Colfax boys come from behind to win games over Amery and Elmwood-Plum City
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by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
The Colfax boys’ basketball team had to dig deep to pull out a couple of road wins last week, but after trailing both the Amery Warriors and the Elmwood-Plum City Wolves at halftime, they managed to pull out wins. The Vikings won in the final seconds 62-61 over Amery February 13 and with a loss to Elk Mound the next night (see story elsewhere), they finished off the week with a 42-35 win over the Wolves.
The Vikings will finish out the regular season with a pair of home games this week. They hosted Wausau East Monday night and have last-place Glenwood City coming to town Thursday, February 23 to close out the conference schedule.
Amery
It wasn’t a last second shot that won the game for Colfax but it was a mighty big play nonetheless.
Amery, a D3 team, was 5-15 overall and 0-12 in the Middle Border Conference but had some hot shooters in the first half which included five triples and 7-of-9 free throws. Blake Johnson and Elijah Entzminger each had four points in the half for Colfax while Mason Yarrington and Aiden Fischer both drained a triple but they were behind 33-20 at the intermission.
Things were looking a lot worse for Colfax as they fell behind by 19 points in the second half before they started to put everything together. Four different players went to the charity stripe in the half and combined to knock down 14-of-19 free tosses while Fischer nailed two more triples. The Vikings drew to within nine points with eight minutes left, and continued to battle and chip away at the Warriors’ lead. Eventually, they went ahead by one point and had the ball in their possession out of bounds, close to the Warrior basket. The Colfax player couldn’t find an open teammate and tried to call timeout, according to coach Mark Noll, but the referees didn’t hear it with the noisy crowd. They lost possession and the Amery player threw the ball into a player near their basket and Jack Scharlau came up with maybe one of his biggest blocks of his career, ending the game.
Fischer finished with a career high 17 points which included three treys and 6-for-6 at the foul line to lead the Vikings. Entzminger tacked on 16 points while Scharlau contributed with 13 points.
Amery knocked down nine triples with five coming from their leading scorer Carter Wollan who led the team with 30 points. The Warriors hit 10-of-16 free throws in the contest.
Elmwood-Plum City
Colfax and Elmwood-Plum City played a very close game last month with the Vikings sneaking out a three-point win, so this game had all the makings of another evenly matched contest.
The Vikings started off with a 9-2 lead but added just four more points the rest of the half. Six of the 13 points came on free throws with three from Scharlau, two from Entzminger and one by Mitch Medin. Medin added a triple and Nick Jensen a deuce for the scoring. But in the very physical contest, the Wolves were not shooting the lights out themselves and led just 24-13 at the intermission.
Colfax coach Mark Noll had a little heart-to-heart talk with his boys in the locker room about how to make changes in pretty much every aspect of the game.
“We talked about being stronger with the ball, not having so many turnovers and not getting out worked chasing down loose balls,” he said. “We also did not execute on offense,” he added.
The discussion made a world of difference as the Vikings came out strong to start the second half. Entzminger picked up two steals that led to layups which helped jump start the offense.And the defense stepped up too as they held the Wolves to 13 points in the half. Entzminger added another deuce, Scharlau scored three times in the paint, Kyle Irwin tacked on four points with a bucket and a free toss while Fischer knocked down 3 free throws. Nick Jensen scored in the lane early in the half and came up with a huge play with around five minutes to go.
The Vikings were behind with Jensen at the charity stripe. After making the first free throw, Jensen missed the second one but Colfax pulled down the rebound and dished it back to Jensen who drained a triple for a Viking lead. From there on out, the Vikings scored enough points to post the win.
Scharlau finished with 11 points in the contest, Jensen contributed with 10 and Entzminger eight. Colfax knocked down 14-of-21 free throws with just two treys in the contest. Lucas Glaus led the Wolves with 10 points as the team unleashed seven triples and were 6-for-9 at the charity stripe.