Bulldogs come close to Hornets, mauled by Panthers
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By Missy Klatt
Sports Correspondent
BOYCEVILLE — With the season winding down, the Bulldog boys’ basketball team was unable to add any more wins to their overall record of 4-13 this past week as they fell to the Cadott Hornets on Monday, February 10th and to the Durand Panthers on Thursday the 13th.
Boyceville is currently in sixth place in the Dunn-St. Croix conference with a 3-8 record and took on second-place Spring Valley on Tuesday, February 18th and Colfax, who also shares second with the Cardinals and Elk Mound, on Friday, February 21st. Both games will be at home. The Bulldogs will then hit the road for a non-conference contest at Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran next Monday, February 24.
Cadott
On Monday, the Bulldogs came close to a win against the Hornets but couldn’t quite pull off a victory, coming up short, 55-64. The Hornets are currently in last place in the Cloverbelt West conference with a record of 2-10.
At the beginning of the game, it was back and forth between the two teams as each struggled to get into a scoring rhythm. However, when the first half ended it was the Bulldogs who had the advantage as they led 25-22.
In the second half, it was a game of runs that went back and forth. The Bulldogs were up by five points with a little over three minutes left to go in the game. At this point, both Logan Knudtson and Connor Sempf had fouled out which didn’t help the Bulldogs going down the final stretch.
Bulldogs’ head coach Colby Dotseth gave the Hornets credit saying, “They kept attacking and kept getting to the rim and to the free throw line. Overall, we really felt like we played a better game, we just let them get to the free throw line way too much which hurt us.”
The Hornets were 24 for 28 from the free throw line. Obviously, in a close game, free throw accuracy can make all the difference.
Another aspect of the game that Dotseth stated that they had trouble with was the play of Cadott’s Mason Poehls.
“We knew going in that they had one ball player (Poehls) who was very talented and it showed as we struggled to slow him down as he finished with 31 points,” said Dotseth.
Some positives from the game that Dotseth commented on, “I thought as a group we did a great job executing against their full court pressure and were even able to pull them out of it. We also went to a smaller lineup a few times throughout the game and I thought the boys did a great job adjusting and playing physical. We continue to get more consistent shooting from the outside as we made ten 3’s as a team.”
Logan Knudtson led the Bulldogs in scoring with 18 points which included four, three pointers and Brendan Sempf followed with 17 points with five, three pointers. Dotseth remarked, “They both continue to shoot a higher percentage from game-to-game which has really helped us compete as a team.”
Dotseth praised the play of Connor Larson, stating that he came off the bench and really did a nice job defensively.
Dotseth concluded saying, “We really want to stay physical defensively but we need to clean up the silly mistakes that get us into foul trouble. If we can continue that then we know we will be able to compete the rest of the year.”
Boyceville (55)
FG-FT-F-T: Retz 2-0-1-4, B. Sempf 5-2-1-17, C. Sempf 3-1-5-7, Knudtson 7-0-5-18, Wruck 0-0-0-0, Larson 1-0-3-3, J Klefstad 0-2-4-2, C. Klefstad 2-0-4-4. Total 20-5-23-55.
Cadott (64)
FG-FT-F-T: Ritter 1-3-3-5, Mittermeyer 1-6-1-8, Irwin 2-6-3-10, Steffes 1-0-0-2, Sopiarz 0-0-3-0, Poehls 10-7-3-31, Drilling 3-2-1-8. Total 18-24-14-64.
Boyceville 25 30 – 55
Cadott 22 42 – 64
3-point goals: Boyceville: B. Sempf 5, Knudtson 4, Larson. Cadott: Poehls 4.
Durand
On Thursday, February 13, the Bulldogs hosted the conference-leading Panthers of Durand. It was not a good showing for the Bulldogs as they lost 38-78.
The Panthers took the early lead and had nine points on the board before the first bucket from the Bulldogs.
According to Dotseth, the Bulldogs couldn’t find their groove and couldn’t get anything going on either end of the court.
“It seemed every time we scored then we would give up an easy basket on the defensive end,” commented Dotseth.
By the end of the first half, the Panthers had more than double the points of the Bulldogs at 29-14.
“This trend continued throughout the second half and every time we seemed to start to make a small run we would allow an easy basket on the other end,” said Dotseth, who also conceded that they struggled with turnovers throughout the game.
Durand also doubled up Boyceville in the final 18 minutes, with a 49-24 scoring advantage.
“We know the stretch of four games to end the year won’t be easy with the three of the top four teams in conference yet to go. Hopefully, we can reset and come out and compete down the stretch of the season and take some momentum into the postseason.”
Dotseth lauded Logan Knudtson stating, “He continues to stay aggressive and led us with sixteen points.” He also thought Beck Wendland and John Klefstad came off the bench in the second half and gave the team great hustle minutes on both ends of the floor.
Boyceville (38)
FG-FT-F-T: Retz 0-1-1-1, B. Sempf 2-2-1-8, McRoberts 0-0-1-0, C. Sempf 2-0-3-5, Knudtson 7-0-1-16, Hazelton 0-1-0-1, Wendland 0-0-1-0, Wruck 0-1-0-1, Larson 0-0-0-0, J. Kelfstad 1-2-0-4, C. Klefstad 1-0-4-2, Hollister 0-0-0-0. Total 13-7-12-38.
Durand (78)
FG-FT-F-T: Kurth 0-0-0-0, S. Bauer 1-0-4-3, Witting 2-1-1-6, Easker 3-0-2-6, Anibas 2-1-2-5, Pelke 2-0-2-5, Brenner 2-1-0-5, B. Bauer 2-3-1-8, Biesteveld 6-2-1-15, Hurburt 3-1-0-7, Berger 7-1-2-15, Brunko 1-0-0-3.
Boyceville 14 24 – 38
Durand 29 49 – 8
3-point goals: Boyceville: B. Sempf 2, C. Sempf, Knudtson 2. Durand: S. Bauer, Witting, Pelke, B. Bauer, Bresteveld, Brunko.