Neillsville, O-W deal Hornets pair of defeats
By Nathaniel Underwood
The Colby boys basketball team closed out conference play with two losses last week, falling on the road to Neillsville before coming up short in an upset bid against Owen-Withee at home. They will finish the season with a 6-8 record in the Cloverbelt-East and currently hold an 8-13 overall record.
Owen-Withee, 51-46
The Hornets had an opportunity to avenge a road loss to Owen-Withee and deal their Cloverbelt-East rivals a critical late season loss last Friday evening, but the Blackhawks managed to hold on to escape Colby with a 51-46 defeat of the home team.
The battle between the two conference foes was a low scoring, defensive slugfest. Both teams shot under 30 percent from the field and 20 percent or less from beyond the three point line. With points difficult to come by, neither squad was able to take a definitive lead at any point in the contest, instead needing to go down right to the wire to decide a victor.
With just over a minute left in the contest, the Blackhawks held a 44-40 advantage and had just secured possession after a miss from Colby. Full court pressure from the Hornets allowed Landon Steinman to come up with an important steal and the Colby senior sank a clutch corner three not long after to bring his team back within one. Three free throws from Owen-Withee gave them a little breathing room, but Tucker Hayes managed to fight through contact to put in an offensive rebound and then hit the following free throw.
Down by just one once more and with 30 seconds left, Colby got a little help from the Blackhawks after the visitors made just one of their two free throw attempts, giving the Hornets an opportunity to tie or take the lead on their next possession. A third clutch shot was not in the cards for the trailing Colby squad, however, and a final turnover ultimately felled the home team.
While the second half was a closely contested, back and forth affair where neither team had a lead larger than five points, the first half was categorized by lengthy runs. Baskets from Steinman and Reed Fleischmann had the Hornets up 5-0 to start the game, but Owen-Withee answered by scoring 11 straight points. Fleischmann finally answered with a long-range jumper and Hayden Kaiser added a three to bring Colby back within one, but a 9-0 run from the Blackhawks saw them nearly double up the Hornets once again.
Unlike in their first matchup of the season, Colby did not allow their conference foes to pull away and a 10-0 run featuring six points from Miguel Morillon briefly put the home team up by one. Owen-Withee scored before the end of the half to retake the lead, but the Hornets managed to keep things close throughout the entirety of the second period.
A 7-0 run for the Hornets was the largest swing of the second half and put Colby up 28-26. Fleischmann hit a three that started the run and two fast break baskets from Luke Hannula and Morillon put the Hornets ahead. Colby could not distance themselves from the Blackhawks, however, and the visitors were eventually able to retake a small lead midway through the period that they held onto for the rest of the contest.
Fleischmann finished with most points for the Hornets, ending the game with 12 points and adding seven rebounds. Morillon had nine points, seven rebounds and four assists and Hannula, Steinman and Hayes all had six points each. Hayes also had seven rebounds, Hannula picked up five rebounds and two assists and Steinman had three rebounds and two assists. Colton Orth led the team with eight rebounds while picking up four points and Kaiser finished with three points and two assists.
Neillsville, 63-51
While Colby outscored the Warriors 49-38 over the middle 27 minutes of their game last Tuesday in Neillsville, the home team dominated both the start and the end of the Cloverbelt- East conference game. The Warriors scored the game’s first 13 points and ended on a 12-2 run to deal the Hornets a 63-51 loss.
The visiting Colby squad was held scoreless over the first four minutes of the contest and found themselves in a double-digit deficit before a free throw from Tucker Hayes put them up on the scoreboard. The Hornets did not allow their opponents to completely run away with the game, playing relatively evenly with them throughout much of the rest of the period.
A three from Reed Fleischmann and a basket courtesy of Miguel Morillon on the final two Colby possessions of the half even had them cut the Neillsville lead back down to single-digits, going into halftime down 3324.
A flurry of scoring from the visiting Hornets to open the second half had them tightening the gap further. The Warriors managed a trio of threes over this span to keep Colby at bay momentarily, but it wasn’t enough to fully stem the surging Hornets. Seven straight points via two baskets from Hayes and three from Steinman brought the Hornets within five at one point and an 8-0 run a few possessions later featuring a putback from Hayden Kaiser, a corner three from Landon Steinman and an old fashioned three point play from Hayes knotted the game at 42-42.
Neillsville countered with five straight points of their own, however, and Colby would never be able to claim the lead for themselves. A free throw from Luke Hannula had them back within two points at 51-49, but the Warriors went on to score 12 straight points down the stretch, holding the Hornets to just two points over the final five minutes of the contest.
Fleischmann had a team-high 13 points while also bringing down six rebounds. Hayes had 10 points and four rebounds, Morillon collected nine points, five assists and two steals and Steinman finished with seven points and three assists. Kaiser led the team in rebounds with nine while also picking up five points, Colton Orth collected four points and Hannula had three points and five rebounds.
The Hornets will have a final regular season game in Cadott on Thursday, Feb. 27, before hosting Crandon in the first round of the WIAA Division 4 playoffs after earning the eighth seed in their sectional. The ninthseeded Cardinals currently hold the top record in the Northern Lakes conference, going 8-1 against their conference opponents, but have struggled in non-conference play, going 4-9. Crandon has four players who average double-digit points per game, guard Jaxon Keepers leading the way with 17.4 points per game. The first round playoff game will be held on Tuesday, March 4 at 7 p.m.
LOCKDOWN DEFENSE - Landon Steinman forces Owen-Withee’s Mason Gay to look to pass after not giving him any room to operate.
STAFF PHOTOS/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
COLLISION COURSE - Reed Fleischmann earns a trip to the free throw line Friday against the Blackhawks.
