Colfax boys finish up regular season with one win, one loss
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MITCH Medin of Colfax searched for an open teammate while being guarded by a Glenwood City player in the conference contest played in Colfax February 21. Colfax won their final regular season game 73-55. —photo by Marlys Kruger
by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
With the WIAA regional tournament just around the corner, the Colfax boys concluded their non-conference schedule with a 69-57 loss to Division 2 Wausau East February 20, but finished the regular season on a high note with a 73-55 win against Dunn-St. Croix Conference foe Glenwood City less than 24 hours later. Both games were played on the Viking’s home court and left them with a 12-12 overall record and 6-8 in conference play.
Wausau East
The Lumberjacks were 7-15 overall and 5-8 in the Wisconsin Valley Conference play but most of their competition came against Division 1 and 2 teams. Colfax coach Mark Noll wanted to play some different competition in their non-conference games to help prepare them for the regional tournament.
But it appeared the Lumberjacks were way out of their league when they started with a 14-0 lead. Aiden Fischer finally got the Vikings on the board with a three point shot and added a free throw a minute later but they were behind 19-4. Mitch Medin drained a triple and Colton Hoffman sank two free tosses to get Colfax within 10 points, down 19-9 but it took several trips down court before they would add anymore points. Jack Scharlau added a bucket off a fast break to make it 22-11, and after an East deuce, Colfax used a shot from the top of the key from Nick Jensen and a pair of free throws by Scharlau to get closer, down 22-15.
The Lumberjacks were throwing several different defenses against the Vikings most of the night which made it difficult to get any rhythm on offense. Making matters worse, Elijah Entzminger, one of the Vikings leading scorers, was called for his third foul early in the half and he had to take a seat on the bench.
But the Vikings have shown their resiliency in several games this season, and they pulled back to within five points when Jensen drilled a trey and Fischer dropped in two free throws. Fischer battled under the hoop and got his own rebound for a put back and after Jensen drove through the lane for a bucket, the Vikings were behind 28-24. Medin added two freebies and the half ended with Wausau up 30-26.
Things were looking up early in the second half as a couple of buckets by Jensen knotted the game at 30-30. But the Vikings never made it over the hump as every shot they made was countered by the Lumberjacks. Hoffman scored on a jumper, Jensen got the home court bounce with his shot falling in but the Vikings went on a cold snap with several turnovers, allowing Wausau to pull ahead 41-34. Entzminger was back in the game and scored four points on two shots in the paint and Fischer scored from close range and the Vikings were back in it, down 46-40. With around 9:00 on the clock, Scharlau and Entzminger scored on close range shots to cut the deficit to two.
Things turned sour however, as Entzminger was called for a charge for his fourth foul and a couple of minutes later, Scharlau drew his fourth foul. The Lumberjacks scored the next five points before Entzminger knocked down a free throw, and when Scharlau added a bucket with a free toss, it was back to a five point deficit. The Lumberjacks scored quickly with a triple and a deuce and although Entzminger drilled a triple and Scharlau added a shot in the paint, Wausau continued scoring themselves and eventually pulled away for the win.
COLFAX senior Ashton Greenwell made the most of his playing time by knocking down a free throw and seconds later draining a three point shot in the final regular season game against Glenwood City February 21 in Colfax. —photo by Marlys Kruger
“Wausau East was a big and physical team that played really hard coming from a bigger conference, “coach Noll said. “They played a really aggressive full court defense and kept switching up what they were playing. This game will help us in the playoffs,” he added.
Jensen led the Vikings with 13 points while Fischer and Entzminger both finished with 12 and Scharlau 11. Colfax made 11-of-15 free throws with four triples. Jesse Napgezek scored 14 points to lead the Lumberjacks who made 14-of 25 free throws and five treys.
Glenwood City
With yet another snow storm about to hit the area, this game was moved up from Thursday to Tuesday at 6:15. The Hilltoppers had just one win on the season but had been steadily improving since the first time the Vikings beat them 65-52 back in January.
It was senior night for the Vikings and coach Noll changed his starting lineup a bit, allowing his five seniors to start the game. That included Scharlau, Jensen, Irwin, Mitch Medin and Ashton Greenwell. After falling behind 5-0, senior Scharlau put the Vikings on the scoreboard with a layup after he stole the ball on the full court press employed by the Vikings. Entzminger went on a tear, scoring 12 of the Viking’s next 14 points with a bucket by Scharlau in the mix as Colfax pulled ahead 16-8
Fischer drained a couple of free tosses and the Toppers committed their seventh team foul with around 6:30 to go in the half. When Colfax appeared to be pulling away with a 26-13 advantage, the Toppers scored seven quick points on a deuce from Max Janson and a fast break layup and triple from Tyler Harrington. Another pair of Glenwood City buckets cut the Colfax lead to 28-24 before Entzminger continued with the hot hand on a couple of free throws and a jumper from the top of the key before a Topper triple finished off the first half with a 32-27 lead for the Vikings.
After Scharlau scored on a put back when Irwin battled for the rebound, Harrington matched it but from then on, the Vikings began to stretch their lead out, With help by a Medin three pointer and five consecutive points by Jensen, the Viking advantage jumped to 44-33. Scharlau and Entzminger did most of the damage offensively the rest of the way, but the Viking defense did their job, producing turnovers by the Toppers and forcing them into bad shots. The game was getting pretty physical as both teams were in the bonus with around seven minutes to go, resulting in several trips to the charity stripe.
After Entzminger knocked down two freebies for his 26th and 27th points of the game, making it 66-51, the Vikings slowed the game down, playing for a good shot. Greenwell, who hadn’t played high school ball since his freshman year, entered the game for the last two minutes and was fouled on a shot attempt. He missed his first free throw, but brought the crowd to their feet when he made the second one. Fellow senior Irwin knocked down a free toss for his first points of the game, and the crowd roared when a Viking player dished the ball to Greenwell, who was wide open in the corner as he calmly drilled a three pointer to finish off the win.
“We celebrated senior night with a win and all five seniors scored,” coach Noll said. “We finished the regular season with a 12-12 record and we will host Blair-Taylor Tuesday night in the first round of the WIAA regional, “ he exclaimed.
The Vikings scored their 72 points by hitting just two triples and were 15-for-31 at the foul line. Entzminger’s 27 points came on 10 shots around the lane and 7-for-9 at the charity stripe. Scharlau added 20 points while Fischer and Jensen both scored nine, Greenwell tacked on four, Medin three and Irwin one. The Toppers were led by Anderson with 16 points. Glenwood City finished with three triples and a 10-for-17 performance at the charity stripe.
Coach Noll was right. The Vikings are a number eight seed in the Division 4 regional and host number nine seed Blair-Taylor this Tuesday. B-T is 13-10 overall and plays in the Large Dairyland Conference. The winner would take on number 1 seed Fall Creek Friday night.