Hornets claim Cloverbelt-East title

With victories over Neillsville and Marshfield Columbus, the Colby Hornets officially secured their first conference title in over a decade. While there is still one game left to play, the Hornets’ current 12-1 record in the Cloverbelt-East was enough to clinch the conference’s top spot.

The road to the championship was easier said than done, especially after a tough loss to Owen-Withee earlier in the season.

“After the Owen game, a lot of players thought that the one game was going to determine conference,” head coach Jimmy Flink said. “But I told them after the game there was a lot of season left and we needed to focus on the games in front of us and not have a let down before we got to this stretch.”

The Hornets did just that, taking care of business by winning seven straight games to keep pace with Owen- Withee and Columbus, their earlier loss to the Blackhawks fueling their play.

“The players were very disappointed following the Owen game,” Flink added. “Our players are very competitive, and have a lot of confidence that we can play with anybody. After the Owen game I think the players realized we didn’t play our best, and we needed to really focus on doing the little things. The players’ focus in games and practices has really changed and they are doing a great job working together.”

However, their biggest challenge was yet to come. Colby faced a gauntlet of the Cloverbelt-East’s top teams, Marshfield Columbus, Neillsville, and Owen-Withee, over their final three games. While they entered the last stretch at the top of the conference standings, losses in these important games could easily push them from that perch.

The Hornets rose to the challenge, however, continuing their hot streak with a 66-54 victory over Columbus and a 60-58 nail-biter over Neillsville. The two wins, coupled with an Owen-Withee loss to Neillsville on Thursday, earned Colby the Eastern Cloverbelt title. The last time the Hornets won a conference championship was the 2010-11 season, when the team held a 16-2 conference record.

60-58

Colby sealed their sole ownership of the conference title on the road Tuesday evening by defeating the Neillsville Warriors 60-58.

Hoping to avenge a 68-61 loss earlier in the season to the Hornets and keep their conference title hopes alive, Neillsville proved to be a difficult opponent. The Warriors got another solid performance from their top scorer Andrew Brown, who put up 22 points over the course of the game. Junior shooting guard Braylon Boyer also stepped up for Neillsville, going 7-for-12 from the field and scoring 17 points.

The Hornets came out just slightly better, their versatility on the offensive end of the court just beating out Neillsville’s more one-dimensional look.

Colby managed to take a small lead into halftime, up 34-28, but the Warriors refused to go down without a fight.

Neillsville actually outscored the visiting Hornets in the second half and held the lead heading into the game’s final minutes. Colby was able to come back from the deficit and pull out the 60-58 victory.

Leading the way for the Hornets was Kaden Wiese, who put up 17 points in the win. Tevin Rue added 13, Joseph Streveler had 11 and Mateo Lopez ended the game with eight. Also scoring for the Hornets were Tucker Meyer, who had six points, and Caden Healy, who finished with five points.

66-54

The Hornets took down the Columbus Dons last Thursday night, completing the season sweep of a team that has dominated the conference over the past decade. While the Dons kept the game close, Colby was able to pull away in the final quarter of the game to take a comfortable 66-54 victory.

Both teams came into the contest with their conference title hopes on the line and it certainly looked it early on. Neither team would budge over the first 12 minutes, answering each other shot for shot.

The Hornets were the first to take any sort of significant lead, going up by six following a floater in the lane from Tucker Meyer. The Hornets slowly expanded on that lead, pushing it out to as much as nine and leading 3325 at halftime.

Colby seemed poised to take full control of the game at the start of the second period. A putback by Mateo Lopez gave them a 44-32 advantage with 13 minutes left to play.

The Dons weren’t finished yet, however. An 8-0 run for the visitors cut Colby’s 12-point lead down to just four points and it was clear that the Hornets needed to make an adjustment.

“I thought the second half we came out and settled for a lot of quick shots from the outside, and didn’t really look inside,” Flink said. “Once the players settled down and started looking inside we were able to run better offense. Columbus also did a good job getting our defense out of position. Once we explained what Columbus was doing offensively, the players did a good job adjusting and we were able to get a good lead after that.”

By executing their adjustments on both sides of the ball, Colby was able to hold back the comeback attempt from the visitors. They went on a 15-7 run of their own, capped off with a three from Kaden Wiese which allowed them to retake a 12-point lead with five minutes to play. The Dons did not have another run in them and the Hornets came away with the 66-54 win.

Wiese led the team in scoring, putting up 16 points and going 3-7 from three point range. Lopez added 15 points and 14 rebounds and Meyer had 11 points and eight rebounds. Joseph Streveler had a 10 assist game and contributed nine points, Caden Healy had eight points and six rebounds and Tevin Rue ended the game with seven points and three steals.

The Hornets will host Owen-Withee this Friday, Feb. 17. While Colby has the conference title in hand, they will still be looking to pull even in the season’s series with the Blackhawks. The game is set to start at 7:15 p.m.