Topper boys drop season finale, face Bruce in playoffs
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GLENWOOD CITY senior Jayden Quinn scored on a breakaway layup in the conference matchup against Colfax February 21 in Colfax. —photo by Marlys Kruger
by Joel DeWitt
Sports Correspondent
COLFAX — The Glenwood City boys’ basketball team traveled to Colfax for their season finale. The Hilltoppers have struggled offensively of late, scoring 37 or less in the past five contests.
While the offense did come alive, the Hilltoppers couldn’t match the Vikings second half output. Colfax put up 41 points after intermission to pull away from the Hilltoppers for the 73-55 win.
Glenwood City jumped out to the early 5-0 lead on a pair of Morgan Eggert free throws and a corner 3 pointer from Tyler Harrington.
Colfax battled back and over the next eight minutes outscored the Glenwood 14-1 to take an eight-point lead. Elek Anderson’s alley-oop basket on an inbound play broke the Topper draught and brought them to within six at the midway mark of the first half.
Colfax managed to widen its lead to 26-13 with only four minutes remaining, however the Hilltoppers were able to cut into the lead prior to halftime in large part to a duo of guards.
Harrington’s three field goals, including a 3 pointer, and a pair of Max Janson buckets cut the Viking led to four at 26-22 with two minutes remaining. The teams would trade baskets down the stretch and Colfax held the 32-27 halftime advantage.
Anderson got things going for Glenwood in the second half. A pair of baskets, along with a Jayden Quinn field goal paced the Toppers offensively.
Unfortunately, Glenwood City couldn’t stop the Viking offense. Six straight Colfax points extended its lead to 45-33.
A 3-point play by Max Janson would stem the Viking tide momentarily and pull Glenwood to within nine. However, Colfax remained hot from the field. An ensuing 11-4 run over the next four minutes saw the Vikings extend the lead to 56-40 with only seven minutes remaining.
Glenwood City cut the lead to 11 at 59-48 on a pair of free throws by Anderson but could not get any closer. Colfax outscored the Toppers 14 to seven during the last four minutes to hold on for the 73-55 win.
HILLTOPPER senior Elek Anderson connected on a free throw against Colfax in the game Feb. 21 in Colfax. Anderson scored a team leading 16 points in the conference matchup. —photo by Marlys Kruger
Offensively, the Toppers were led by Anderson with 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting on the evening. Harrington was the only other Topper in double digits with ten points.
The loss drops the Hilltoppers to 3-18 (1-13 in conference) on the season and leaves them as the 15th seed in the WIAA Division 5 regional basketball tournament.
The Hilltoppers traveled to Bruce on February 28 to face the second-seeded Red Raiders. Bruce finished second in the Lakeland East Conference and come into play with an 18-4 record.
The winner of this contest will face either Clayton or Flambeau in second round action on Friday, March 3.