Colfax boys whip Blair-Taylor Wildcats, fall to Fall Creek Crickets

PROTECTED CONTENT

If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.

Username

Password

Login

Lost your password?

Username and Password Help

Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.

Email

Submit

← Back

by Marlys Kruger

Sports Correspondent

In a first-round WIAA Division 4 regional game played Tuesday, February 28 on their home floor, the Colfax boys’ basketball team played one of their most complete games of the season, resulting in a 70-57 win over the Blair-Taylor Wildcats.

Three days later, they traveled to Fall Creek to face the  top-seeded Crickets and ended up losing 78-51. The loss ended the Vikings’ season with a 13-13 record.

Blair-Taylor

The Wildcats were the number 9 seed, coming in with an overall record of 13-11 and with an enrollment of 189 students, were just a few students over the cutoff of falling into Division 5. They are coached by well known Randy Storlie and boasted three players with a double-digit points per game scoring average. The Vikings were the 8 seed so the game had all the makings of an evenly matched contest.

The game began that way with the Wildcats jumping out to a 4-0 lead, but it was quickly knotted when Jack Scharlau scored on a put back and Elijah Entzminger hit a short jumper. Nick Jensen then knocked down a pair of free throws for a 6-4 Colfax lead but B-T tied it at 6-6. 

Scharlau and Entzminger combined for the next ten Viking points, all from around the paint, but most of their shots were countered by the Wildcats. Entzminger’s steal and end-to-end drive for a layup gave Colfax a 16-15 advantage, but both teams cooled off in the shooting department as neither team scored in three possessions. Scharlau came up with a couple of huge blocks during that time before Aiden Fischer hit a free throw for the Vikings. The Cats canned their third triple to go up 18-17 but Scharlau put up a shot and got the home court bounce to put Colfax back up 19-18.

By now it was pretty easy to see the Colfax game plan was to win the physical battle and try to pound the ball inside. Jensen scored on a little baby hook and added a free throw for a 22-20 lead but seconds later it was tied again

The last three minutes of the half may have been the turning point of the game as the Vikings, with help by several players pulling down rebounds on the defensive end and assisting Scharlau and Entzminger on the offensive side, went on a 13-point run finishing the half with a 35-22 lead with all of the points coming from close range and the free throw line. The final shot came at the buzzer from Scharlau after the Vikings controlled the ball for the final 25 seconds.

The Wildcats scored quickly to start the second stanza but Kyle Irwin zipped a pass to Scharlau in the lane for a deuce and Blake Johnson drained the first triple of the game for the Vikings and a 40-26 advantage.

Colfax continued to dominate in the paint with Entzminger driving the lane for buckets, Jensen adding a deuce and two free throws and Scharlau’s two free tosses made it 51-30. The Cats battled back with a couple of treys with around ten minutes left, but they were off the mark on several more attempts. 

Irwin, who had several of the Viking assists, decided to get in the scoring action and canned a shot from behind the arc, but the Cats added two more long balls of their own. Johnson picked up an assist on Jensen’s deuce and after a mad scramble with bodies from both teams hitting the floor, B-T ended up with the ball and added another triple. The Viking’s lead had been cut to 10 points with around four minutes to go but Irwin found Jensen again for two points and Jensen added another deuce to maintain a 10-point lead.

Scharlau tacked on two points when the Vikings beat the B-T press but a bucket and a free throw from the Cats Evan Nehring cut the Colfax lead to nine at 64-55. Time was not on the Cats side however, and with a minute left, Jensen drained two free throws and Entzminger followed suit for a 68-57 advantage.

Both teams cleared their benches and the final points of the game came from maybe the new Mr. Clutch, as Ashton Greenwell drove the lane and scored on a floater for the Vikings.

Three Vikings accounted for 61 of their total points including 27 by Scharlau, and 17 each from Entzminger and Jensen. Irwin and Johnson had the only triples in the contest for three points each, and Greenwell added two with Fischer one. Colfax was 16-of-19 from the foul stripe and according to coach Mark Noll, the team had just five fouls called on them, a team record.

Nehring scored 17 points for the Wildcats, one point below his average, Ethan Kniseley hit his average of 16 points right on the nose and Jaren Swanson also hit his average with 11 points. B-T had just three attempts at the charity stripe and made two but they drilled eight triples in the game.

Fall Creek

The Vikings ran into a buzz saw when they took on the number one seed Crickets in a regional semifinal matchup Friday, March 3.

Led by 6’ 6” Bo Vollrath and a couple of other tall players, the Crickets came in with a 20-4 record and were a number 1 seed in the regional. Using their quickness and athletic ability they scored a lot of their points on fast break layups. Colfax fell behind 11-2 with Entzminger scoring their only bucket before Scharlau added a shot in the paint. Mitch Medin canned a triple and Fischer scored two quick buckets to get the Vikings within two points, down 13-11.

Fall Creek continued to use their speed to cause turnovers and get points off of them to maintain a lead. 

Fischer had the hot hand with a three pointer from the corner and a minute or so later drained another one, and with the Vikings down just 22-17, the Colfax crowd started to buzz a bit. But a five-point run by the Crickets quieted them down.

Scharlau scored off an in-bounds pass and Entzminger hit a short jumper but the half ended with the Crickets up 31-21.

“I thought we did some good stuff in the first half against a really big and aggressive team,” Colfax coach Mark Noll said.

Irwin started the second half with a put back but the Vikings went on a dry spell and couldn’t score on six possessions. Entzminger and Scharlau managed to score a deuce each but Fall Creek was scoring from all over including a couple of triples and a semi-dunk from Vollrath to make it 47-27. Colfax committed their seventh foul with 10:57 left in the game which didn’t help matters much but it was 51-27 at this point.

Scharlau and Entzminger continued to add points while Irwin banked in a shot and Jensen, who had the dubious honor of trying to keep Vollrath under control, scored his first point on a free throw. Jensen added his first bucket shortly after but the Vikings were down 71-43. Fischer canned his third triple and with the backups in, Greenwell canned yet another late game three pointer and Fischer finished off the scoring on a layup.

Fischer led the Vikings with 15 points, Scharlau added 13 and Entzminger 10. Colfax made five triples and were 6-for-12 at the foul line. Vollrath finished with 29 points for the Crickets who had four treys and were 12-for-16 at the charity stripe. (Fall Creek blasted Spring Valley two nights later to win the regional crown).

The Vikings will say good bye to five seniors including Mitch Medin, Kyle Irwin, Jack Scharlau, Nick Jensen and Ashton Greenwell.

“I absolutely love our boys and their families,” coach Noll said. “They accepted their roles and worked really hard all season. They did everything we asked of them and then some. I am proud of our team for finishing 13-13 overall and playing an extremely tough schedule. Our non-conference schedule was really tough with one game versus a D2 school and seven games against D3, and two D5 teams. Four of those teams won their conferences,” he concluded.