Colfax boys drop D-SC contest to E-PC Wolves
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by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
In their only game scheduled last week, the Colfax boys let a great opportunity to move up in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference standings get away from them when they lost in Plum City to the Elmwood-Plum City Wolves 55-45. The Vikings had one win in conference play while the Wolves were looking for their first one.
The Vikings were coming off a pretty good showing against a very talented Elk Mound team a week earlier, but on this night the ball just didn’t want to find the bottom of the basket for Colfax. The Wolves were happy to use a slow and patient offense to keep the Vikings from getting fast break transition points and it worked pretty well for them. It took over three minutes before either team put points up which came from Blake Johnson for a 2-0 Viking lead. After E-PC tied it, there were five more tie scores in the first half.
Aiden Fischer, Elijah Entzminger and Fischer again all hit from close range to make it 8-8. Eli Ralph hit a pair of shots near the bucket to make it 12-10 but the Wolves knotted it up. Fischer drained a triple, but the Vikings turned the ball over on the Wolves full court press which led to them hitting a three pointer for a 15-15 tie. E-PC drained another one and added a shot in the paint before Entzminger scored on a layup and the Vikings were down 20-17 when the low-scoring first half ended.
Fischer connected on a jumper and Mason Yarrington drilled a triple early in the second half and the Vikings were within two points, down 24-22. But several turnovers off that same press used in the first half and a couple of shots off the mark allowed E-PC to jump ahead 31-22 before Entzminger drilled a shot from behind the arc. Logan Swartz scored from close range and Fischer added a bucket, but the Wolves were controlling the paint on their end and continued to score easy baskets. Fischer dropped in a free toss but it was 39-30 for the Wolves with around eight minutes to go.
The Vikings had five empty possessions after that including three turnovers and two clear attempts from long range that bounced off the rim. Entzminger finally hit a jumper and Fischer drove through the lane but E-PC pulled ahead 46-34. Ralph fouled out with 3:12 left and the seventh team foul sent the Wolves to the charity stripe five times where they nailed 5-of-8 freebies.
Johnson scored on a drive and after Fischer ended his scoring for the night on a bucket and free toss, Johnson ended the Colfax scoring with another layup.
“We struggled to play solid on the offensive side of the ball,” Colfax coach Mark Noll said. “And E-PC did a good job of making the plays when they needed to,” he added.
Fischer led the Vikings with 17 points while Entzminger added 13. Three different Wolves all had 12 points for a balanced scoring attack. Colfax is now 1-4 in the conference and 4-9 overall.
The boys hosted Glenwood City Tuesday, January 16 and will go on the road to play Mondovi Friday and Eau Claire Regis next Monday, January 22.