in five bench players and let them know he wanted no shots from them.

Also scoring for the Vikings were Ed Hydukovich with 12 points, Zach Rindy, Tyler Hallquist, and Noah Heidorn each finished with six points, and Noah Albricht collected four points.

Colfax (71)

FG-FT-F-TP: Z. Rindy 2-2-3-6, C. Seehaver 7-4-0-20, N. Albricht 1-2-0-4, T. Hallquist 2-0-0-6, E. Hydukovich 5-2-1-12, N. Heidorn 3-0-2-6, H. Rebak 1-0-5-2, D. Gibson 5-2-1-15. Totals 26-12-13-71.

Glenwood City (47)

FG-FT-F-TP: B. Hallquist 2-3-0-7, M. Bliese 1-0-1-3, G. Janson 1-0-1-2, D. Olson 4-1-2-10, B. Wickman 1-0-2-2, C. Logghe 2-0-3-4, E. Hanson 2-0-4-5, O. Swenby 2-3-0-7, D. Loring 1-0-0-3, J. Moe 2-0-2-4. Total 18-7-17-47.

Colfax………………………………32  39 – 71
Glenwood City……………………23  24 – 47

3-point goals: Colfax: C. Seehaver (2), T. Hallquist (2), D. Gibson (3); Glenwood City: M. Bliese, D. Olson, E. Hanson, D. Loring.

Mondovi

The week came to an end with a second win for the Colfax boys’ basketball team as they took a 49-31 road victory over the Mondovi Buffaloes last Friday evening.

“We played our best team defense of the year,” said coach Maas. “We did a great job of making them shoot over the top of us.”

Senior Zach Rindy led Colfax with a total of 17 points Friday night as he shot three-for-four from outside the arc, had three doubles, and was two-for-three from the foul line.

Cole Seehaver had another great game for the Vikings as he shot 80 percent from the three point line, Seehaver had four triples and a double for 14 points.

“Every one of their makes, we had a hand in their face,” Maas said. “It was a complete team effort.”

Captain Ed Hydukovich had three doubles and was four-for-four from the free throw line for a total of 10 points.

Also scoring for the Vikings was Hunter Rebak and Tyler Hallquist each with a trey, and Noah Heidorn had a lone double.

“We will have our hands full next week with three games,” Maas stated.

Colfax (49)

FG-FT-F-TP: Z. Rindy 6-2-1-17, C. Seehaver 5-0-3-14, T. Hallquist 1-0-0-3, E. Hydukovich 3-4-2-10, N. Heidorn 1-0-1-2, H. Rebak 1-0-3-3. Totals 17-6-12-49.

Mondovi (31)

FG-FT-F-TP: W. Falkner 1-2-4-5, D. Everson 1-0-4-2, O. Schultz 7-0-1-15, C. Johnson 1-1-2-3, J. Schmidtknecht 3-0-1-6. Total 13-3-14-31.

Colfax………………………………22  27  – 49
Mondovi…………………………..14  17  – 31

3-point goals: Colfax: Z. Rindy (3), C. Seehaver (4), T. Hallquist, H. Rebak; Mondovi: W. Falkner, O. Schultz.