Viking boys blast Bulldogs
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COLFAX sophomore Elijah Entzminger (#10) was fouled by Boyceville defender Grant Kaiser on this shot attempt during the Vikings home game against the Bulldogs February 10. Colfax won the game 50-36. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
COLFAX — A huge early lead allowed the Colfax boys to hold off a couple of scoring spurts by Boyceville which resulted in a 50-36 basketball win over the Bulldogs on the Vikings home court Thursday, February 10.
Colfax was looking to get back on the winning track in Dunn-St. Croix Conference play as they started the contest 3-6 in conference and 7-10 overall. The Bulldogs were 4-14 and still looking for their first conference win in 10 attempts.
The game had all the makings of a blowout early on when the Vikings pulled out to a 16-2 lead. Ryan Albricht knocked down a corner triple for the Vikings and after Grant Kaiser scored for the Bulldogs on a put back, the next 14 points came from the Vikings. Albricht canned another trey from the opposite corner, a pair of steals led to a Bryce Sikora layup and a Nate Hydukovich free throw, Nick Jensen scored on a put back, another steal off their pressing defense led to a layup from Eli Entzminger and Sikora added yet another deuce on a fast break shot.
Kaiser broke the Colfax run with his second bucket in the paint and the Bulldogs hit two more shots before Albricht buried his third triple for a 19-8 Colfax advantage. After Jensen hit in the paint, Boyceville pulled a little closer with five points and the half ended with a 21-13 Colfax lead.
Sikora started the second half with a deuce and Entzminger tacked on a pair of free throws, but the Bulldogs, who played with two sets of players throughout the contest, picked up their intensity and went on a seven-point run to cut the Vikings lead to 25-20.
Jensen and Lenz broke the run, each with a shot from close range and when Mitch Medin canned a trey, the Vikings were up by ten at 32-22. But, the Bulldogs still had some fight in them as Simon Evenson drained a triple and Caden Wold scored on a layup to cut the Colfax lead to five again at 32-27 with around 10 minutes to go.
DRIVING THE BASELINE to put up this shot was the Vikings’ Bryce Sikora duringa 50-36 home win over Boyceville February 10. Sikora scored 11 points. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
Hydukovich added a short jumper and the Bulldogs did Colfax a favor by committing their seventh team foul with 9:29 on the clock, resulting in Sikora knocking down a couple of free throws.
Evenson countered those for Boyceville but Albricht proceeded to drain his fourth trey of the contest to get Colfax back up by eight at 39-31. Fortunately for Colfax, the Bulldogs missed several bunnies under the basket in the next couple of minutes and Colfax took advantage with Entzminger hitting a triple from the top of the circle and Sikora canning a short jumper for a 48-34 Viking advantage with around three minutes to play. Colfax ran some time off the clock and Austin Swanson finished off the win with a close range shot.
COLFAX’S Ryan Albricht (#24) prepared to let go of this long jump shot during a home basketball game against Boyceville February 10. Albricht finished with 12 points in the Vikings’ 50-36 win. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
Albricht led the Vikings in the scoring column with 12 points on his four shots from behind the arc and Sikora tallied 11. Entzminger, the Vikings leading scorer with a 12 points per game average was held to seven points, along with seven from Jensen. The Vikings were 10-for-16 at the charity stripe with six triples.
Wold led the Bulldogs with 11 points and the team went 5-for-10 at the foul line with three treys.
“We have been talking about starting faster and we were able to do that,” said Colfax coach Mark Noll. “Just before the half we couldn’t finish the easy baskets. But, we still held them to 13 first half points.”
“We executed well on offense and had 8 different players reach the scoring column. Boyceville using two different teams didn’t bother us. The first time they put their second team in we changed our defense and forced around five turnovers in a row to go up 14-2,” he added.
“I was pleased with our effort and how hard we played.”
The Vikings have three tough conference games this week including back-to-back contests against Spring Valley which began at home last evening with the other on the road Thursday and concluding with a game in Elk Mound the following night, February 18.