In an intense, tight, down to the wire battle in Colby, the Blackhawks earned the victory by finishing strong down the stretch with some strong defense and smart offense, taking the victory on the Hornets' home court with a 58-53 win.
After turning the ball over on their first two possessions, the Blackhawks did however score first with Winston Poehler knocking in a 15-footer as Talon Mueller found him at the high post. Poehler then scored on an out of bounds play with Preston Fritz feeding him for another basket. On the next possession Talon Mueller fed Jack Wendler in the post making it 6-0. However, Colby came back with some solid shooting of their own, cutting into the Hawks lead. Poehler knocked in a 3 off an Isaiah Pyrchalla skip pass. More defense from both teams put scoring at a premium. Four free throws from Talon Mueller kept the Hawks' lead at 15-13. Poehler then scored 4 points on the inside for Owen-Withee, then scored on an old-fashioned three-point play making it 22-20. Colby's Reid Fleischman then hit a pair of threes for the Hornets, taking the lead. Talon Mueller would put in three free throws to keep the Hawks close, trailing 31-27 at the half.
Both teams continued to battle back and forth in the second half, with Jack Wendler carving out space in the land and scoring. Wendler scored 6 of the Hawks' first eight points in the half, with his last post move tying it up at 36-36. Five free throws kept the Hawks on pace with the Hornets. A big offensive rebound and hoop by Wendler tied it again, 44-44. Colton Paczkowski then hit a huge three from a Pyrchalla pass, grabbing the lead 47-44. From then on, the Blackhawks took care of the ball and had some great defensive stops as they would get the rest of their scoring from the free throw line, making 9 of 15 free throws in their last 11 possessions.
The Hawks made 26 of 42 free throws and owned the glass with a 43-26 rebounding advantage.
Box Score: Poehler 25 pts, 12 rebs, 4 stls; T. Mueller 13 pts, 5 rebs; Wendler 12 pts, 12 rebs, 2 stls; Paczkowski 4 pts, 5 rebs; C. Mueller 3 pts, 3 rebs, 3 stls; Fritz 1 pt, 5 rebs, 4 asts; Pyrchalla 1 reb, 1 ast.
Coach's Comments
We really showed a lot of determination and focus on keeping our emotions in check tonight as it is always a high intensity game. The players really improved and are understanding the importance of valuing the ball. We trusted each other late in the game on defense, as we had many key stops in crucial situations. On offense we were able to find mismatches which were to our advantage.