Colby boys fall to O-W, defeat Neillsville

The Colby Hornets boys team went 1-1 in Cloverbelt- East conference play this past week, losing to conference leader Owen-Withee on Tuesday while defeating Neillsville last Thursday.

Owen-Withee, 72-48

The Hornets traveled to Owen-Withee for a highly anticipated matchup with the Blackhawks Tuesday evening. Both teams were undefeated in the Cloverbelt-East, meaning the winner of this game would hold an advantage heading into the second half of the conference schedule. Given the circumstances, a closely contested game was expected, but Owen-Withee had other ideas. The Blackhawks proved to be the dominant team on both ends of the floor, holding Colby’s multi-pronged attack to just 48 points while putting up 72 on the opposite end.

The Hornets opened the game well, holding a small 7-6 lead in the early going. A number of consecutive empty possessions coupled with second chance opportunities for Owen-Withee changed the momentum of the game in favor of the home team. The Blackhawks went on a 14-3 run, making use of a stretch that Colby struggled to recover from. Two threes and a layup would bring the visitors back within two as they went on their own 8-0 run, but that would be all the closer they would get. They entered halftime down 33-22 and they would not fair any better in the second half. The Blackhawks outscored Colby 39-26 over the final 18 minutes, with many of the same problems in the first half continuing to plague the Hornets.

Tucker Meyer led the team with 16 points, Kaden Wiese added 11 and Joe Streveler had nine, all of which were from the free throw line.

68-61

The Hornets also got a key conference victory on their home court last Thursday evening over the Neillsville Warriors. Colby weathered a 30 point effort from Neillsville’s Andrew Brown, countering with four players scoring in the double digits to get the 68-61 win.

The home team looked comfortable early, taking an 8-2 advantage following a steal from Mateo Lopez that the senior turned into two points for Colby. A quick six points from the Warriors erased that small lead and the two teams battled back and over the next few minutes. After momentarily losing the lead following a three from Brown, Colby went on a 7-0 run, highlighted by two baskets by Caden Healy and a three from Kaden Wiese. The Hornets could not quite capitalize on the run, however, and Neillsville never allowed the home team to grow its lead beyond four, even overtaking them later in the period. A three with ten seconds on the clock from Joseph Streveler sent the two teams into halftime with the score knotted at 34-34.

The second half proceeded similarly to the first, neither team able to take a big advantage over the other. Neillsville matched the game’s largest lead up until that point after going up 50-44, but two free throws from Streveler and a three from Tevin Rue quickly dug the Hornets out of that hole.

With 1:30 left on the clock, the Warriors held a 61-60 advantage. On the possession following Neillsville’s goahead basket, Wiese found Streveler in the corner and the junior drained the open three to put the Hornets up for good. Lopez hit two free throws and Tucker Meyer turned a steal into an emphatic dunk on the other end to put the game out of reach.

Streveler and Lopez led the team with 16 points each, both shooting 50 percent from the field and going a combined 11-12 from the free throw line. Lopez also led the team in rebounds with 11, assists with eight, and had two steals and two blocks. Wiese hit four shots from beyond the arc, contributing 12 points and Healy had 11 points and eight rebounds for the Hornets. Meyer had eight points and Rue rounded out the scoring with five.