Colfax boys hit trifecta with three conference wins
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by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
The Colfax boys certainly got a workout last week when they played and won three Dunn-St. Croix Conference basketball games, all in different fashion.
Starting with a home game against Boyceville Monday, January 16 the game was pretty close against the Bulldogs before the Vikings pulled away midway through the second half for a 68-50 win. Twenty-four hours later, the Vikings stayed home and had to overcome a 12-point deficit against Elmwood-Plum City before pulling out a 52-49 win with just seconds to go. And Colfax started the Friday, January 20 game at Glenwood City on a 9-0 run and held a lead the entire game, ending it with a 65-52 win over the Hilltoppers.
Colfax is now 9-4 overall and 4-3 in conference play. They will host Mondovi this Thursday night then travel to Osceola Friday night.
Boyceville
Whenever the Vikings and Bulldogs face off on the hard court, you can bet it will be a very physical game with a lot of run-and-gun play throughout the contest.
Nick Olson started the Bulldogs off with a triple while Elijah Entzminger hit a pair of free throws for Colfax. Kyle Irwin drained a triple for Colfax to knot the score at 7-7 and Jack Scharlau put the Vikings up on a shot in the paint.
Colfax coach Mark Noll was using a little hockey strategy as he put a whole new string of players in resulting in a pair of three-point shots from Mason Yarrington for a 15-12 Viking advantage. The first shift returned for Colfax and the Bulldogs pulled ahead 17-15 on a couple of free throws by Simon Evenson and a long ball from Caden Wold. Nick Jensen knotted it up with a jumper but Boyceville went back up 20-17 when Jack Phillips scored in the lane and added a free toss.
It was all Entzminger for the next three Viking possessions as he canned a short jump shot and followed up with back to back triples. Mitch Medin added his own trey for a 28-22 Viking lead. Colfax maintained a 4-8 point advantage with help from Scharlau’s put back and reverse layup to make it 32-24 but the Bulldogs continued to score to keep it close. Entzminger added another deuce while Peter Wheeldon and Olson combined for four points for Boyceville bringing the Viking lead down to 34-28. Aiden Fischer scored in the paint and an
Entzminger free toss upped the Viking lead to 37-28 but the Bulldogs continued to fight back when Evenson drilled a triple, Phillips scored on a put back and Chase Hollister hit a deuce with a free toss. Yarrington halted the streak by draining his third trey of the half and it was a 40-36 advantage at the break for Colfax.
The second half began pretty fast and furious with both teams racing up and down the court, but Scharlau kept himself under control as he came up with six points on both a pair of deuces and free throws for a 46-38 lead and the score seemed to be stuck on that for several minutes. Entzminger finally changed it with a triple and teammate Medin followed with one of his own. Jensen added a bucket with a free toss while Fischer dropped in a couple of deuces to put the Vikings in control at 60-42. Entzminger came up with a fantastic shot when a baseball pass from under the Bulldog basket went all the way down court for him to snare and it appeared he had passed the basket when he flipped the ball up and in the hoop.
Jensen and Fischer both scored from close range and Colfax coach Mark Noll cleared his bench with just under two minutes to go to finish things off.
Scharlau pounded the paint with eight buckets and two free throws for 18 points while Entzminger added 16 points which included a trio of triples and free throws each. Yarrington put up nine points on his own three long balls. Colfax shot 6-of-11 from the charity stripe with ten three point shots. Boyceville was led by Evenson and Wold, both with ten points. The Bulldogs drained five triples and were 11-for-12 at the foul line.
Elmwood-Plum City
Playing back-to-back games for the Vikings did not fare well for them a week earlier when they lost to Spring Valley a night after playing another game. This contest played at home Tuesday, January 17 against Elmwood-Plum City seemed to be a replay when the Vikings looked to be a step behind the Wolves on defense in the first half.
Scharlau started things off with a pair of buckets in the paint with Jensen adding another for a 6-6 tie and Irwin canned a triple for a 9-6 advantage. The Wolves countered with four points for a one-point lead and after Jensen scored on a put back, it was countered once again by E-PC. Colfax went on a cold streak offensively and allowed the Wolves to pull ahead 17-11 before Fischer scored on a lay up. Three more empty possessions followed for the Vikings and the Wolves took advantage, taking a 22-13 lead before Entzminger hit a bucket, Scharlau dropped in two free tosses and Entzminger added his own to draw closer, down 22-18.
Lucas Glaus had the hot hand for E-PC as he hit back-to-back triples and his fellow teammates scored on a bucket and two freebies. Entzminger dropped in a short jumper but the Vikings trailed at the intermission 32-20.
Colfax coach Mark Noll had to give his team a little pep talk in the locker room which seemed to do the trick.
“We talked about how we wanted to defend their offense,” he said. “We also discussed our offense and moving the ball more and not taking the first open look we got,” he added.
Colfax began to peck away at the deficit with Scharlau scoring on a reverse lay up. Irwin canned two free throws and Blake Johnson connected from long range for his first points of the night and Colfax was down 34-27. Entzminger came up with a swipe and a lay up and another deuce while Scharlau continued to dominate in the paint with a couple of more buckets.
Down by three at 43-40 with around six minutes to go, Scharlau scored from close range but the Wolves matched that bucket. Scharlau then pounded the ball into the hoop and made the foul shot with it and it was knotted at 45-45 with 5:17 left.
Glaus answered again for E-PC and both teams came up empty on their next three possessions. Scharlau finally broke the streak with yet another shot in the paint to make it 47-47 with 3:00 to go.
The Wolves had no answer for Scharlau at this point as he scored from close range again but E-PC had three chances under their own basket and finally put it in for a 49-49 score. Colfax had the ball and coach Noll called a timeout with 52 seconds on the clock, and whether or not the Vikings followed his advice, things worked out as Fischer hit the biggest triple of his career for the go ahead points with 25 seconds left.
E-PC took the ball out and used their final timeout with 13 seconds left to set up a play. Noll used a little NBA strategy with his team having only four fouls, he had them foul the Wolves twice to take time off the clock. The strategy seemed to throw them off and with 5.6 seconds left the in-bounds pass went all the way to the back court and a long three-point attempt bounced off the rim, preserving the Colfax win.
“We talked during that last time out about what play we wanted to execute and not to force the shot,” Noll said. “Jack did a good job by kicking it out to Elijah and Elijah and Aiden did a great job reading the defense and creating an open shot for Aiden who hit the 3,” he concluded.
On the strength of nine buckets in the paint and three free throws, Scharlau tallied 21 points for the Vikings while Entzminger scored 11. Colfax was 6-for-10 in free throws with four triples. Glaus tied Scharlau in points with 21 for the Wolves who also had four treys and were 5-for-6- at the charity stripe.
Glenwood City
The Hilltoppers have been having problems winning conference games the last few years, and the Vikings have defeated them the last eight times they have played. Johnson began the night 12 seconds into the game with a triple, Jensen banged in two free throws, Johnson scored on a lay up and Irwin hit from close range for a 9-0 lead.
They upped the advantage to 14-2 and with 10:00 to go in the half, the Toppers committed their seventh team foul. After Fischer scored in the lane for a 19-5 score, Glenwood City went on a short run of six points to make it 19-11. Jensen was dominant in the paint all night as he hit a bucket and a couple of free tosses while Entzminger took another long baseball pass and added a lay up.
Irwin, Scharlau, Entzminger and Scharlau all added a deuce to make it 33-16 and three free throws (one on a technical foul) by Entzminger along with a buzzer beater from Fischer gave Colfax a comfortable 38-21 at the half.
Irwin began the second half just like Johnson started the game – with a triple and Scharlau and Yarrington both drained one of their own. Ben Scharlau got into the scoring action with a shot in the paint and after Colfax upped the lead to 61-34, the Toppers came alive again with eight points in a row to make it 61-42. But Jensen finished off the scoring with his fifth and sixth bucket in the lane for the half to finish with a career high 20 points.
Irwin and Entzminger finished with nine points each and Jack Scharlau and Johnson both scored eight for the game. Colfax shot 8-for-17 at the foul line with five treys in the contest. Morgen Eggert and Max Janson led the Toppers with 13 points apiece and the team had just one made shot from behind the arc while making 11-of-19 free tosses.