Boyceville boys hoopsters start week on high note, finish on low
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CONTESTED SHOT — Boyceville guard Simon Evenson put up this jump shot from the lane during the Bulldogs’ home basketball game against Clayton January 4. Evenson finished with a team-high nine points as the Bulldogs beat the Bears 41-23. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
by Laura Giammattei
Sports Correspondent
A quick start by the Boyceville (2-7, 0-4) boys’ basketball team helped set the tone for the contest and helped pick up their second win of the year, a clear-cut, 41-23 non-conference victory over the Clayton Bears (1-9) in the night cap of a home doubleheader with the girls Tuesday, January 4.
Boyceville kicked things off with a trio of three-pointers, one each by junior Simon Evenson and sophomores Caden Wold and Braden Roemhild to open up a 16-6 advantage through the opening nine minutes of play. Although their offensive pace slowed a little in the final nine minutes of the first half, the Bulldogs led comfortably, 22-9, at intermission.
“We started the game off fast offensively like we have most of the year and got out to an early lead,” Bulldog coach Colby Dotseth said. “We then started to struggle to shoot from the floor when Clayton went to a zone defense.”
Clayton’s zone defense caused the second half to play out more evenly as Boyceville scored 19 points to Clayton’s 14.
Boyceville had eight players in the scoring column, led by nine from Evenson, seven from sophomore Nick Olson, five each from Wold and junior Jack Phillips, and four each by Roemhild, junior Mason Bowell and sophomore Grant Kaiser.
Boyceville controlled the boards all evening collecting a hefty haul of 43 rebounds including 11 by Bowell, nine from big man Grant Kaiser, six from Phillips and five by Olson, who also finished with a team-leading three steals and three assists. Boyceville had ten steals in all.
“It’s never easy having two weeks off with no games over the holiday break, but we did what we wanted to do as a team and that was start the year off with a win,” coach Dotseth remarked. “Hopefully we can build off that and continue to compete and win games in conference play.”
Dotseth went on to say that as a team they are struggling to find an identity in another scorer, as no one has really stepped up to that second lead-scoring role behind Olson. He said Olson continues to be aggressive offensively and leads the team in shots attempted, even when he sometimes shoots under his potential, as he did against Clayton.
Colfax
CADEN WOLD put in two of the 13 points he scored in Boyceville’s 58-42 home loss to the Colfax Vikings January 7.
—photo by Shawn DeWitt
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, their time on cloud nine came to a swift end as they were handed a 58-42 home-court, Dunn-St. Croix Conference loss by Colfax (4-5, 2-2) on Friday, January 7.
Boyceville started the game with an intensity and physicality it had not shown all season and built a 16-6 advantage over the visiting Vikings. Wold made four two-pointers and Evenson and Phillips each canned a trey while Bowell, Kaiser and junior Chase Hollister each added a hoop to give the Bulldogs that early lead.
Colfax began to find its offensive legs and began to pull closer to Boyceville as the half progressed. Holding a 22-19 lead with just under four minutes to play, the Bulldogs’ big post player, Grant Kaiser, suffered his third foul and had to take a seat for the rest of the half. With lead-scorer Nick Olson out of the game with strep throat, these two missing key players allowed Colfax to score the final four points of the half for a 23-22 advantage.
The second half was all Colfax, who opened the latter half with an 8-0 run, outscoring Boyceville 35-20 and turning up the defensive pressure using an aggressive trapping press. This aggressive style actually began during the first half, when Boyceville had the 16-6 lead. From that first half eight-minute mark, Colfax outscored their host 52-26 the rest of the way.
The Bulldogs didn’t do themselves any favors either when Kaiser collected his fourth foul of the game just a minute and a half into the second half which sent him to the bench for several minutes.
Colfax showed balanced scoring as eight Vikings scored points with junior Elijah Entzminger as the only one on his team to see double-digits, finishing with 13 points. Wold also scored 13 points to lead the Bulldogs. Evenson and Bowell each collected seven points while Phillips added six.
Boyceville hosted Cadott (3-7) in a non-conference matchup this past Monday and will be in Elk Mound (7-5, 2-2) Thursday, January 13 before returning home to host second-place Elmwood/Plum City (7-3, 3-1) next Tuesday, January 18.