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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
SPENCER – Columbus Catholic used a trapping half-court defense to smother Spencer into 14 first-half turnovers and made quick work of the undermanned Rockets 73-47 in a Cloverbelt Conference East Division boys basketball game Thursday night at Spencer High School.
Nick Malovrh hit four 3-pointers and scored 14 of his game-high 23 points in the opening 10 minutes for the Dons, who remain perfect in the Cloverbelt East at 9-0 and improve to 12-2 overall.
Columbus used a 16-2 run to pull ahead 19-5 as it forced five turnovers to take control.
“I thought we played pretty hard in the first half,” Columbus Catholic coach Joe Konieczny said. “Our half-court trap was effective and that got us a nice lead. In the second half, I thought we fatigued a little bit. There were a few possessions where we looked like we knew what we were doing, but it just looked like we had heavy feet, skis on our feet actually at times.
“We just need to do a better job preparing ourselves 24-48 hours before the game and we’ll be more effective.”
Columbus had another 10-0 run later in the half, which included a pair of baskets each from Jarred Mandel and Peyton Nystrom, and led 37-15 at halftime.
The Dons scored nine in a row, capped by a three-point play by Malovrh, to go up 47-16 just 2½ minutes into the second half.
Spencer (6-6, 5-5 Cloverbelt East) responded with a 7-0 run of its own, with five points coming from Jack Bezlyk.
Bezlyk finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Austin Bacon added 13 points for the Rockets.
Spencer, which played with a rotation of just six players for most of the game, was held to 34 percent shooting (18 of 53), but held its own on the boards as Columbus held only a one-rebound advantage.
“You know how they (Columbus) are going to play,” Spencer coach Randy Reckner said. “They are going to play fast, and up and down the floor. We’re not deep right now and they controlled the tempo in the first half. They’re in first place in the conference for a reason.
“We have to get a little more healthy. We have to get back to the way we were playing. We were controlling the tempo of the game. Tonight, we got caught up early in the fast play, and that’s not who we are.”
Despite the unbeaten conference record, Konieczny said the Dons are still looking to improve.
“We’re not the same team we are last year,” Konieczny said. “We have a lot of kids that do a lot of things, and we need to make basketball a priority the last month or two months of the season. Our seniors, they’re careers are winding down, and I hope they can take advantage of these last 8-15 games they have.”
Spencer plays at Auburndale in a nonconference game Friday and Columbus Catholic is off until Tuesday when it hosts Granton.
Dons 73, Rockets 47
Columbus Catholic 37 36 – 73
Spencer 15 32 – 47
COLUMBUS CATHOLIC (73): Evan Dieringer 4-5 0-0 8, Nick Hutchison 1-3 0-0 3, Peyton Nystrom 2-4 0-0 4, Nick Malovrh 9-18 1-1 23, Bryce Fuerlinger 2-4 0-0 5, Joey Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Noah Taylor 3-9 0-0 6, Ethan Meece 0-3 0-0 0, Noah Hansen 2-4 1-2 5, Jarred Mandel 7-10 1-2 15, Tom Nystrom 0-2 0-0 0, Kellen Heinzen 2-2 0-0 4, Will Boyer 0-2 0-0 0. FG: 32-66. FT: 3-5. 3-pointers: 6-20 (Malovrh 4-11, Hutchison 1-2, Fuerlinger 1-1, P. Nystrom 0-1, T. Nystrom 0-1, Boyer 0-1, Mandel 0-3). Rebounds: 36 (Fuerlinger 10). Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: none. Record: 12-2, 9-0 Cloverbelt Conference East Division.
SPENCER (47): Kyler Bainer 1-1 0-0 3, Brett Kasch 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Bacon 4-8 5-6 13, Jack Bezlyk 6-19 3-9 15, Collin Nieman 2-13 0-0 5, Cody Vircks 0-0 0-0 0, Brandon Much 2-3 0-0 4, Nate Karau 3-8 1-2 7, Will Johnson 0-1 0-0 0. FG: 18-53. FT: 9-17. 3-pointers: 2-10 (Bainer 1-1, Nieman 1-6, Bacon 0-1, Bezlyk 0-2). Rebounds: 35 (Bezlyk 12, Karau 11). Turnovers: 17. Fouls: 4. Fouled out: none. Record: 6-6, 5-5 Cloverbelt Conference East Division.