Colfax boys fall to Thorp
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by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
THORP — The Colfax boys almost came back from an 18-point deficit to pull off a win but couldn’t come up with enough big shots at the end, resulting in a 53-44 loss to the Thorp Cardinals.
The non-conference game was a make up game from earlier in the season and was played in Thorp February 7.
The Cardinals are members of the Cloverbelt West Conference and were just 5-13 overall at the start of the contest. They didn’t play like a team with only five wins however, as they connected for five triples in the first eight minutes which helped them take a 24-6 lead. The Vikings had yet another one of their slow starts and in their first 12 possessions managed to find the hoop only three times with two shots from Elijah Entzminger and one from Nick Jensen in that run.
Thorp had another 18-point advantage at 26-8 before the Vikings got a wake up call from coach Mark Noll.
Jensen got the ball rolling with a bucket, Tristan Lenz and Entzminger scored from the paint, Bryce Sikora added a close range shot, Lenz added another deuce, Nate Hydukovich and Jensen both hit a deuce and suddenly the Vikings were down just 27-20. The Cardinals nailed another triple and Entzminger closed out the first half scoring with a layup and the halftime score was 32-22 in Thorp’s favor.
The Cardinals helped the Vikings by missing 3-of-4 free throws in the early going of the second half and the Vikings took advantage of it. Lenz scored from the paint and Entzminger drained a triple, and after Ryan Albricht swiped the ball away, Lenz scored on a put back. After a Sikora free toss, Colfax was down 33-30 and seemed to have the Cardinals rattled. Entzminger knocked down a free throw, Albricht scored from the lane, and Entzminger followed that by flying down court for a layup knotting the score at 35-35.
Thorp went up on a bucket but, Hydukovich countered with his own to make it 37-37. With 8:07 on the clock, Entzminger canned his second shot from long range for a 40-37 advantage, and Jensen’s shot under the hoop put them up by five points.
But, five quick points by Thorp, on a deuce and yet another trey tied it up at 42-42 and the Vikings seemed to run out of gas.
The Cardinals scored the next ten points as the Vikings missed on several three point attempts and turned the ball over a bunch of times. Entzminger added on a final bucket with a few seconds left and Colfax ended up with their third straight loss.
“After falling behind by 18 points we went on a 33-15 run to take the lead,” coach Noll said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t make our shots or execute down the stretch,” he added.
Entzminger was the bright spot for the Vikings with 19 points while Jensen and Lenz both added eight. Colfax didn’t get to the foul stripe very often, knocking down 2-of-6 free throws. Thorp was 7-for-20 in free throws with seven triples.