Colfax boys lose pair of non-conference basketball games to Amery and Bloomer
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by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
It hasn’t been a good start to the basketball season for the Colfax boys as they dropped two non-conference games to Division 3 schools last week.
They hosted the Amery Warriors on Tuesday, November 28 and were defeated 71-59, then two days later traveled to Bloomer to take on the Blackhawks and were blasted 70-37.
Colfax (0-3) plays three games this week. The Vikings played in Whitehall Monday evening, travel to Durand-Arkansaw this Thursday to open Dunn-St. Croix Conference play and will take on Chippewa Falls McDonell Saturday night at UW-Stout. Next Tuesday, December 12, Colfax will be in Boyceville.
Amery
The Vikings beat the Warriors a year ago by a point, 62-61, but this year’s Warrior team has most of the starters back, including guard Carter Wollan who averaged 27 points a game.
Colfax had their shooting woes again as they made just 1-of-12 three-point attempts in the first half. After starting the game by missing three of them, Orion Nichols and Elijah Entzminger both scored from close range and Mason Yarrington finally knocked down a triple to put the Vikings up 7-5 early in the contest. With the game knotted at 9-9, Entzminger dropped in a free throw and hit a jumper for a 12-9 advantage but a Warrior triple tied it again. Amery pulled ahead 18-12 before Entzminger scored from the paint and after Amery countered, Entzminger once again scored on a jump shot and added a free toss.
The Vikings were off the mark on back-to-back three-point attempts which allowed the Warriors to jump ahead 29-17 before Nichols connected for his second deuce of the game. Aiden Fischer hit a shot in the lane and after a couple of more Colfax attempts from long range were off the mark, Amery took a 38-21 lead into the intermission.
“The first 12 minutes we had a back-and-forth game score wise,” Colfax head coach Mark Noll said. “Then we went cold. We have to figure out how to handle that when it happens and how to get the shots we want. We were taking some early shots and they weren’t dropping which led to Amery getting the momentum,” he added.
The Vikings started the second half with two more missed shots from long range and the Warriors took advantage as they scored ten points to move ahead 48-21. Fischer finally stopped the bleeding with a triple. The Vikings were finding the basket more often with Entzminger scoring four points on a fast break layup and a drive through the lane, while Fischer drilled another triple but Colfax was down 52-31.
Theo Hovde scored his first points of the game, draining a three ball and Entzminger added one of his own and scored from the top of the key. Yarrington added his second and third triples on consecutive possessions and the Vikings were behind 66-45. Eli Ralph knocked down a free throw, then stole the ball and zipped a pass to Entzminger who scored on a fast break. Fischer scored on a layup then added a put back and suddenly the Vikings were down by just 11 points at 68-57 with 1:13 left in the game. But the Warriors were in a double bonus the last few minutes and spent a lot of time on the free throw line. They hit enough shots there to keep the lead and Ralph finished off the Viking scoring with a shot in the paint.
“We outscored Amery in the second half but we left nine points on the foul line,” Noll said. “And some of those misses were on the front end of a one and one. Our team will continue to improve as they gain experience,” he concluded.
Entzminger led the Vikings with 21 points with Fischer adding 12 and Yarrington nine. The Vikings were 3-for-12 from the foul line with eight triples, three from Yarrington. Amery wasn’t much better at the charity stripe with an 11-for-22 performance while making eight shots from long range. Carter Wollan was held under his average with 22 points but Keaton Wollan added 21.
Bloomer
The Blackhawks were 15-9 overall a year ago and fourth in the Cloverbelt West Conference. They are led by senior Domanych Schwarzenberger who averaged 21 points a game as a junior.
Entzminger scored eight first half points while Fischer picked up seven to go with a pair of triples by Yarrington but the Vikings were behind 30-19 at the break. They were outscored 40-18 in the second half however, as the Blackhawks knocked down eight of their 12 triples of the game in the half.
“We played a decent first half with some good open looks, but we didn’t connect and that could have really helped us,” coach Noll said.
Fischer continued to have the hot hand, scoring 14 of his team high 20 points for the game coming on five close range shots and four free throws. In fact, Fischer was the only Viking to attempt a free throw all game and was 5-for-7 for the night. Entzminger added nine points on three close range shots and one trey, Yarrington finished with just his two first half triples and Nate Edwards scored his first varsity points with a deuce. Bloomer made 7-of-12 free tosses to go with the 12 triples in the contest. Schwarzenberger went over his average with 24 points which included three shots from long range and 7-of-8 free throws. Hunter Marek had a hot hand with five shots from behind the arc with four in the second half.
“I give Bloomer credit as they came out and played more physical than we did,” Noll said. “This is something we need to keep improving on. We haven’t shied away from very good competition in our non-conference schedule and we feel like these games will help us get ready for Dunn-St. Croix Conference play,” he added.