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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Despite beat Loyal by 20 and 23 points in a pair of Cloverbelt Conference East Division games this season, Marshfield Columbus Catholic coach Joe Konieczny said he wanted to make sure the Dons kept their focus.
They did, pulling out to a double-digit lead in the first quarter and cruising to a 62-28 win in a WIAA Division 5 boys basketball regional quarterfinal Tuesday night at Columbus Catholic High School.
Columbus Catholic (18-5) will play Almond-Bancroft (19-4) in a regional semifinal at 7 p.m. Friday at home.
“I thought we came out focused, which is what you want,” Konieczny said. “At this time of the year, it doesn’t matter who you play, you have to play extremely hard and live to see another day. It’s a cliché, but it’s reality.”
Jake Puent scored two baskets and Bryce DeSmet hit a 3-pointer to put the Dons up 7-0 just 3 minutes into the game.
Columbus pushed the lead to 17-6 by the end of the quarter and scored the first eight points of the second to push its lead to 19.
Leading by 22 at halftime, Columbus came out of the break on fire, hitting four 3-pointers in a row in a 15-2 run to start the third quarter to go up 47-12.
From there, the Dons went deep down their bench to allow reserves to play the final 1½ quarters.
“It was a good opportunity for a lot of the young guys to get some minutes at the end and I think they did a nice job making sure the lead stayed what it was,” Konieczny said. “I think we’re playing well the last two or three weeks. In reality, if you’re playing well coming into the playoffs or you’re playing poorly, if you lose, it’s over.
“It’s another one-game tournament on Friday and that mentality that we’ve had the last two or three weeks to get back in the conference race hopefully will help us.”
Puent and Alex Baierl, who had four 3-pointers, each had 12 points, and DeSmet added 11 for the Dons.
Dons 62, Greyhounds 28
Loyal 6 4 7 11 – 28
Columbus Catholic 17 15 17 13 – 62
LOYAL (28): Alec Anderson 0-4 2-2 2, Derrick Howard 0-4 2-2 2, Colten Roehl 1-1 0-0 2, Alex Schuette 2-9 0-0 4, Cameron Brussow 2-6 2-4 7, Ryley Fischer 2-9 0-1 4, Logan Genteman 1-2 0-0 2, Andrew Szymanski 2-8 1-1 5. FG: 10-43. FT: 7-10. 3-pointers: 1-10 (Brussow 1-5, Fulwiler 0-3, Fischer 0-1, Szymanski 0-1). Rebounds: 25 (Fischer 7). Turnovers: 18. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 2-20.
COLUMBUS CATHOLIC (62): Alex Baierl 4-7 0-0 12, Bryce DeSmet 4-5 0-0 11, Jared Fleischmann 3-7 0-1 7, Derrick Green 2-3 1-2 5, Sam Studinger 0-1 0-0 0, Christian Payant 0-0 2-2 2, Cole Mushel 0-0 0-0 0, Evan Nikolai 0-1 0-2 0, Jacob Puent 6-9 0-1 12, Ben Behling 2-3 0-1 5, Ryan Dieringer 0-0 1-1 1, Tyler Fuerlinger 0-2 0-0 0, Evan Hansen 1-2 1-2 3, Brett Loveland 2-3 0-0 4. FG: 24-43. FT: 5-12. 3-pointers: 9-16 (Baierl 4-7, DeSmet 3-4, Fleischmann 1-2, Behling 1-1, Nikolai 0-1, Green 0-1). Rebounds: 26 (Puent 6). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 18-5.