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By Steve Pilz
For MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – In a contest that started as a game of runs quickly turned lopsided as the No. 1 seed Marshfield Columbus Catholic rolled to a 69-34 win over No. 4 seed Alma Center Lincoln and punched its ticket to the sectionals with a big home win Saturday night in a WIAA Division 5 regional final at Columbus Catholic High School.
The Dons (25-2) will take on No. 2 seed Royall (25-2) in a D-5 sectional semifinal Thursday at Adams-Friendship High School.
Lucas Kreklow got the Dons rolling with a pair of layups and in a recurring theme Charlie Moore and Blake Jakobi hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put the home team up 10-0 and sent Lincoln to a timeout at the 13:04 mark.
Benjamin Ross got inside for a layup followed by Jace Paul’s jumper and a three by Weston Berndt made it 10-7. Pauls’ second hoop made it 10-9 coaxing Dons coach Joe Konieczny into a time out of his own with 10:14 remaining.
Two threes by Emmitt Konieczny and another by Jakobi made it 19-9. Konieczny hit another three. Moore made a two and a three, and Jakobi capped a 14-point half with two more 3-pointers to push Columbus out to a 37-17 lead at halftime.
Late in the first half, after consecutive charging calls against his team, Lincoln coach Jeremy Hanson was assessed an extremely quick technical foul sans warning, which tied him to the bench for the rest of the game, taking the wind out of Hornets’ sails.
“We played a really good team tonight with one or two really outstanding players,” Coach Konieczny said. “We really prepared for them because I know how good their coach was and how good their players were. I thought we played our best game of the season today and I hope we can channel some of that into next week.”
And while Lincoln made nine field goals to the Dons 11 in the second half, the Hornets never had a chance to get back in it.
If Konieczny thought it was the Dons’ best game of the year, he was probably not alone.
Moore drilled four 3-pointers in the second half and went for a game-high 20 points, making 6 of 8 shots from long range. Jakobi, who had four threes in the first half, finished with 19 points on 4 of 6 shooting from beyond the arc. Emmitt Konieczny had 13 points and shot 3 for 6 from long range while his little brother Mac Konieczny also hit a 3-pointer in the win for the Dons.
The Dons shot 23-for-39 from the field, 14-for-24 from 3-point range and 9 of 10 from the charity stripe.
Not only did Jakobi go wild on offense, he held the 6-foot-4 Paul to just 11 points in a well-constructed box-and-one defense throughout much of the first half.
“I think we play Royall and they are very, very good,” Joe Konieczny said. “Another team with 23 or 24 wins. They have a lot of size, some really good guards and a great coach, so it’s another really big test for us.”
Dons 69, Hornets 34
Alma Center Lincoln 17 17 – 34
Columbus Catholic 37 32 – 69
LINCOLN (34): Jace Paul 5 1-2 11, Weston Berndt 3 0-0 8, Benjamin Ross 5 0-4 10, Luke Anderson 1 0-0 3, Jay Stetzer 1 0-0 2. FG: 17-42. 3-pointers: 3-12 (Berndt 2, Anderson 1). FT: 1-9. Turnovers: 10. Fouled out: none. Record: 22-5.
COLUMBUS CATHOLIC (69): Emmitt Konieczny 3 4-5 13, Mac Konieczny 2 0-0 5, Nathan Nemitz 0 2-2 2, Lucas Kreklau 3 0-0 6, Charlie Moore 7 0-0 20, Blake Jakobi 6 3-3 19, Cy Becker 2 0-0 4. FG: 23-39. 3-pointers: 14-24 (Moore 6, Jakobi 4, E. Konieczny 3, M. Konieczny 1). FT: 9-10. Turnovers: 5. Fouled out: none. Record: 25-2.