Hornets best Crandon, fall in OT to Eagles

By Nathaniel Underwood

The Colby Hornets boys basketball team saw their season come to an end last week Friday as they lost in a tight regional semifinal game against Auburndale. This came after they came out as 28-point victors in their first round contest against the Crandon Cardinals last Tuesday.

The Hornets will finish the season with a 10-14 record including the playoffs. They took sixth in the Cloverbelt-East, holding a 6-8 record in conference play.

Auburndale, 70-63

In almost poetic fashion, the Colby Hornets’ 2024-25 campaign ended in almost identical circumstances as it had begun. In their first game of the season, the Hornets brought the Auburndale Eagles to the brink but ultimately fell in a 70-62 overtime loss at home. Three months and an entire season’s-worth of basketball later and the two faced off once again as the first-seeded Auburndale squad hosted Colby last Friday evening in the second round of the WIAA Division 4 playoffs. While the location and stakes may have changed, the fight between the two squads did not, the regional semifinal battle once again going right down to the wire.

Unfortunately for a Hornet squad looking to spoil the oneseed’s playoff run while keeping their own postseason hopes alive, the Eagles were able to double-up Colby in the overtime period and sneak away with a 70-63 win. Struggles from the free throw line and finding a way to come out on top in close games have plagued the Hornets all season and both would come into play in their final contest of the year.

The two squads shot almost identically from the floor, with Colby finishing shooting 40 percent from the field and Auburndale recording a 39 percent shooting percentage. However, the Eagles shot slightly better from the free throw line, especially down the stretch.

All 13 overtime points scored by Auburndale came from the charity stripe, going 13-for-16 from the line in the extra period. They did not even need to attempt a single shot from the field in overtime. And while the Hornets went 4-for-6 from the free throw line in overtime, they shot 1-for-6 on free throws as they tried to hold off Auburndale in the final minute of regulation and then shot 1-for-9 from the field in overtime.

A strong second period rally put Colby in position to pull off the upset. Down 38-32 and having never led, the Hornets suddenly went on a five-minute long, 14-2 run that put them in the driver’s seat heading into the game’s final moments.

Landon Steinman got Colby started, drawing a foul while making a layup and sinking the following free throw to make it a one possession game. Colton Orth followed up with a game-tying three-pointer and then put the Hornets ahead with a layup on the following possession. Reed Fleischmann scored six straight points for the visitors and Colby took a 46-40 lead.

Tucker Hayes gave the Hornets their biggest lead of the game a few possessions later, putting Colby up by seven with four minutes remaining. Auburndale mounted their own rally, however, and while Fleischmann and Morillon were able to keep the Eagles at bay with free throws, a basket from Morillon was the only make from the field from Colby in the final four minutes. Auburndale outscored Colby 14-7 over this stretch and it took a free throw from Fleischmann with just three seconds remaining on the clock to force overtime.

Fleischmann led the team with 18 points, shooting 5-for-10 and making seven of his eight free throw attempts. Orth added another 11 points and five rebounds, Steinman went 2-for-3 from three point range and had nine points and Morillon had eight points, seven rebounds and a team-high eight assists. Hayes had the most rebounds for the Hornets, collecting eight boards while scoring six points, Braiden Johnson had five points and Luke Hannula and Hayden Kaiser both had three points each.

Crandon, 80-52

Miguel Morillon scored 21 points, Reed Fleischmann added another 20 and the eighth-seeded Colby Hornets cruised past the ninth-seeded Crandon Cardinals in the first round of the WIAA Division 4 boys basketball playoffs, defeating their opponents 80-52.

The results were similar in a rematch from last year’s first round playoff game between the two squads. In 2024, Colby dominated the Cardinals on both sides of the ball, pulling off a 91-60 victory and it was more of the same in this year’s eight-versus-nine matchup.

The Hornets shot over 50 percent from the field during last Tuesday’s playoff victory, going 35-for-67 from the floor. Meanwhile, they nullified the Cardinals offense, allowing them points on just 33 percent of their shot attempts. Crandon also was held to making just six percent of their three-point shots while Colby went 7-for-18 from beyond the arc.

A pair of early three-point shots from Fleischmann and a fast break basket from Morillon helped the Hornets dig themselves out of a small deficit early in the contest. Fleischmann’s second three put Colby up 10-8 and gave the Hornets their first lead of the game. Another three, this time courtesy of Colton Orth, gave the home team a bit of breathing room, but the Cardinals managed to keep themselves close for most of the half.

Colby kept their lead intact, but each time they seemed about to pull away, Crandon would come up with an answer to keep themselves in striking distance. In the closing seconds of the half, however, momentum shifted dramatically. With just a minute and a half left in the first period, the Hornets held a 33-29 advantage, but a flurry of scoring led to nine straight for Colby to close out the half. A buzzer-beat-

See HORNET PLAYOFFS/ Page 13

SNEAKING INTO THE LANE - Miguel Morillon slides past an Eagle defender’s attempted block for two points. ROSS PATTERMANN/THE THORP COURIER

FULL CONCENTRATION - Landon Steinman lines up a free throw during the Hornets second playoff game. ROSS PATTERMANN/THE THORP COUREIR Hornet playoffs

Continued from page 10

ing fast break layup from Morillon capped off the scoring streak and gave the Hornets a 42-29 lead at halftime.

The Cardinals never recovered from the run. The deficit never dropped below double- digits and Colby was able to slowly but surely extend their lead even further over their opponents. The Hornets collected 15 steals over the course of the contest and continued to turn Crandon’s turnovers into easy fast break points on the opposite end. The visiting squad had no answers, and while they slightly outrebounded Colby, the lack of offensive production for the Cardinals kept them from being able to forge a rally.

The Hornets went on to outscore Crandon 38-23 in the second period, leading to yet another lopsided first round playoff victory for Colby.

On top of his team-high 21 points, Morillon also led the Hornets in assists, picking up a double-double after dishing out 11 over the course of the contest. He also co-led the squad with four steals and had five rebounds in the victory. Fleischmann went 4-for-7 from three point range and had the most rebounds for Colby, bringing down nine boards. He also had two steals.

Tucker Hayes also finished in the doubledigits, shooting an efficient 6-for-8 from the field to finish with 12 points. The senior

See HORNET PLAYOFFS/ Page 20 Hornet playoffs

Continued from page 13

added four rebounds and two steals. Luke Hannula had a solid all-around game for Colby, collecting nine points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists, Landon Steinman had eight points , three rebounds and two assists, and Orth finished with six points and six rebounds. Braiden Johnson and Izaac Carrera rounded out the scoring with two points each.

Cadott, 90-85

Offense was the name of the game during the Cloverbelt-East/West crossover matchup between the two Hornet squads from Colby and Cadott. The visiting Colby team got 27 points from Reed Fleischmann, had five players score in double-digits and held off a late push from Cadott to defeat their opponents 90-85.

Colby shot 43.9 percent from the field and a plethora of free throw attempts bolstered their efficiency, helping the visiting Hornets put together their highest scoring performance of the season. They made 37 trips to the charity stripe against Cadott, their most in a single game over the course of the 2024-25 campaign, and connected on 25 of those attempts. Fleischmann and Colton Orth combined to go 20for-23 from the line both sinking 10 free throws each.

While Colby held the lead for much of the evening, it took every bit of offensive prowess from the visitors to keep Cadott at bay.

After the home team jumped out to a 4-0 lead, Colby scored eight unanswered points, getting five from Fleischmann and three from Luke Hannula to take the lead. Cadott managed to knot things up at 10-10, but a layup from Tucker Hayes put the visiting Hornets back on top. Miguel Morillon followed with a layup of his own and Colby opened up a nine point lead after Fleischmann and Hannula hit back-to-back threes.

The visitors stayed hot from beyond the arc as Landon Steinman and Fleischmann combined to hit three straight shots from long range to help Colby take their biggest lead of the half at 33-21. However, the hosting Hornets did not fade away, instead answering with three straight three pointers of their own and going on a 10-1 run to bring themselves back within a possession.

Hayes was able to finally cut the rally short with an oldfashioned three-point play and Colby maintained a multipossession lead for the rest of the period, heading into halftime up 44-38.

A three from Cadott to start the second half once again brought them back within three points, but Steinman sank a three of his own in response. Colby continued to stuff the stat sheet, scoring on seven straight possessions and opening up a 58-44 advantage.

The home team mounted yet another rally, going on a 132 run, but could never get closer than the three-point deficit. A make from the elbow from Morillon followed by backto- back baskets courtesy of Hayes gave the visiting Hornets some breathing room.

Cadott managed to hang around, but Colby managed to shoot well enough from the free throw line to stall out their comeback efforts. Steinman and Orth put the game on ice by sinking four free throws in the last few seconds of the contest, helping their team survive a final surge from their opponents and take home the win.

Fleischmann added a team-high 10 rebounds to his 27point performance to finish the evening with a double-double. He went 10-for-11 from the free throw line and added two assists and a steal.

Hayes had 19 points while shooting 9-for-14 from the field and collecting seven rebounds and two blocks. Steinman picked up 14 points and shot 3-for-4 from three point range, Morillon finished with 12 points, a team-high eight assists, five rebounds and two steals and Orth got all 10 of his points from the free throw line while grabbing eight rebounds. Hannula finished with eight points, five rebounds, and six assists.

FLOOR GENERAL - Reed Fleischmann scans the court for an open teammate in Auburndale. The junior led the team in their final game of the 2024-25 season with 18 points.

ROSS PATTERMANN/THE THORP COURIER