Colby armed with seniors, experience

The 2022-23 season for the Colby Hornets boys basketball squad began on Tuesday evening against a tough Auburndale team. While they fell to the Eagles, who were ranked sixth in Division 4 by Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook, one could see the flashes of what could make this team a force in the Cloverbelt conference.

Athleticism and size will be huge for a Hornets team filled with seniors. There are 10 seniors on the varsity squad, many of whom were part of the 2021-22 team that went 17-8, took third in the Cloverbelt- East and made it to the regional finals in last year’s WIAA playoffs.

While they will certainly have experience on their side, the Hornets will be short some key pieces from last year’s team. The team’s two top scorers, Richard Streveler and Brody Decker, have graduated, and someone, or several someones, will have to step up in their absence.

“You can never replace a person, just because they’re all unique and they have their own style,” head coach Jimmy Flink said. “Brody, Richard, and Brandon [Voelker], they probably averaged, those three together, 30-some points per game. With the players that we do have coming back, I think we have the scoring that we can try to make that up. The thing is that we need to find the leadership, focus, and the balance that I think Richard and the rest of the seniors did a good job with last year.”

While they are only a week into the season, Flink has started to see some of that from his team, which will likely be led by that large group of seniors.

In terms of all-conference returnees, the Hornets will be bringing back second- team all-conference player Mateo Lopez, whose 9.7 points per game during the 2021-22 season was the third most for the Hornets and Kaden Wiese, who was named as an honorable mention player and was second on the team with 52 made three-pointers and third in rebounds.

Tevin Rue, Caden Healy, and Tucker Meyer all saw significant time last season as well, with Rue averaging 7.1 points per game, Meyer 6.2 points per game and 4.0 rebounds per game, and Healy second on the team in rebounds per game with 6.4. Junior Joseph Streveler will also be returning with a fair amount of varsity experience from last season.

In addition to the above, Flink has liked what he’s seen from his other seniors Nathaniel Robida, Oscar Zamora, Eli Schmitt and Eddie Ortega, all of whom he sees as possible contributors as the season progresses.

“I like to play eight or nine guys, just to keep players fresh,” Flink said. “The depth is good as we have some football injuries carried over and things come up during the season, so it’s always good to have that many kids.”

In addition to their depth, utilizing the team’s aforementioned height and athleticism will be key to any future success.

“One of our big strengths is that our height is pretty good,” Flink said, with most of his projected starters coming in at six feet or taller. “But we’re not just tall. We’ve got quick kids and we still have good three-point shooters, so I think we’re going to be a tough team.”

Using height to bring down rebounds can be a powerful weapon, but it is also one of the more difficult things to teach. Turning that height into a positive rebounding ratio is something that could be a big sticking point for Colby. “It’s hard to teach rebounding; a lot of times it just comes down to a want, wanting it more,” the Hornets’ coach stated. “Last year, Richard was one of the shortest kids on the team, and one game he had 17 or 18 rebounds in a game, just because he wanted it. It’s a hard thing to teach kids to keep playing after the shot goes up.”

The Cloverbelt-East, at least on paper, seems to be set up for one of the most competitive seasons that Flink has seen in his tenure. Last year’s champions, Columbus Catholic, are likely to field a team looking to go deep into the playoffs, coming into the season ranked first in Division 5, and Neillsville and Owen-Withee appear to have solid lineups as well. The Hornets seem to figure into that top echelon of teams as well, though they’re looking to take things one game at a time.

Their first challenge of the season came in the form of the Auburndale Eagles, which Colby hosted for their season opener on Tuesday evening.

The Hornets were the ones to oust Auburndale from the playoffs last year, but the Eagles would take the rematch. Colby held tough in the first half, generating offense through aggressive drives to the basket and opening up passing lanes because of it. The Eagles started to pull away as the half ended, however, taking a five-point lead into halftime. The visitors would continue to build on that momentum in the second half and what had once been a close game would get away from the Hornets, ultimately ending in a 73-55 victory for Auburndale.

Kaden Wiese led Colby with 15 points, followed by Caden Healy with 12 and Joe Streveler with 11. Tucker Meyer and Tevin Rue contributed seven points each.

Auburndale held an advantage over Colby from beyond the arc and from the charity stripe. The Eagles had eight three-point field goals compared to the Hornets’ three and made 17 of 22 free throw attempts compared to Colby’s six of nine.