Hornets fall short against G-E-T Red Hawks

Colby out of playoffs after 76-67 defeat

The third-seeded Colby Hornets squad saw their season come to a close at home last week Friday in the second round of the WIAA D-3 playoffs. The sixth-seeded Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau Red Hawks used a strong first half performance to put the Hornets behind early, and while Colby outscored their opponents in the second period, they still found themselves on the short end of the 76-67 final.

Strong defensive play, a 31-point performance from Cody Schmitz and the three point shooting of Braden Anibas helped fuel the Red Hawks to their upset victory. Colby meanwhile found a first half scoring drought and bouts of turnovers throughout the game to be too difficult to overcome.

The Hornets opened the game strong, getting three-point shots from Tevin Rue and Joseph Streveler en route to an 8-0 lead. The Red Hawks responded with a 7-0 run of their own, closing the early gap that Colby had bought for themselves.

A runner from G-E-T’s Jack Beedle halfway through the period gave the visitors their first lead, going up 15-12 after Beedle completed the oldschool three-point play by hitting the following free throw. The Red Hawks would not trail from that point forward, outscoring Colby 20-10 over the rest of the half. After putting up eight points in the first three minutes of the game, the visitors’ high zone made things difficult for the Hornets, who scored just 14 points over the other fifteen minutes of the half.

The start of the second period did not see Colby faring much better. While their offense was more reminiscent of success they found early in the first half, scoring eight points in the first four minutes, G-E-T managed to match them shot-for-shot. A three from Anibas expanded the Red Hawks’ lead out to 16 with 13:30 left in the game, putting the Hornets in a dire position.

However, Colby was not about to bow out of the playoffs without a fight. While Anibas’s shot had given the visitors their biggest lead of the game, Colby answered immediately with a three of their own, courtesy of Rue. Two consecutive makes from behind the arc from Kaden Wiese on the following Hornet possessions pushed Colby closer, shifting the momentum of the game.

It turned out to be just the beginning of a gamechanging run for the home team. The Hornets scored on seven of eight possessions, putting up 18 points while holding the Red Hawks to just three over the stretch. Following a fast break basket, Colby found themselves down by just one, with the score sitting at 49-48 with a little over a quarter of the game remaining.

But the Hornets could not quite get over the hump. After drawing within a single basket of the lead, Colby’s offensive production once again fell dormant, failing to score over the next four minutes. Meanwhile, a stagnant G-E-T attack suddenly came back to life. The Red Hawks put up eight quick points to give themselves a three possession advantage, mitigating much of the work that the Hornets had done to get themselves back in the game.

Two three-point shots from Joseph Streveler and a made free throw from Caden Healy gave Colby a fighting chance in the final minutes of the game, but the 61-57 deficit would be all the closer the Hornets would get. Successful trips to the charity stripe allowed the Red Hawks to close out the game and complete the upset bid over the third-seeded Hornets.

Healy finished as the Hornets’ top scorer, doing much of his damage in the paint. The senior put up 19 points and collected 11 rebounds in his final game for Colby. Streveler added 16 points while shooting 4-5 from beyond the three-point line. Wiese scored 12 points while bringing down seven rebounds and recording five assists. Rue ended the game with nine points and five assists and Mateo Lopez contributed eight points, seven rebounds, and five assists. Tucker Meyer rounded out the scoring, adding three points and six rebounds.

While Colby may have exited the playoffs earlier than they may have hoped, they still came away with a 17-6 overall record while going 12-2 in the Cloverbelt-East conference, leading to the team’s first conference title since 2011.