Colby picks up pair of Cloverbelt wins

The Colby boys basketball club bounced back from their first Cloverbelt-East loss with two conference victories. The Hornets defeated Greenwood at home on Monday and claimed another victory by downing the Greyhounds in Loyal. The two wins brought their overall record to 8-3 this season and following an Owen- Withee loss to Columbus Catholic, the Hornets now find themselves in a three-way tie for first place atop the Cloverbelt-East.

68-44

The Hornets invited Greenwood into town for a Cloverbelt- East matchup this Monday. Colby cruised to a 68-44 victory over the Indians, giving them their second straight conference win.

Colby never trailed Monday evening, scoring the first basket of the evening and never ceding that lead. While the visitors managed to stick around in the early going, it seemed like only a matter of time before the Hornets pulled away. Joe Streveler was the catalyst for that eventual run. The junior scored 12 of Colby’s 14 points during a 14-6 run that put the home team up 28-15. From that point, the Hornets continued to control play through the period, finishing the half with a comfortable 42-20 lead.

That advantage ballooned to over 30 points in the second period, a three from Kaden Wiese pushing the score to 61-30 with just over 10 minutes left in the game. With their lead firmly in hand, scoring slowed and Colby began to mix in players from the bench over the final quarter of the game. Greenwood pecked away at the deficit, outscoring the Hornets 14-7 over the final stretch, but the gap between the two teams was far too large for the Indians to overcome in the time remaining.

Streveler led the Hornets in several categories, scoring 23 points and bringing down eight rebounds. He was also tied for the team high with two steals. Wiese and Tucker Meyer both had 13 points and six rebounds and Wiese led Colby in assists with four. Also scoring for the Hornets were Caden Healy, who had nine points, Tevin Rue with four, Oscar Zamora with three, Nathaniel Robida with two and Jaxson Polivka with one.

79-66

A large first half lead and a 29-point performance from Caden Healy helped Colby get a win on the road over the Loyal Greyhounds last Friday evening. The Continued from page 9

Hornets dominated in the middle portions of the game, leading to the 79-66 victory.

The visiting Colby team looked far more at home in the opening minutes, driving to the lane and getting easy baskets down low on offense while the Greyhounds looked unable to do much against their zone defense. The Hornets went up 8-0, prompting a timeout from Loyal to reevaluate the situation just three minutes into the game The timeout seemed well placed, as the two teams played relatively even over the next ten minutes, the Greyhounds outscoring Colby 19-14 over the stretch. However, things started to fall apart for the home team over the half’s final five minutes. Starting with a quick hitting attack that saw Kaden Wiese finding Joe Streveler behind the defense for an easy layup, the Hornets went on a 16-3 run, ending the first period with a 38-22 lead.

Employing a full court press in the second half allowed Colby to distance themselves even more, going up 51-31 with 13 minutes to play. Despite the large deficit, the Greyhounds played on, working away at the Hornets’ lead. With under five minutes left in the game, the margin between the two teams had been whittled down to 11 and with Loyal continuing to pressure, the Hornets turned to Healy to close out the game. The senior scored the Hornets final 10 points, keeping the Greyhounds at bay and allowing his team to walk away with the double digit win.

Healy led his team with 29 points, Streveler added 18 and Wiese had 11. Also scoring for the Hornets were Mateo Lopez with nine points, Tucker Meyer with eight, and Tevin Rue with four.

Colby’s next game will be at home against Gilman. The Pirates have yet to win a game this season, going 0-14 thus far. Game time is set for 7:15 p.m.